The Need for the Development of a Child Led Assessment Tool for Powered Mobility Users
By Durkin, Josephine; Technology and Disability, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 163-171Publication Date: 2002
Article discussing research-based evidence for the provision of powered mobility devices to infants and children with disabilities. Technology developed in two centers in the United Kingdom to assist children in driving powered wheelchairs is included. Professionals working in the Communication Aids for Language and Learning Centre at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland developed the Smart Wheelchair, which is an augmentative mobility aid. Professionals at the Chailey Heritage Rehabilitation Engineering Service in East Sussex, England, have developed two systems: (1) the Track guidance system, and (2) the Systems Collision Avoidance Device. The devices were developed in the absence of a clinical tool to assess and evaluate children’s progress towards reaching the goal of independent powered mobility driving. The authors present an argument that obstacle-detecting technology can hinder children’s learning experiences in how to judge distances and gain awareness of their bodies in space. The need for an assessment tool to evaluate the degree to which this technology could hinder children’s development is discussed.
Published by: IOS Press (Website:http://www.iospress.nl)
Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe (AAATE) (Web Site: http://www.aaate.net )
This publication is included in the library of the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC), accession number J44851
