One way to help kids with disabilities is to make physical therapy feel like play rather than work. And what could be more fun than driving a toy car?
In a one-day “hackathon” in October 2021, Mount Sinai’s Charles Lazarus Children’s Abilities Center members built custom-designed ride-on toy cars for eight children with movement disorders to facilitate physical therapy.
Starting with commercially sold Mattel toy cars, the team modified each one based on the individual child’s needs. The main goal was to facilitate the child’s movement.
“Kids need to move because their brain development is based on it. They learn how to stand by falling, and how to engage with their environment by manipulating objects,” says Jimmy McKay, DPT, PT, Director of Science Communication at the Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance. “When kids can’t move and decide where to go on their own, they don’t grow as fast as their age-matched peers.”
The hackathon traces its origins to Cole Galloway, PhD, Professor of Physical Therapy at the University of Delaware. He created a challenge called “Go Baby Go” to retrofit cars for kids with cerebral palsy or other movement disabilities and made all the instructions open-source. That sparked a movement in which regular Go Baby Go events are held around the world.
Seeing there was no permanent Go Baby Go presence in New York City, Dr. McKay brought the program to the Lazarus Center, which funded the entire project.
About 40 staff members were trained using the Go Baby Go manual for the local event. Divided into teams of three to five members per car, they arrived early and spent about four hours building the cars for eight children, who were current or recently discharged Mount Sinai patients.
The children, under the advice of their physicians, were chosen based on size and cognitive ability to engage with the cars. Some had cerebral palsy, but not all. “This was for any child who has difficulty moving on their own. We kept it kind of vague on purpose because we didn’t want to limit it,” Dr. McKay explains.
Then the children were brought in to test the cars. Often, some tweaking was required.
For example, some of the children had difficulty using their feet to reach the accelerator pedal, so controls were built into the steering wheel. For others with postural instability, the inside of the car was outfitted with added supports. And for kids with paralysis on just one side, the controls were all placed on the side the child could access.
One child wasn’t able to operate the wheel but he could operate the pedal. So, the team created a pipe control arm made of polyvinyl chloride that his parents operated as they walked behind him, thereby allowing the child to control the car while his parents could steer him safely.
“Our aim was to adapt the car to the child, rather than the other way around,” says Dr. McKay. “Of course, not all were perfect right off the bat, but we were able to make adjustments and all the kids took the cars home.”
One mother, watching her 5-year-old with a seizure disorder manipulate his new car, exclaimed: “I did not expect him to be going that fast! He just gravitated toward it so quickly. I’m so, so, so excited. I can’t stop smiling!”
The Mount Sinai team hopes to stage another Go Baby Go event soon, once COVID-19 conditions improve further. They also hope to collect data, perhaps by having children wear monitors or Fitbit devices, to see how often they’re using the cars at home and whether their function has improved as a result.
“I keep saying this event should be sponsored by Kleenex because by the end of the day the builders, the parents, are all weeping,” Dr. McKay remarks. “The kids aren’t crying at all; they’re just happy to have this thing to play with. That’s exactly what therapy should be.”
Jimmy McKay, DPT, PT
Director of Science Communication, Rehabilitation and Human Performance
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Media kindly brought to you by PAW Patrol
Playing with toy cars and trucks has long been a popular pastime for millions of children worldwide and is still among the most popular activities for kids today. For generations, toy cars and vehicles have provided an entertaining pastime that grants children more than just fun. Unequivocally, playing with toy vehicles can educationally benefit children in terms of enhancing their ability to develop fine motor skills, including reaching, pushing, pulling, bending, balancing, and coordinating, STEM learning – Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, cognitive skills, interactive and creative play, social skills all the same time.
Toy trucks and vehicles provide an excellent illustration and supported understanding of everyday life and the world around them. Toy car play introduces children to the various functions and roles throughout society and locally within our neighbourhoods.
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Let’s now dive deep into the benefits of toy car play.
Playing with toy cars and trucks encourages children to develop their imaginations in limitless ways. This is the perfect time to inspire them to create an imaginative world and original works of fiction, music, or comedy. The benefits to a child’s growth are apparent.
Creative toy play offers open-ended play opportunities: i.e. children get to “drive” the trucks throughout town and do some route planning and design. It requires imaginative play and a knack for solving problems. As they insist the fire engine must detour to save the kittens, they normally concoct a whole elaborate scenario. The vehicle may have become disabled and be awaiting the arrival of a tow truck.
While playing with toy cars and trucks, children can learn essential social skills such as sharing and communication whilst expanding their vocabulary and language skills. This playtime enables children to build confidence and strengthen their relationship-building skills quickly as it’s easy to understand and widely enjoyed; children may always find other children who enjoy playing with trucks. Interactive play can help break the ice and spark interesting conversations among children. By working together, they discover the value of sharing and taking turns. In addition, it’s a beautiful chance for them to meet new friends.
Children’s cognitive development can be accelerated by playing with toy vehicles. Through their trial and error experiments, children are learning fundamental physics and developing creative solutions as they determine the maximum speed at which the cars may travel and the relationship between the weight of the truck and its speed. Toddlers hone their capacity for analysis by exploring the relationship between cause and effect. A toy car could flip if the rate were too high. Play-based education is crucial in helping toddlers understand the world and its place.
Children who play with small toy trucks regularly can improve their agility and coordination by moving them around by pushing and tugging. Grasping and manoeuvring the trucks helps develop their grip strength and finger dexterity. Playing with toy trucks also aids in developing hand-eye coordination, as kids learn to operate the vehicle with one hand while holding up signs with the other. To further develop a child’s dexterity, toy trucks with moving parts are highly recommended.
Children can make up their adventures with the PAW Patrol gang this Christmas or reenact their favourite rescues from episodes in the Big Truck Pups series.
Like in the program, this toy truck from PAW Patrol can undergo incredible transformations. Cut the trailer’s hitch, and you’ll have twice as much rescue power.
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Amass a complete PAW Patrol toy collection, including everything from the Big Truck Pups series, to core vehicles, figures, die cast, playsets and plush to maximize your playtime.
Both boys and girls can have fun with PAW plush toys and toy cars. Excellent substitutes for dolls, dinosaurs, and train sets for kids two and up.
If you think toy trucks are more important than you could have imagined, you’ve come to the perfect place. The team at PAW Patrol cares deeply about children and the play adventures their range provides. You can be confident that your kids will have a wonderful time while gaining valuable knowledge through play.
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