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Get moving! Bobath Paediatric Powered Mobility Workshop 1/11/13

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 7th November, 2013

 
Last week I was fortunate to attend a brilliant workshop on Paediatric Powered Mobility at Bobath Scotland in Glasgow. It was organised by Sandra Mackay and colleagues at Bobath, and featured Ros Livingstone and Debbie Field from Sunny Hill Health Centre in Vancouver. Ros and Debbie are presenting a paper at the European Seating Symposium in Dublin this week, and were kind enough to stop off in Scotland to give us a workshop. 

In the workshop Ros and Debbie covered several topics, and one of them was a systematic review of the evidence base for the impact of powered mobility on the development and lives of people with disabilities. Here are some conclusions based on the research:

This seems clear then: powered mobility is really important for child development. 

Here's another way of thinking about powered mobility: by not providing a means of independent mobility to young disabled children, they actually become more disabled than they would have been, had they learned to be independently mobile. 

Ros, Debbie and colleagues at Sunny Hill have created some very useful web pages with links to research, guidance on assessment, provision and training, and notes on access methods and devices, and on different types of mobility aids. 

Some of the Sunny Hill information on wheelchairs, switches and controls is not that appropriate for the UK, so inspired by their example over the next few weeks I will add some new pages to the Smart Wheelchair section of our site, with resources and links that are specific to the UK.

Powered mobility aids needn't be expensive - take a look at Cole Galloway's Go Baby Go switch adapted cars from Toys R Us.

Online course - £30

Empowering Autistic Learners through the use of Assistive Technology

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