Mercer engineering students create cool rides for children with limited mobility

A smile on his face, Chappy Bailey climbed on the hood of his new, red car and posed for a photo.

The 5-year-old, born with Down syndrome, was one of nine Macon children who received a free, battery-powered toy Maserati earlier this month.

Forty students in Mercer University’s engineering honors program modified the cars to meet the individual needs of children ages 3, 4 and 5 with limited mobility. It was the school’s first Go Baby Go event, and organizers plan to host one every spring and fall semester.

Go Baby Go is a research- and design-based outreach program created in 2012 at the University of Delaware by Cole Galloway, a physical therapy professor and infant behavior expert. Go Baby Go programs have now been started at more than 40 locations, mainly in the U.S. but a few abroad.

“The whole purpose of Go Baby Go is to promote social skills for children with disabilities,” said Sybil Keesbury, professor and coordinator of the Holistic Child program in Mercer’s Tift College of Education. “We know that children who have limited mobility have a harder time interacting with their peers.”

The custom toy cars help these young children better explore the world and develop socially, said Phil McCreanor, a Mercer engineering honors program professor and director.

McCreanor got the ball rolling for a Mercer program after attending a Go Baby Go event at the Marionjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton, Illinois. Keesbury worked with Northwoods Academy, Therapy Specialists of Georgia and the Navicent Health Children’s Hospital pediatric therapy program to find families to participate. Bob Watson, an assistant professor of technical communication at Mercer, will create training manuals on modifying the cars to help students at future events.

The engineering students made all the major changes to cars and charged them the day before the event, and parents brought their children to Mercer’s engineering building so they could be individually fitted.

The goal was to provide the children with enough support so they could safely and independently operate the vehicles, McCreanor said. Parts were reassembled, wiring was reworked and push power buttons were installed so the cars could be driven without using legs. Operating a foot pedal is a skill that takes more time for children with severe motor delays to master, said Rosemary Bailey, Chappy’s mother.

“It’s really an exciting, interesting project,” McCreanor said. “One of the things I love about it is the technology level of it is great for a budding engineer. It will make some of the things that they do in the classroom come alive for them.”

Seats with back and hip support were added, steering wheels were modified, and doors were permanently sealed for kids who couldn’t open them, McCreanor said. Extra foot controls were added to accommodate a child with an arm disability. Keesbury and three physical therapists guided the engineering students on each child’s specific needs. Each child took home their car after the event.

“I’ve never seen kids smile bigger,” Keesbury said. “It’s such an incredible gift that we can offer the community, and we can enhance kids with disabilities with rides. It was such an amazing day and an amazing event that I was glad to be a part of.”

Chappy, a student at Northwoods Academy, has developmental delays and decreased muscle tone, called hypotonia. Rosemary and Palmer Bailey knew of the Go Baby Go program and thought it would fit their son’s needs.

Chappy loved the motorized vehicles they had tried at home, but it was hard for him to use the devices on his own, Rosemary Bailey said. At Mercer’s Go Baby Go event, the car for Chappy was fitted with a harness, roll bars and a big, red start button in the middle of the steering wheel. The car even has an emergency shutoff switch and a radio, which Chappy likes to turn to NPR.

“He was superexcited to see his red Maserati,” she said. “We can tell each time (he gets in the car) he’s gaining that confidence. That’s what we wanted for him, to get the confidence and the independence to enjoy it and have fun.”

The engineering students, faculty and specialists gave the children a slow, one-on-one introduction to their car, and Mercer education students were on site to interact with them. The families were even fed and entertained during the event.

“We can’t thank them enough for the time they put in,” Palmer Bailey said. “ They spent as much time as possible with every child and the parents. It just meant the world to us that they would take the time to do that and that we were chosen. (Chappy’s) got something to enjoy for years to come.”

The event was funded by Mercer’s Research that Reaches Out Quality Enhancement Plan and the Warner Robins post of the Society of American Military Engineers. Each modified car cost about $350 total, and the organizers will be looking into other ways to fund the project in the future.

McCreanor hopes to be able to do more significant vehicle customizations and involve Mercer’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) teaching education master’s program in future Go Baby Go events.

This story was originally published December 22, 2016 at 10:48 AM with the headline "Mercer engineering students create cool rides for children with limited mobility."