The Adaptive Toy Project:
A partnership between UNF and Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital
STUDENT PRODUCTS THAT MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT THE WORLD
Imagine a class so extraordinary
that the students’ work is featured as a truly inspirational story on CNN
Christmas Day 2016. Professors Mary Lundy and Juan Aceros (of Physical Therapy
and Electrical Engineering) have partnered together on this project
for 4 years, and with Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital for 3 years as of Fall 2017. 
UNF students adapt toy cars to provide a disabled child the opportunity to engage
in the kind of play other families take for granted. To see the joy on the
family's faces, the ecstasy on the faces of the children who are able to move
in space "on their own" for the first time in their lives, and to see
the care and attention the UNF students give to the kids is inspirational.
STUDENTS IDENTIFY A COMMUNITY NEED
It all
started when students in the Doctorate in Physical Therapy program returned
from community internships and approached Dr. Lundy about the need for
accessible, affordable adaptive toys for children with motor disabilities in
our community. When colleagues in the departments of Engineering
and Physical Therapy got together to talk about opportunities to collaborate,
Professor of Physical Therapy Mary Lundy talked with Professor of Engineering
Juan Aceros and decided to investigate how to meet
this need. The Go Baby Go program founded by Drs. Cole Galloway and Dr. Suni
Agrawal at the University of Delaware served
as a resource for adapting ride on toys through an engineering/ Physical
therapy partnership. It was Dr. Acero’s idea to create the course to involve a
significant number of students in this project. Dr. Lundy identified community
partners through her relationships with area therapists: Wolfson Children's
Hospital, Duval county schools and Brooks Rehabilitation Hospital became
partners.
A DARING INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSE
The Project exists in 70
different countries, but the partnership at UNF is unique. Here the courses function as two concurrent
courses, enrolling graduate Physical Therapy students in PHT 79991 and
undergraduate Engineering students in EEL 4930. Students attend lectures
together on topics such as neuroscience and technology, developmental disabilities,
and assistive technology principles including assessment, construction, and
design. The class is divided into teams
that include both disciplines. Over the course of the semester the students redesign and personalize a motorized vehicle for a disabled child,
learning from one another and from “their” family and child.
- It is the only one in the world that relies on
students rather than professional volunteers.
- It is the only one in the world where the
practitioners have an ongoing personal relationship with the families and the
child
In some cases that “personal
relationship” continues after the course is over. The UNF students become part of the family
with whom they have worked.
SUPPORT FROM THE NIH
As the two professors began
talking about co-teaching a course, it seemed the perfect fit for a University
committed to community engagement. At the time, three years before CNN
coverage, it seemed a complex and daring experiment. The complexities in the community require
effective communication, a dependable referral process, as well as the
placement of non-clinical and clinical students in family and community settings.
The courses are daring in that they put a lot of responsibility on the
students; the project is daring because as these two very
different disciplines began to work together, the students (and the faculty!) discovered that they
“spoke different languages.” The National Institute of Health funds the program
precisely because "It forces students from different fields to collaborate
and solve a problem in the community," according to Dr. Alison Cernich, of
the NIH.
A PROFOUNDLY
TRANSFORMATIONAL CLASS
Transformational learning is
one of UNF’s defining features. The
Adaptive Toy Project is transformational in every sense of the word: Brooks is
able to extend its commitment to patients and their families; the lives of
children and their families are enriched; students become especially
well-prepared to solve a real-world problem when the course consists of
students from different disciplines. This
is an experience the students will remember for the rest of their lives.
Surveys taken during the class suggest it changes their career/life planning. As
one student put it, “This has made me want to work on an interdisciplinary
team—I believe interdisciplinary work is the future in addressing health
related impairments.” Pre- and post- course assessments find that these courses produce statistically significant increases in “concern and commitment
to public welfare,” “civic responsibility,” and “ability and affinity to work
together in inter-professional groups”; these outcomes align with the
accrediting goals of both the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy
Education and Accreditation Board to Engineering and Technology.
For more information about the Adaptive Toy Project, please visit: http://www.unfadaptivetoyproject.com/
