CUSTOMIZED ADAPTATIONS FOR WORK, SCHOOL, RECREATION, AND LIFE!

Andrew Y.J. Szeto, Ph.D.
Caren Sax, M.A.
John Grier, B.S.

Interwork Institute
5850 Hardy Avenue
San Diego, CA. 92182-5323
(619) 594-7183 594-8810 (FAX)
http://interwork.sdsu.edu/

Web Posted on: December 12, 1997

ABSTRACT

For the past five years, Transdisciplinary Training (Trans-Train) in Rehabilitation Technologies has provided training to rehabilitation personnel and engineering students in the area of Rehabilitation Technology under the auspices of the SDSU Interwork Institute. For 1997-98, we will enhance the current graduate Certificate in Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies and support three new cadres of students from under-represented groups to complete the 15-unit sequence. Second, we will develop and offer a new sequence of academic and experiential course work (12 units) at the undergraduate level which can be applied toward a Certificate of Rehabilitation Technologies, under development at the College of Engineering. Although discipline-specific training will occur, Trans-Train is fundamentally a transdisciplinary training project. The course sequence will be offered and co-listed across College of Education and College of Engineering programs.

Three cohorts of 15-20 students each, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels (N=90) will be targeted to complete the three- semester sequences during the three-year project. Scholarships will be offered to attract participants from electrical, mechanical and computer engineering, state agency, community rehabilitation programs, independent living agencies, occupational and physical therapy assistant programs, and other allied health fields. Intensive efforts will focus on attracting individuals with disabilities and individuals who otherwise represent the cultural and ethnic diversity of the San Diego area. All course work will be designed to reflect the standards recently approved by RESNA (Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America) for its credentialing exam in assistive technology.

The academic course work has included and will continue to include information on disability issues, assessment strategies, augmentative communication devices and other commonly recognized areas of rehabilitation technologies, legislation, funding, and adaptations for specific work and living environments. In addition, participants will engage discipline-specific internships coordinated through the Interwork Institute. Internship sites include the Interwork's Technology Resource Center, Sharp Rehabilitation Center, San Diego Access Center, SDSU Disabled Student Services, SDSU Assistive Devices Assessment Lab, and other places in the community that provide rehabilitative supports and services.

One key component of the training program described above has been a unique course in which engineering students, special education teachers, rehabilitation professionals join forces to design and construct adaptations for children and adults with disabilities (focus individuals). Such adaptations serve to enhance activities related to work, school, recreation, or independence. Participants in the class have the opportunity to learn more about assistive technology through the process of ascertaining the needs and capabilities of the focus individual, understanding the environment for the desired activity, searching for suitable adaptations that already might be available, actually acquiring, modifying, or constructing a prototype adaptation, customizing the final adaptation, and finally delivering the adaptation to the intended user. Approximately 15-18 adaptations are completed yearly by students enrolled in this unique course. Recently successfully completed and delivered adaptations are briefly described below and will be presented in greater detail during the session.

EXAMPLES OF RECENTLY COMPLETED ADAPTATIONS

A residential automatic door that can be remotely controlled from a wheelchair.
A work station (i.e., desktops, drawers, shelves, etc.) that enhances the ability of a person (with limited reach, stamina, and mobility) to independently use a computer, edit videotapes, and make phone calls.
Modified trousers that permit independent toileting.
A custom made jacket harness that allows a student to use his electronic communication device while moving across environments.
Single switch operated staple remover and automatic ticket hole puncher.
Special seat and trunk support and a modified throttle control for a jet ski that allow a person with lower limb paralysis to safely ride it.
A customized laptray to support a computer on a Permobile powered chair.
A self-transportable wheelchair ladder to facilitate independent egress and ingress.
A special merchandise security tag dispenser that permits single handed operation.
A mounting system for an electronic communication device that can fit different wheelchairs of an individual without adjustments.
An automatic electrically powered leg rest that elevates the left leg of a woman (to relieve edema) having limited strength and reach in her upper limbs.
A modified tricycle used by a 7 year old with cerebral palsy to move around the campus and playground with her classmates.
A mechanical device for folding cardboard lunch boxes to enable someone with limited manual dexterity to work in a school cafeteria.
Work stool with customized padding and supports to allows a disabled student to work at a chemistry lab bench.
A portable sliding hand support to increase keyboard accuracy and endurance for persons with upperlimb weakness.
A switch operated electromechanical ball launcher for inclusion into physical education classes.
A three-wheel cart modified to carry books, supplies, and a computer. The cart easily attaches and detaches from a manual wheelchair and fits easily inside the user's van.
A radio controlled jeep modified for joystick control and a signal light box with sound output.
A wheelchair camera mount to enable a user with limited hand dexterity to independently take photographs and videotapes.
A customized, lightweight, and foldable work surface needed to prepare shoes for shelving.
An acrylic food tray designed to easily fit onto a student's walker.
Redesigned wheelchair arms that will accommodate a new laptray and permit access to the wheelchair's joystick controller for independent mobility.
Modified bicycle for a pre-schooler with dwarfism.
A "Teacher Attention Getter" modified from Snake Light mounted on a student's wheelchair. A small switch attached to a swing-away arm positioned next to the student's face allows independent activation.
Automatic jump rope turner made from a battery-powered hand drill mounted onto the side of a wheelchair with speed control via a joystick which built into an extended arm rest. The jump rope attaches to a plexiglas wheel held in the jaws of the drill.
An "Off-road walker" with large dolly wheels and aluminum tubing to facilitate walking on sand/snow. A special attachment on the back of the wheelchair enables an 11-year old to transport the modified walker.
A modified bike bag with a swing-away arm mounted to the front of a walker enabled a high-school student to carry his own lunch, books, and materials for a school job.

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