ST. GEORGE — To the casual observer, the six small, battery-powered cars customized at Atwood Innovation Plaza may look like little more than children’s toys.
But, to the child whose adaptive needs had inspired the modification and design of each car, the miniature vehicles offer much more than entertainment.
Madilyn Steele could hardly be stopped once she got behind the wheel of her own ride-on car. She did countless circuits in the courtyard of Innovation Plaza, grinning at her parents as she steered the red, rock-crawler-inspired vehicle she had chosen to be just like her dad.
“She’s been so excited ever since she found out,” said Britney Steele, Madilyn’s mother. “She’s paralyzed from the knees down, and she has a hard time getting around outside as it is. We couldn’t do a gas pedal or anything, so they found a car that fit her well, did all hand controls and installed the safety restraints she needed.”
As one of six kids chosen for this year’s Go Baby Go program at Dixie State University, Madilyn received her car alongside her peers in the STEM Outreach Center on April 22. Parents and student volunteers helped each child into their vehicle and watched as they began to explore the new limits of their freedom.
“This might be the first time that they’re actually able to move on their own, and when I watch them I actually get a little choked up,” said Nicole Schneider, co-lead for the program and assistant professor at Dixie State. “It’s amazing to just watch them move, and to see the smile on their faces.”
2022 marks the third year of Go Baby Go at Dixie State, and it all began with a collaboration between Schneider and Burke Jorgensen, a local physical therapist working for Intermountain Healthcare.
After receiving nominations from local pediatric physical therapists, Dixie State’s physical therapy assistant program takes over from there. Student volunteers meet with each child and their family to not only identify assistive needs but also learn about favorite hobbies, animals and places for decorative elements.
The result is a one-of-a-kind car that supports its user’s special needs while reflecting their personality, improving the lives of DSU students and community members, said Drew Wilcox, director for the physical therapy assistant program.
“This gives students hands-on time with real patients, and when you see these kids in their cars they just light up,” Wilcox said. “When they realize they now have independence, it completely changes their outlook on life. They’re more willing to interact with other people when they have the ability to go discover what they want to. So it was a selfish reason to start it for students, but the collateral benefit is that this can be a life-changing addition for kids.”
The program has grown in scale and contributions year after year, with engineering students adding their talents for design and problem-solving to this year’s charitable effort. Spending topped $7,000 to secure the vehicles and necessary equipment – a sizable increase from the first year’s $4,000 grant, Schneider said.
In addition to rewiring the cars with alternative throttles (usually a big red button kids immediately understand), the cars are often outfitted with custom harnesses and cushions to protect kids while they ride, remote control capabilities for parental oversight and modifications to accommodate breathing apparatus or other adaptive devices.
Custom additions are made not only to help the kids enjoy the ride, but to strengthen the very areas that physical therapists are working on with them.
“Sometimes we might want the child to be able to hold their head up better, so we’ll mount the button behind their head so they have to lift their head up in order to move,” Schneider said. “If we want them to stand up or use their legs more, we might put them in a motorcycle, have them stand or push the button with their legs. Most, if not all, of the cars we’re designing for functional purposes.”
With plans to resume the program in the fall and even expand the contributions made by the engineering department, Go Baby Go has a future at the university as it continues to invest in technical education and community engagement.
In the meantime, children and families that have already benefited from the program will be able to explore the new limits of their lives.
“We’re just so grateful,” Britney Steele said, as her husband Chad chimed in, “We live across the street from a park, so now Madilyn can go across the street, cruise around and do all the fun stuff on the weekend. It’s going to be good for her independence.”
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