High school students help bring mobility to toddlers with disabilities

Maddi Riemann had a smile on her face, her hair down and her floral sunglasses on as she drove around Wichita State University’s Experiential Engineering Building in her very own hot pink, modified, ride-on toy car.

“She’s 2 going on 13,” her mom, Katie Riemann, said as she watched Maddi cruise around in style.

Maddi, 2, has spina bifida, a birth defect that inhibits her mobility due to her spinal cord failing to develop properly.

She struggles moving around and relies on the help of her family. But thanks to Rainbows United and WSU’s GoBabyGo! Project, she and three other toddlers were moving and exploring in style.

“We want her to be just like other kids as much as possible, and really right now the only thing holding her back is being able to walk,” Katie Riemann said. “This allows her to explore and see what other kids are seeing.

“There isn’t anything wrong with them. The kids are not disabled, they are just differently abled.”

Eleven high school students from the Wichita area spent the week retrofitting toy ride-on cars for Maddi and the other children with disabilities including spina bifida, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and dystonia.

The students were divided into four pit crews that rewired, reprogrammed and adjusted the cars in partnership with WSU students in physical therapy and engineering.

“We hack the car — we change the electronics inside — and we custom fit it for each child,” said Samantha Corcoran, engineering instructor and a coordinator for the program.

To help Maddi move, the students rewired the car to include a switch that allows her to drive while sitting or standing. When sitting, she only has to push a button to drive the car.

When standing, her seat acts as the brake — when she sits, the car stops, when she stands, it goes.

“They want to give her practice standing up,” Corcoran said. “This car should help her practice and build up those leg muscles and coordination to do that.”

Maddi’s pit crew also installed a frame out of PVC pipes to attach a safety harness for added support.

Each car that each child took home cost approximately $300 and was funded through various donors and sponsors.

Mark Behrends, 15, was one of the students on Maddi’s pit crew and said he plans to study computer science in college. While he said rewiring the car was exciting, it was nothing compared to seeing Maddi drive the car he and Brock Yocom, 15, engineered.

“It was precious and completely unheard of to see Maddi drive the car we redesigned,” Behrends said. “When we saw her face light up, start smiling and get used to the car, that was just something else.”

This story was originally published June 15, 2017 at 6:14 PM with the headline "High school students help bring mobility to toddlers with disabilities."