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Giving Everyone Access to Rehabilitative Resources
In collaboration with key local partners, OREC’s Adaptive GEARR Lab is leading the way in rehabilitation engineering, creating technologies that empower and delight children with disabilities while preparing tomorrow’s compassionate innovators.
Co-sponsored by Marquette’s Opus College of Engineering, the Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Engineering Center (OREC) and Children's Wisconsin, Go Baby Go! Milwaukee creates battery-powered, ride-on cars for children with limited mobility. Thus far, Go Baby Go! has delivered more than 400 ride-on cars free of charge to eligible children throughout Wisconsin.
These cars allow children living with paralysis and/or limited mobility to explore their environment in an exciting and developmentally appropriate manner — an experience that is truly transformational for them and profoundly helpful to their parents and caregivers.
Learn more about Go Baby Go! Milwaukee
A collaboration between OREC and Penfield Children’s Center in Milwaukee, the Inclusive Play: Toys For All makes electrical modifications to traditional off-the-shelf children's toys to adapt them for use in therapies for children with developmental impairments to help them engage in activities that develop motor, cognitive and social skills.
To date, 650 toys (25 unique designs) have been created by the Inclusive Play team and distributed at no cost to 24 clinics/school districts and families in Milwaukee. Toys have also been distributed at locations in Indiana, Kansas and internationally via clinics in Belize, Shriners Hospital for Children in Mexico City, and Marquette’s gait laboratory teams at the Philippine General Hospital in Manila.
Early intervention is key when working with young children with disabilities. Toys adapted through Inclusive Play: Toys For All allow them to play and communicate independently while growing stronger cognitive connections with their environment. Adapted toys also enable therapists to introduce concepts like cause and effect, critical for developing learning and communication skills. When the child pushes the enlarged switch on the adapted toy, something happens. This inspires a reaction from the child. For many, this is their only way of communicating.
Molly Erickson, M.S., M.Ed.Co-director, OREC's GEARR Lab
Gerald Harris, Ph.D.Co-director, OREC's GEARR Lab
Funding for these programs has been generously provided by the Children's Wisconsin Foundation, Penfield Children's Center and the Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Engineering Center at Marquette University and the Medical College of Wisconsin.
To make a contribution, please contact Senior Director of Advancement for Marquette University's Opus College of Engineering, Karlyn Agnew, or make a donation directly using the link below.
