AT4Kids Special Projects
Lincoln Memorial University College of Medicine Prosthetic Limb Collaboration
In 2017, a collaboration with the Lincoln Memorial University College of Medicine and the nonprofit organization e-NABLE resulted in fabricating prosthetic limbs using 3D printing technology for several students in our districts.
Vanderbilt’s Tikkun Olam Maker (TOM Global)
Janice Reese, AT program director, has been chosen to participate with the Tikkun Olam Maker (TOM Global) make-a-thon events hosted by Vanderbilt University in 2018 – 2020. An international initiative, the TOM Movement is made up of local TOM Communities which create and disseminate affordable solutions to challenges of people with disabilities, the elderly, and the poor. Each TOM Community is comprised of makers (engineers, designers, developers, AT Specialists, therapist, etc.) and individuals with a neglected challenge. All prototypes developed during weekend make-a-thons are documented and shared open-source.
Cars4Kids Initiative
Our Cars4Kids initiative was launched in 2016 in collaboration with an engineering classroom at a local high school. The project mirrors GoBabyGo from the University of Delaware which redesigns and adapts ride-on cars for preschool children with disabilities to enable independent mobility and exploration. This is now an international initiative, but there is no chapter in East Tennessee. Seeing this need, AT4Kids paired with a local Kiwanis Club to purchase five vehicles and worked with engineering students to provide needed adaptations. The program was successful and has been offered again with new volunteer support provided by local OT graduate students assigned to AT4Kids for fieldwork placement. Engineering students at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga are currently working to provide electrical modifications. We hope to launch an official GoBabyGo chapter when our makerspace allows room.
Tellico Village Computer Users Club
The Tellico Village Computer Users Club is a volunteer organization comprised of retired engineers and professionals living in a local retirement community. The group refurbishes and donates computer systems to area students, including those with special needs. We have a long-standing affiliation with this group, and they have supported our center with many related projects. Our center refers children and then provides adaptive hardware, software programs, and training to families for use to enable access in the home.
Adaptive Halloween!
In collaboration with a local high school arts program, a talented student was recruited to help our center modify a wheelchair for a youngster with significant challenges, turning the chair into a bulldozer for Halloween. Since his rehab team is trying to teach him how to use a simple voice output device, this gave us the opportunity to make it meaningful. We recorded “I’m Bob the Builder!” sound clip to a simple communication device and placed in on the vehicle. He was quite popular during his hometown street festival, independently answering when asked who he was!
Volunteer Program for National Honor Society & Tennessee Promise
High school students from the region serve as volunteers with our program to fulfill requirements for National Honor Society membership and Tennessee Promise scholarships. These volunteers help fabricate custom materials, particularly adaptive books for local teachers to support hands-on literacy learning. Since many educators purchase classroom resources but never have the time or resources to fabricate them, our volunteers provide a valuable service!
Playground Communication Boards Collaboration with the University of Tennessee
An ongoing collaboration with the Speech and Language Department at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center allows us to address individual student needs and those in the larger community. In 2020, we secured grant funding to place six Core Communication Boards on school and community playgrounds to foster visually supported communication with our non-verbal students. Virtual training is being provided to school staff to demonstrate the use of these communication supports.
Kiwanis Club STEM Collaboration
We have benefitted from an alliance with our local Kiwanis Club over the years. After we secured a $6,000 grant to provide supplies for our first collaboration with a STEM classroom two years ago, these same volunteers went into the school to help teach students how to modify toys and fabricate simple items like battery adapters, 3-D switch cases, and tactile communication symbols. Here, a Kiwanis volunteer teaches basic soldering and wiring skills to their students. Costs for commercially manufactured switches average $35-$80 each. Students fabricate them using a 3D printer for less than $2.00. Simple battery adapters cost $13-16 each, but our students can fabricate them for about 80 cents. These items are the most requested by families because they are so expensive many cannot afford them.
OT Fieldwork Collaboration with Tennessee Wesleyan University and Roane State Community College
Our program director is both an AT Specialist and an occupational therapist. She is passionate about educating the clinicians of tomorrow, so our center serves as a fieldwork education site for students enrolled in OT programs at Tennessee Wesleyan University and Roane State Community College. These internships provide firsthand experience with assistive technology design and fabrication through meaningful project-based activities. Here, graduate students from the TWU program fabricate art devices and modify items for our schools.
#GivingTuesday Fundraiser
We do more than address the accessibility needs of students in their classrooms! We love these kids and look for opportunities to improve their lives in personal ways, as well. Our staff initiated a fundraising effort during #GivingTuesday on Facebook, raising over $700 to buy a special battery-powered car for this young man who has severe CP. Several of our OT interns completed the seating modifications and engineering students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga completed electrical adaptations to allow one-handed joystick control. Now he is able to accompany his mom out to the barn to feed the goats!
CARES Grant AT Home Project
The AT Home Project was launched in early November 2020 using COVID relief funding. We received $37,000 in relief funds to purchase materials, technologies, adaptive equipment, and general supplies for issues to educators and families struggling to address learning “at home” for students with special needs. Most schools lack a sufficient quantity of even simple items used in the classroom each day, making it impossible to support the needs of all students once they moved homebound for virtual instruction. When schools began to shut down for the pandemic, we immediately loaned out most items through our equipment lending center and then applied for these funds to help meet the growing need. We hired temporary assistance for four months, furiously fabricating materials and sending them out to those in need across the region. As these images show, these projects (although very exciting!) have pushed our small office space to max capacity.