Using a child's power mobility learner group to tailor power mobility interventions: a case series

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Rehabilitation
• Assistive Technology
• Occupational Therapy

Background:

• Power mobility interventions are crucial for children with disabilities.
• Individualized approaches are needed to optimize outcomes in power mobility training.
• Understanding a child's learning style is key to effective intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the use of a child's power mobility learner group (exploratory, operational, or functional) to tailor interventions.
• To investigate how tailoring interventions based on learner groups can enhance power mobility use.
• To present case studies demonstrating individualized power mobility intervention strategies.

Main Methods:

• A case series design was employed, presenting five participants across different power mobility learner groups.
• Interventions were customized based on each child's identified learner group.
• Key elements of intervention tailoring included goal setting, outcome measure selection, device determination, and strategy identification.

Main Results:

• All participants showed improvements in power mobility device use after the tailored intervention.
• The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure indicated clinically significant improvements in post-intervention scores.
• Tailored interventions led to positive outcomes across exploratory, operational, and functional learner groups.

Conclusions:

• Tailoring power mobility interventions to a child's learner group may optimize learning by meeting individual needs.
• Children across the learning spectrum can benefit from these individualized power mobility interventions.
• This approach supports the translation of research into effective clinical practice for pediatric power mobility.