Promoting agency and communication through powered mobility: a single-group, repeated measures intervention using the explorer mini in toddlers with motor disabilities.
Liesbeth Gijbels, K A Ingraham, N L Zaino and 9 others
PMID 41602583WHAT IT FOUND
Ten toddlers with motor disabilities used a powered mobility device for 12 sessions.
They showed significant gains in cognition and receptive language on standardized tests, and increased joyful vocalizations during play, though expressive language changes were mixed.
Key findings
01Raw scores improved significantly for cognition, receptive vocabulary, fine motor, adaptive behavior, and social-emotional domains after the intervention.
02Scaled scores showed significant gains in cognition and receptive vocabulary, but not in expressive vocabulary or gross motor skills.
03During sessions, children showed a significant increase in non-babble vocalizations, specifically more delight and less displeasure sounds.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Small sample size (N=10) and heterogeneous disabilities limit generalizability. No control group, so changes cannot be definitively attributed to the intervention rather than natural development. Expressive language measures were limited by the children's baseline abilities (e.g., breathing tubes, hypotonia). LENA analysis was English-centric, which may have affected accuracy for multilingual homes. The study was exploratory and underpowered for detecting smaller effects.
Declared interests
The work was supported by an anonymous donor gift to the Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences (CREATE) and the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (I-LABS) at the University of Washington. The authors declared financial support for the work.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the improvements in raw scores as definitive evidence of the device's efficacy. Without a control group, these gains could reflect natural developmental progression or other factors. The study is a pilot with a very small sample, so results are preliminary and not generalizable.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →