Week 4

Aanand M -

Hi everyone! I held my third driving session last Wednesday on 2/21, and it was even more successful than Week 3! All 4 families were able to make it to my data collection period. Although I haven’t officially collected any data (with the DMQ-18 and my qualitative survey for the parents) since Week 1, the growth I’ve seen in every participant is unbelievable for both me and their parent(s)! Since Week 1, every participant has learned the button-push mechanism (to propel the car) and also how to move the car forward and backward.

I wanted to also take this time to further explain the qualitative aspect of my methodology. Alongside assessing the DMQ-18, I have also created a survey for parents to answer on Weeks 1 and 6, to measure their own and their children’s reactions to driving the car and accessing this independence. Some Week 1 questions include:

  • Why are you interested in participating in this adapted ride-on car study for your child?
  • Have you ever considered another powered mobility device or accessible toy for your child?
  • What things will your child do or want to do?

Some Week 6 questions include:

  • How would you describe the benefits of the ride-on car? How would you describe the drawbacks of the ride-on car?
  • How have your feelings about the car shifted or changed over the past few weeks?
  • How do others (friends/family) respond when they hear that your child drives this car? Is this the same or different as when your child first drove the car?

These questions were adapted from Barchus et al. (2022), who similarly measured the qualitative effect of ride-on cars, but on kids with general developmental disabilities.

I returned to GiGi’s Playhouse this past week for our next session, and I will return once again next Wednesday for Week 5 of data collection!

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Comments:

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    natania_a
    I'm glad to hear that your third driving session was a success! I am looking forward to Week 6, when you and the participants' parents will get a chance to reflect on the benefits of these sessions. During this process, are you planning on surveying the children that can speak or are most of your participants unable to maintain conversation?
    aanand_m
    Hi Natania! I'm not planning on surveying the children (because most other ride-on car studies have not directly asked questions to children), but I'll be surveying the parents both for their opinion as well as their day-to-day observations of their child.

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