At Geeks for Kids, our all-volunteer team designs and builds electric, toy cars and other assistive devices so that little kids with mobility challenges can play with others and explore their environment on their own.
The Problem
Over 500,000 American kids under the age of five and many more school-age kids have mobility problems, and few have access to devices that give them free movement. (Most insurance programs only provide electric wheelchairs for school-aged kids, and few parents can afford to buy electric wheelchairs on their own. These wheelchairs can cost many tens of thousands of dollars. This lack of independent movement severely limits younger kids’ interactions with their environment and with other kids.)
The Impact
Without free movement, these kids cannot grow and learn as their peers do. Even older kids with wheelchairs are often left on the sidelines as other kids run and play. The latest study, published recently in the journal Pediatric Physical Therapy, compared the activity of typically-developing toddlers to those with disabilities. The researchers found that typically-developing toddlers spend about an hour per day in direct play interactions with their peers, while toddlers with disabilities affecting mobility spend only six to twenty minutes per day in similar interactions.
The Solution
Geeks for Kids strives to change the way these kids experience their world. We give our kids a chance to move about and explore freely – not experience life as passive observers from strollers and wheelchairs. Plus, we make them feel “cool” with a hot rod that excites and engages their peers and encourages them to play together.
Our Mission
The Geeks for Kids mission is:
- To give kids with movement limitations the freedom to experience their world.
- To help them explore, learn and grow.
- To empower the high school and college engineering students who help build these cars to invent and build real, life-changing solutions.
- And, to bring the community together to do good things for kids.
