|
From 1990 to 1994 CALL ran two projects to first develop the Smart Wheelchair, and then evaluate them. The main outcome of the evaluation (apart from the Smart Wheelchairs themselves) was a report and annexes. Although this report was originally published in 1994, it is as relevant now as it was then. It is still one of the only pieces of qualitative research into the evaluation of the effective use of Smart Wheelchairs as a part of children’s emerging mobility, communication, education and personal development.
The report focuses on the development of the chair and the tools used to evaluate its use. Twelve CALL Centre Smart Wheelchairs were introduced to three Edinburgh based special schools.
The evaluation had three main objectives:
- To help the design team analyse the value of the investment in the chairs
- To explore the effect on motivation, mobility, and communication opportunties for children with a range of ages and disabilities, in a variety of settings
- To distil effective practices into guidance materials for future users
The final report relegated many of the detailed analysis and techniques to annexes which we hope to be able to make available on the web site in the near future.
We have provided the report in Adobe Acrobat pdf format. To view these files, you will need Acrobat Reader. This program can be obtained from www.adobe.com if required.
|
Download Entire Report
|
 (4.4Mb)
|
|
Or, bit by bit
Introduction, Formative Evaluation, Setting the Scene
|
(834Kb)
|
|
Case Study: Interpreting results & Group 1: Transitional training for conventional powered mobility
|
(825Kb)
|
|
Case Study: Group 2: Training for augmented powered mobility
|
(358Kb)
|
|
Case Study: Group 3: Reducing Passivity, encouraging socialisation and interaction, promoting exploration and play
|
(762Kb)
|
|
Case Study: Group 4: Combining mobility and communication aids
|
(992Kb)
|
|
Case Study: Summary of outcomes across cases
|
(513Kb)
|
|
Discussion of case study findings, Products, Future planning, Conclusions, References
|
(200Kb)
|
|
You can find out more about the Smart Wheelchair and download many more resources for it, including manuals and play books and references here.
|
