19-month old Myles trying out his newly fitted and modified electric, ride-on car, June 9, 2023. PC: Fox 11 Online
GRAND CHUTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Students at Fox Valley Technical College are making a difference.
Two Fox Valley area children now have their very first cars, thanks to them.
But these aren’t your everyday 4-door sedans — these electric, ride-on cars were fitted and modified to help these kids with special health needs, gain more mobility and independence.
Lisa Hill and her husband are proud parents of three boys.
Their youngest son, 19-month-old Myles, has Down syndrome.
When her two sons found out they were having a little brother, they were ecstatic.
“Some of their things that they wanted to do when they found out we were pregnant was teach him how to bike and all these things,” said Hill.
But when they got the news that their little brother, Myles, had Down syndrome.
“They were worried they wouldn’t be able to do some of those things,” said Hill.
But thanks to a national program, Go Baby Go!, Myles is one of the two children in the Fox Valley, now able to do some of those things.
“This is amazing, they get to teach him how to use this,” said Hill. “He gets to go along on our bike rides and on our walks, and it gives Myles a little bit more freedom too, so they can see that he’s just like every other kid.”
Children’s Wisconsin and Fox Valley Technical College partnered to make this a possibility.
“A lot of the children that we work with are children that have mobility impairments, so they may not yet be able to walk, they may have difficulty crawling,” said Katelin Keck, physical therapist with Children’s Wisconsin.
Keck says the main goal is to give these children independent mobility.
“Where their parents may have had to carry them or move them, now they can just go, because they have a car with a button that’s adapted for them to press and be independent movers,” said Keck.
FVTC faculty and students build each car, which is provided to the families for free.
“These are just regular cars we can buy off the internet and then we have schematics that we wire them according to just so that instead of using the foot pedal, they’re using the push button on the steering wheel instead,” said Aaron Daane, Electromechanical Technology instructor at FVTC.
Daane says when the opportunity came to be, he was excited for his students.
“I know our students who were here for the first fittings when they saw the children get the car to move for the first time and that smile on their face, that was really enlightening to them to see that and I think it really proved why we’re doing this,” said Daane.
Carlos Luna, a student who helped build the car, says this car is a great alternative to other mobility equipment
“For a kid it maybe can be scary or different or he may feel uncomfortable in a wheelchair, so using an RC car, those cars are kind of cool,” said Luna. “The kids can kind of feel like they’re actually driving a car.”
The Go Baby Go! program anticipates being able to build two cars a month during the next year.
“It’s just so exciting that he’s able to go along with the boys to be able to be mobile for the walks and he has his own little freedom,” said Hill.
Families can see if they qualify and apply to the Go Baby Go! Fox Valley program by clicking here.
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