KARRN and ACAT updates July-September 30th, 2024

Appalachian Center for Assistive Technology (ACAT)

• We were able to arrange transportation for 12 individuals who participate in the LKLP Compassionate Hearts Adult Day care program to travel to the UK Center of Excellence in Rural Health to work in the ACAT makerspace. We adapted the workspace to accommodate these individuals who helped to develop back to school kits for the Pre-ETS students we work with.  This was a full circle event since it is the pre-ETS students who are usually the ones making the “build” kits for the LKLP adult daycare participants. We will conduct more of these experiences in the future.

• We had 7 DPT students from the class of 2025 accompany individuals from the LKLP Compassionate Hearts Adult Day care program to the Hazard Black Gold Fall Festival. The students paired with a person and accompanied them through the festival, providing aide as needed. We hope to continue this next year.

• We continued our monthly activities at the Eastern Kentucky Veterans Center. Residents participated in a maker space activity. Each participant received a modified build kit to assemble a catapult, and once assembled the residents enjoyed a fun activity by launching marshmallows in a bucket, using their catapult.
• We had the opportunity to host members of UK healthcare and King’s Daughter Healthcare at the ACAT.  Following a tour of our center as well as the UK Center of Excellence in Rural Health, we continued our discussions about collaborating with King’s Daughter Health care to improve access to needed resources (e.g. DME, assistive technology, etc.) in the Northeastern part of the state.  During their visits Crystal had each person participate in cutting out items to create build kits for the LKLP Compassionate Hearts Adult Day care participating. They all enthusiastically helped out.
• We reached 1,026 individuals through public awareness events.
• We provided demonstrations to a few organizations.
• Makerspace 3D printed items and Laser cut items.
  • Crystal and the makerspace have been very busy this year.
  • Aubrey Cornett is a high school student from Hazard Independent High School who has been working a few hours each week in the makerspace. She has been a real asset.
  • 160 3D printed items created
  • 111 Laser cut items cut

CARAT Numbers and Assistive Technology Loans

• From July through the end of September
  • CARAT- 40 individuals, 41 items, valued @ $13,059.
  • ACAT- assistive technology loans: 14 individuals, 20 items loaned, valued @ $3,072.
• To Date Numbers for 2024
  • CARAT- 120 individuals, 125 items, valued at $34,971, loaned 3 Ramps @ $1,402. Total-$36,373
  • ACAT-assistive technology loans:  33 individuals, 39 items loaned, valued @ $11,706

Pre-employment Transitions (Pre-ETS) program

• We began our second school year at Perry County Central High School and our first at Hazard High school.
• Crystal began services on 8/28/24 & 8/29/24 and started the billing process in September.
• We have 39 students on our case load and 10 students waiting to be approved.
• Our first monthly billing cycle consisted of: Job Exploration- 23 hours, Work-based Learning-22.25 hours, and Workplace Readiness- 7 hours.  For a total cost in services @ $2,295.60.

CARAT-TOP Program

• Working in collaboration with Chuck Stamper (4-H Youth Development Program) we conducted a CARAT-TOP mobile event in early September.  We had 13 students from 3 counties meet in Jackson (Breathitt Co.) on a Saturday morning who learned about accessibility, inclusion, and access through adapting toys.  We brought our mobile build and tool kits so the students could try their adapting ideas. The students were a lot of fun and very interactive. They learned that not every idea works but we provided a safe space to test, fail, and try again.   We were very pleased with the outcomes of this initial test run of the CARAT-TOP mobile experience and are planning on holding additional experiences.  Chuck indicated that his 4-H leaders in western KY are very interested in this toy adapting experience for their part of the state. They know about the program since they have high school students who participated in the 4-H Teen Conference at UK the past two summers and they participated in the CARAT-Top experience we provide during this summer camp.
  • In subsequent events we want to make sure that students of ALL abilities are participating. We want to demonstrate that we are capable of adapting the environment and the experience to meet the needs of each student.
  • We have a meeting in early November with Dr. Laura Stephenson who is the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment Extension Director and associate VP for UK engage to discuss collaborations.

High school 4-H students demonstrating their creativity as they adapt toys and games to make them more accessible:

• We began a new cohort of high school students from Hazard Independent HS in the CARAT-TOP program. We have 17 students who are focusing on adapting toys and games for local organizations. They have come to the CERH the past several weeks to work in the ACAT makerspace to adapt their items.  This group is also involved with our first foray into creating adapt audio books.

• We will be giving a presentation about the CARAT-TOP program at the upcoming 2024 Closing the Gap conference in Minneapolis (October 22-25).
• We submitted a grant to the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky to support the expansion of the core CARAT-TOP program to additional counties in eastern KY plus the 3rd High School in Perry County (Buckhorn High School).
• We will be giving a poster presentation at the national ATIA conference in Orlando (January 30-February 1, 2025).

Toys with a Purpose program

• Once again, we participated in the University of Kentucky College of Health Sciences Summer bridge camp.  We had 55 high school students attended and learned about accessibility, inclusion, and access through adapting toys.
• We worked with 37 students in the Interprofessional Healthcare Residential College program to discuss accessibility, participation, and inclusion for individuals with disabilities through adapting toys and games. This was a great discussion.
• Working with Dr. Mary Jo Cooley-Hidecker we have another 26 undergraduate students working in the CHS Rehab Makerspace on multiple projects. Thank you, Mary Jo for all your work in coordinating the undergraduate students.  We are once again blessed to have some fantastic undergraduate lab managers to help to oversee the various work groups. Some of the areas the students are working on include:
  • Assembling 3D printed switches (including soldering) to be used for adapting various items.
  • Switch adapting various items such as bubble machines, battery powered NERF guns, etc.
  • Creating a line of barbies with hearing aids and cochlear implants.
  • Creating weighted stuffed animals.  These are very popular especially with the Child Development Center of the Bluegrass.
  • Etc.
• We continue to expand our collaboration with Angela Folczyk at the Child Development Center of the Bluegrass to provided adapted toys and weighted stuffed animals for their facility but also create adapted toys for their clients in the communities (especially rural communities). We have created multiple switch-adapted baseball pitching machines that have become very popular and we are currently working on switch adapting battery powers NERF guns for individuals with limited mobility who what to play with family members and other kids.
• We have begun meeting with Shad Lacefield the STEM Learning Coach for Fayette Co who also Directs the STEM BUS program.  This is a great program, and we are discussing a way to create a learning experience that incorporates the adapting toys concepts with his work with elementary school kids.
• We are planning to pilot a 2-hour experience in early 2025 with one of the local elementary schools that will follow the CARAT-TOP mobile concepts and will serve as a test project that can be incorporated into experiences we will conduct throughout KY, especially rural areas.
• We continue to collaborate with faculty and students in the College of Engineering, College of Design and School of Arts and Visual Arts (see below)

Student research projects

• Coordination and Assisting the Reuse of Assistive Technology (CARAT) program assessment.
  • 2 DPT students (Bella Estes and Lauren Briggs) and 2 UG students (Marquez Lassell and Hailey Herrington) have been involved.
  • An abstract for this study was accepted for the APTA-KY meeting on September 27.  Due to the storm on the 27th the poster session was cancelled. However, the posters will be shown virtually.
  • An abstract for this study was accepted for the APTA-Combined Section meeting in Houston Feb 13th, 2025.
• Coordinating and Assisting the Reuse of Assistive Technology- Together One Priority
  • 2 DPT students (Lauren Haney and Sydney Dehart) have been involved with this project.
  • Currently working on this manuscript.
• The Use of Virtual Reality in Physical Therapy Clinical Practice.
  • 2 DPT (Chris Burpo and Becca Risner) and 1 undergraduate (Genna Bickford) student involved with this program.
  • We collaborated with Dima Strakovsky from the School of Art and Visual Arts on this project.
  • The abstract for this study was accepted for the APTA-KY meeting on September 27. Due to the storm on the 27th the poster session was cancelled. However, the posters will be shown virtually.
• Examination of Health Department Health Care Services Provided to Individuals with Disabilities.
  • The project has been completed and the report submitted to the KY Office of Vocational Rehabilitation.
  • The preliminary results from this study will be used in a HRSA grant proposal we are developing for an early Jan 2025 submission.

Engineering student capstone projects

We continue to collaborate with Regina Hannemann and other faculty in the College of Engineering to work with their senior students. We are currently working with 8 teams of senior engineering students (43 students). 4 teams are in their second semester and we have 4 new teams. The 4 new teams also include a student from the College of Design. There are a large range of toys and games these teams are working on as well as version 2 for a modular sensory wall. Kristie Bartlett is a faculty in the College of Design has been part of this process.

The teams are tasked with creating a very solid prototype that can be tested in the real world. These initial versions will not accommodate for every type of disability but will serve as solid platforms that can be adapted to accommodate additional types of disabilities in subsequent versions.

We took the sensory wall V 2.0 team to meet with Angela Folczyk at the Child Development Center of The Bluegrass to get input what sensory items they should include and what “real world’ conditions they need to be thinking about. This was a great meeting.

The School of Art and Visual Arts

• A big thank you to faculty member Dima Strakovsky for his continued collaboration.
• Currently working with several of Dima’s students and Autumn to revamp the Toys With a Purpose website.  Hope to have new site competed by the end of November.
• In addition to Dima, Hannah Smith and Chad Eby continue to develop several other items that will help on multiple levels.
  • Hannah has develop several versions of a 3D printed switch that we will be testing. Inexpensive switches are crucial for making adapted toys available. To buy a basic 3” switch commercially cost $75. They get dramatically more expense the bigger the switch.  We can produce these switches approximately $5-7.
  • Chad has developed several varieties for 3D printed communication bracelets.
• Dima and Pat met with Angela Folczyk at the Child Development Cetner of the Bluegrass to introduce the interactive hallway project and to get her thoughts about how this project could be utilized and ‘real world” challenges that need to be considered.

The College of Design

• Kristie Bartlett has been helping with the new engineering students capstone project by having one of her design students integrated into the team
• We are working with her 1st students who are learning coding for 3D printers are designing a small case for us to place audio chip to record books. This will allow us to create adapted audio books.