How do parents find the right adaptive equipment for a child with a spinal cord injury? - Sara Klaas, MSW

Finding adaptive equipment for a child with a spinal cord injury can be a little bit challenging. There are a lot of different pieces of adaptive equipment that are involved with spinal-cord injury. Everything from manual wheelchairs, to power-assist wheelchairs, to power wheelchairs and power mobility, to different types of bracing for some amount of therapeutic ambulation, to all sorts of adaptive equipment that allows children to participate in sports or other activities that they may want to do. It's important that parents address their adaptive equipment needs with their rehab team; specifically the physical and occupational therapists will be the first people you want to talk to when you're looking at what adaptive equipment is best for my child. The important thing in pediatrics is to remember that those children will continue to grow and develop, and so adaptive equipment must be looked at on an ongoing basis. A wheelchair that we fit today for a young child may not fit in two years because of a growth spurt, or as we put a child in an adaptive tricycle, they may be ready for a different type of adaptive bike in two years. So, it's important to go to the professionals who have experience in that area, usually in your rehabilitation centers, and to also ensure that you're getting evaluated for ongoing equipment needs while your child is growing.