Dakin's New Toy

Here it is! It's a remote control car, specially modified just for Dakin. You may remember a bit ago that I had contacted a local university about modifying toys. What I was hoping for was maybe a student engineer organization who might modify one of his Elmos--what I got was SO much better. One of the engineering professors contacted me personally and asked if we could be included as part of one of their upper-level classes--a class that takes an existing product and makes it better for usage.

One of the groups chose us to work with and came out to evaluate Dakin's needs. They wanted to do a remote control car for him--one he could actually use. And the above is the result--a red and yellow all-terrain piece of freedom for my little boy.

They modified the controls to make it a two-swticher--forwards and backwards. It was rigged for the lightest touch, so all Dakin has to do is press lightly and he can make it work. He figured it out right away, and made the car go all over the lawn and on the street.

Dakin can't really lift his arms while sitting up, which, as you can imagine, severly limits his playing while in his wheelchair. The control solves that problem. He can--finally--play independently in his chair. He LOVES this car. He never gets upset at me taking toys when we're done with them, but he got very upset last night when the battery ran down. It was nice to see--not the upset part, but the fact he was so engrossed with a toy that he was mad he couldn't play with it right then.

We had scoured the internet and toy stores at Christmas to see if we could find a RC car he could play with. There was nothing. You can buy RC switch-adapted cars, but they're nothing like this, and they can't afford the back and forth that this one does.

Anyway...thank you again LeTourneau engineering department for caring about my little boy. Thank you for giving him an opportunity to play like other children. It's a blessing that I can't even begin to elucidate on.

*I wanted to upload a photo of him playing with the switch, but my stupid internet won't let me!!