Team creates garment to prevent boy from movement injuries

Due to his condition, Jack lives with self-injurious behaviours, which makes difficult for his mother to leave him alone. So she wanted him to wear a garment that would leave him safe.

The boy, who is non-verbal, loves to walk without assistance but he can’t find good balance because of his body movements. He also likes to crawl to windows, walls or furniture and bang his head as hard as he can. So a solution was needed, to prevent him to hurt himself.

“He does, however, have motor abilities. We love that he can walk when we hold his hand and want to maximize this one ability that God graced him with. If he could walk more stable, and if we could not have to get up every five seconds to move him from hurting himself, all of our lives would be affected positively, more than words can say”, his mother explained.

So Janet and Chris, volunteers from May We Help (an organisation that develops gadgets to increase the autonomy level of disabled people), built him a garment, which consists of an impact reduction wearable system. They used the following materials: a life vest, an airplane pillow and a fabric sleeve.

Jack got the device in 2015.

His mother was very happy with the outcome. “I am able to actually leave him alone to use the restroom, take a quick shower or grab the mail. Something I couldn't do before we had the system. It is too funny, Jack begins banging on the walls or doors, but then realises nothing is coming out of it. He usually just gives up and lays down. Janet changed the lives of our son, myself and my husband. Even my two girls, who don't have to watch him continue to hurt himself as he had been. My husband and I are just so grateful. It may seem like a small project, but the independence we the caretakers have gained, and the protection our son has gained, is absolutely priceless”, she said.

Adapted from: https://bit.ly/2F6BxEz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfj1KaVsQc8