Mom creates special skate for son with cerebral palsy

Laura’s son, João, was born in 2012. When he was almost two years old, he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy is a group of permanent movement disorders that appear in young children. It can cause poor coordination, muscle weakness and tremors, as well as problems with sensation, vision, hearing and speaking, thinking and reasoning.

Since the diagnosis, Laura has been trying to help ser son improve and better cope with daily life. At the age of six João could already sit alone and talk and he has now, at age seven, a very similar routine to other kids.

This year, João decided he wanted to skate and so his mom developed, with the help of a project called Skate Amina, an adapted skateboard.

The innovation consists basically of a skateboard connected to an external support, which is also connected to the user and surrounds them, making sure they stay stable. Then, an adult can simply push the support around in the skatepark, so the kid can skate.

The project Skate Amina has been working since 2015 in the neurofunctional physiotherapy space of Porto Alegre in Brazil, which tries to bring sports to children with neurological diseases.

Laura shares on the ‘Avante Leãozinho’ facebook page, the progress her son makes.

Adapted from: http://bit.ly/2Pb2KMc
More info: http://bit.ly/2pJM7MX
Video: http://bit.ly/2o9ihkw