6C - Let’s Move Together Playgroup: Building Foundations for Families for Participation Through Early Self-directed Powered Mobility and Fun
| Friday, June 5, 2026 |
| 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM |
| Aras Ui Chathail |
Speaker
Miss Iwona Orlowska
Cerebral Palsy Cymru
Let’s Move Together Playgroup: Building Foundations for Families for Participation Through Early Self-directed Powered Mobility and Fun.
Abstract - Instructional Course
Structure
• Chair: Jenny Carroll.
• Speakers: Lisbeth Nilsson, Kirsty Taylor and Iwona Orlowska.
Objectives
• To share the process and outcomes of establishing an early mobility playgroup for children aged 6 months - 3 years who have complex neuro-disability.
• To explore how the ‘Driving to Learn’ approach and the ALP-tool (Assessment of Learning Powered mobility use) can be introduced to family/carers of young children.
• To demonstrate how the ‘F-words’ framework highlights important aspects in relation to early use of self-directed powered mobility.
• To share feedback from families who have attended the ‘Let’s Move Together’ (LMT) playgroup and to learn how it has impacted their lives.
Target Audience
• Physicians, allied health professionals, researchers, persons with lived experience, equipment providers.
Background and Summary
• Early self-directed mobility enables children to explore, interact and participate, fostering development across cognitive, perceptual, social and emotional, motor domains.
• 'Lets Move Together' playgroup for children aged 6 months to 3 years with complex neuro-disability in Wales is centred around the ‘F-words’ and ‘Driving to Learn’, aiming to promote children’s ability to use powered mobility devices for exploring the world by moving around, communicating and playing.
• When supporting a child in learning to use a tool/device to move around their environment and explore, it is important to tailor this to their level of fitness and functioning and it needs to be fun. The ‘ALP-tool’ created by Lisbeth Nilsson and grounded in research, provides the means to guide a child through this process, ensuring the ‘just right challenge’ as they progress through each stage of exploration and phase of learning.
• Family and friends help to foster fun and encourage children’s development to flourish, which can be seen in a playgroup environment.
• Previous research (Nilsson 2022) showed that infants from 3 months of age can operate a joystick to put a powered mobility device in motion, so that they can begin to learn about the effects of their own actions and their relationships to their physical and social environment from very early on in life.
• ‘Driving to Learn’ can help to equip and empower very young children with limited mobility, for becoming more aware of themselves, their environment, the people they want to interact with, and the activities they want to participate in, both now and for their future.
Course Format
• Introduction to ‘Let’s Move Together’ Playgroup, including set up, format, outcomes - 10 minutes, Iwona Orlowska
• Introducing the concept of ‘Driving to Learn’ to parents/carers of young children - 10 minutes, Kirsty Taylor
• ‘F-words’ and ‘ALP-tool’ - 20 minutes, Lisbeth Nilsson
• Feedback from families and the impact of early powered mobility on their lives - 10 minutes - Kirsty Taylor and Iwona Orlowska
• Q & A -10 minutes.
• Chair: Jenny Carroll.
• Speakers: Lisbeth Nilsson, Kirsty Taylor and Iwona Orlowska.
Objectives
• To share the process and outcomes of establishing an early mobility playgroup for children aged 6 months - 3 years who have complex neuro-disability.
• To explore how the ‘Driving to Learn’ approach and the ALP-tool (Assessment of Learning Powered mobility use) can be introduced to family/carers of young children.
• To demonstrate how the ‘F-words’ framework highlights important aspects in relation to early use of self-directed powered mobility.
• To share feedback from families who have attended the ‘Let’s Move Together’ (LMT) playgroup and to learn how it has impacted their lives.
Target Audience
• Physicians, allied health professionals, researchers, persons with lived experience, equipment providers.
Background and Summary
• Early self-directed mobility enables children to explore, interact and participate, fostering development across cognitive, perceptual, social and emotional, motor domains.
• 'Lets Move Together' playgroup for children aged 6 months to 3 years with complex neuro-disability in Wales is centred around the ‘F-words’ and ‘Driving to Learn’, aiming to promote children’s ability to use powered mobility devices for exploring the world by moving around, communicating and playing.
• When supporting a child in learning to use a tool/device to move around their environment and explore, it is important to tailor this to their level of fitness and functioning and it needs to be fun. The ‘ALP-tool’ created by Lisbeth Nilsson and grounded in research, provides the means to guide a child through this process, ensuring the ‘just right challenge’ as they progress through each stage of exploration and phase of learning.
• Family and friends help to foster fun and encourage children’s development to flourish, which can be seen in a playgroup environment.
• Previous research (Nilsson 2022) showed that infants from 3 months of age can operate a joystick to put a powered mobility device in motion, so that they can begin to learn about the effects of their own actions and their relationships to their physical and social environment from very early on in life.
• ‘Driving to Learn’ can help to equip and empower very young children with limited mobility, for becoming more aware of themselves, their environment, the people they want to interact with, and the activities they want to participate in, both now and for their future.
Course Format
• Introduction to ‘Let’s Move Together’ Playgroup, including set up, format, outcomes - 10 minutes, Iwona Orlowska
• Introducing the concept of ‘Driving to Learn’ to parents/carers of young children - 10 minutes, Kirsty Taylor
• ‘F-words’ and ‘ALP-tool’ - 20 minutes, Lisbeth Nilsson
• Feedback from families and the impact of early powered mobility on their lives - 10 minutes - Kirsty Taylor and Iwona Orlowska
• Q & A -10 minutes.
Paper Number
770
Biography
Iwona Orlowska MSc Physiotherapist, Medical University, Gdansk, 2009. Worked with children and young people with neurological conditions and learning difficulties for over 16 years. Passionate about helping them to achieve full potential and improve quality of life.
Kirsty Taylor, BSc Physiotherapist, Cardiff University, UK, 2010. Worked across acute and community settings, specialising working with people with Cerebral Palsy. Passionate about family centred approach and early intervention.
Lisbeth Nilsson, PhD, Sweden developed Driving to Learn in a powered wheelchair for people with profound cognitive disabilities and then in collaboration with Josephine Durkin PhD, UK, the Assessment of Learning Powered mobility use.
