I found this article yesterday and I think it’s fantastic and adorable: Babies do the driving in Delaware lab.

The gist of it is that when babies crawl or walk around, they start to learn lots about their environment, which is critical for cognitive development. Babies with disabilities such as muscular dystrophy, who can’t move around on their own, are deprived of this. According to the article, “conventional wisdom has held that because of safety issues, children aren’t considered ready for [powered mobility] until age 4 or 5,” but researchers at the University of Delaware are studying the use of powered mobility devices by younger babies, in an effort to get disabled babies mobile sooner.

I never even considered this as an issue before. I hope technology like this (powered mobility devices for babies) becomes available to families to aid in their babies’ development. Kids with disabilities face enough challenges- the last thing they need is for their cognitive development to be at stake just because they can’t move around like other babies.  And besides, it’s really cute- check out the video accompanying the article.