Smart Suite lets families of children with disabilities learn how adaptive design, tech can improve their lives

The first thing Zoe Versteeg did after rolling into the living room was to change the hue-lighting colour to match the shade of her lavender glasses. The smile that spread across her face was nearly as bright as the lights in the room.

“It’s just joy, immediate joy when she sees something happening. She’s like, ‘I control that, I got to do that,’” Elsien Versteeg, Zoe’s mother, said. “Her being able to make those decisions on her own, she can just do it herself now.”

Zoe, who is 13 and non-verbal, uses eye-gaze technology to communicate and control both her wheelchair and an array of smart devices. Versteeg and Zoe were at the official opening of the Rehabilitation Centre for Children’s new Smart Suite on Aug. 26, where the team behind the project was demonstrating the breadth of adaptive design and technologies available locally for families of children with disabilities to provide them with greater independence.

The Versteegs use many of the devices in their own home near New Bothwell.

“At home she can control the music and TV, so she can choose what she wants to listen to or watch,” Versteeg said.

“It’s been fantastic and mind-blowing to get some insight into what she’s thinking, how she does things, and that she can do things without us. We don’t have to do everything. We all want to be able to control something. And now she can do that, it’s very cool.”

Ten-year-old Braelynn Bodman is already quite adept at using the adaptive tech throughout the suite, demonstrating a number of voice-activated features before being drawn to the suite’s Xbox game console.

“She’s more competent and capable with tech than me,” her mother, Maylia Bodman, said.

“Our daughter uses a lot of technology to navigate through her day, even just with her wheelchair. She uses lots of voice control. It’s so helpful when she can do things on her own and be independent. My daughter is very independent, so this has been great.”

The Bodmans have been working with the facility since Braelynn was a year old.

“The team here is amazing to work with,” Bodman said. “It’s kind of like a second home.”

The Smart Suite project has been in the works, in one way or another, since 2020.

“It all started with assembling kits to try with the families, but that didn’t really show them how it might work in the home,” explained Shae Hunt, manager of electronics engineering.

“So then we would take them to other homes (that had them installed), but like any tricky Wi-Fi device on somebody else’s network, it could be problematic.”

The new $275,000 demonstration suite is funded through a $200,000 gift from the Moffat Family Fund, which is administered by the Winnipeg Foundation, along with $40,000 in donations to the Children’s Rehabilitation Foundation.

It features a kitchen, living room, bathroom and computer/office space featuring adaptive and accessible features, all of which can be used by clients of the centre, along with pediatric clinicians and therapists to determine what could be replicated in the family’s home to help the children gain a greater degree of independence.

“Everything you can buy from a big-box store or online,” Hunt said. “We chose everything because of its affordability or ease of setting up.”

After determining whether and how such adaptations might be implemented, families are sent home with a starter kit. Valued at about $500 retail, the kits include Google Home and TV setups, a Hue lighting system, smart plugs, and more.

“When we give them something, we want them to be able to set them up in an afternoon,” Hunt said, adding that there is a fund to help cover additional costs once those systems are up and running.

“The goal is to show families that greater independence doesn’t have to come with a huge price tag or complicated installation.”

When the team can’t find a readily available product, they’re often able to fashion one themselves using a 3D printer.

“As an engineer, getting to see a child use what I designed or set up, immediately, and see that huge grin on their face, you can’t beat that,” Hunt said.

sheldon.birnie@freepress.mb.ca