Assessment and Intervention for Tool-Use in Learning Powered Mobility Intervention: A Focus on Tyro Learners.

Young infants, children, and persons of any age who have cognitive limitations can be thought of as tyro learners, who are beginners in learning. For tyro learners, the self-produced mobility afforded by a powered mobility device offers opportunities, to explore tool-use learning and interact with the surrounding environment, thereby potentially enhancing development and learning, providing a foundation for future goal-directed, tool-use activities. The Assessment of Learning Powered mobility use tool, version 2.0 (ALP), developed with tyro learners, is a process-based implementation package, focused on assessing and progressing an individual's understanding of how to use a powered mobility device. Although the ALP tool can be used with any powered mobility learner, research suggests that this process-based approach may be, especially, beneficial for tyro learners, who are in the early phases of learning how to operate a powered mobility device. This article aims to (1) explain tool-use learning in powered mobility intervention; (2) distinguish between the characteristics of process-based and task-based implementation packages; (3) provide an in-depth description of using the ALP tool in providing powered mobility intervention; and (4) highlight the benefits of using the ALP tool, with a focus on tyro learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]