The Assistive Technology Program at USU serves individuals with disabilities of all ages in Utah. They do remarkable things in providing assisted technology devices and services.

Two volunteers at the assistive technology lab, Mike Stokes and Todd McGregor, collaborated on a specialty request from the Layton family.

The Laytons love to bike together. They have an 8-year old son, Parker, with Down Syndrome. They were searching for a way to go on their bike rides that allowed Parker to sit in front of the person pedaling for him.

They found a solution that would work online…for $5,000.

“We were initially contacted by Parker’s father. We got his ideas for the project and he gave us a link to that $5,000 solution; obviously they could not afford that,” said Mike Stokes.

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“We got to work and Todd designed and put together the layout of this bike. Through resources locally, we were able to bring this project together. The local Deseret Industries contributed five bicycles and we were able to tear those apart, then cut, then re-weld and re-assemble it all into a final product.”

The cost to the family was a couple of hundred dollars because of all the donated materials.

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“We also had a local person put together the seat for us that Parker is able to sit in. One of the requirements was the family wanted him low to the ground, so we designed it to be just six inches off the ground, with a five-point harness and the upholstered seat, donated by Shawn Atkinson of Atkinson Furniture.”