Preschool Wheelchair Safety

Preschool children may use wheelchairs for a number of reasons, including spina bifida, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, deformity, amputation, paralysis or injury. Many schools integrate children with special needs into regular classrooms, and this includes many preschools and Head Start programs. Preschool staff should receive training in order to safely teach, supervise and care for children using wheelchairs. Some children have standard chairs but others have special safety equipment or customized chairs, so staff should receive training about each wheelchair used by a child in addition to generalized wheelchair safety information.

Transferring

• When transferring a preschool child into or out of a wheelchair, staff should lock both brakes securely to make sure the chair does not roll out of position. If the chair rolls during a transfer, the child could fall or be injured. Staff should teach children who transfer themselves into and out of their wheelchairs to always make sure they lock their brakes, but children can forget and staff should provide careful supervision to ensure their safety.

Locking Manual Wheelchairs

• The brakes on manual wheelchairs should remain locked whenever the chair is not moving. This prevents the chair from inadvertently being pushed into walls, furniture or other objects or from simply rolling into something.

Motorized Wheelchairs

• Most motorized wheelchairs have settings that control speed. Preschool children need a slow speed setting as they learn to operate their wheelchairs. If the speed setting is too fast, children may have difficulty maneuvering around furniture or other obstacles and may run into things.

Car and Van Travel

• Ride Safe advises that wheelchair users should transfer to a vehicle seat and use a standard safety belt (or car seat for children small enough to require a car seat) when possible. If that is not feasible, then wheelchair users can travel in vans or buses that have special anchors to which the wheelchair can be attached. Staff members should receive training so that they know how to properly secure wheelchairs during transit.

Other Children

• Preschool children have a natural curiosity about anything different and that includes wheelchairs. If the wheelchair user gets out of his chair, other children may attempt to climb into the chair. Wheelchairs are personal property but beyond that, they are like an extension of personal body space for wheelchair users, and children should not climb into someone else's chair without permission. In addition, children climbing into another child's wheelchair could injure themselves by falling out of the chair or by running into furniture or other objects if they do not know how to operate the chair. For safety's sake, staff should teach preschool children not to touch another child's wheelchair without permission.