Adaptive Design

Association

Our workshop and office space on West 36th Street is open on a modified work schedule. Tours are now being offered virtually. Check out our #AlwaysAdapting activities in support of our community. Learn about the ADA's Easel Initiative.

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Adaptations

We create custom adaptive equipment to maintain or improve the functional capabilities of children and adults with disabilities.

Get inspired by our past projects to create an adaptation that would fit your own needs.

Project Gallery

Tangible Symbol Cues

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Project Gallery

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A painted backrest board, about four feet tall, forms a 60 degree angle with its floor base. The backboard has slightly raised sides and an adjustable attached tray. Both are brightly painted in blue and yellow, with red highlights.

A small girl wearing glasses is secured in a colorful cardboard stander with an attached tray. She is playing with a tabletop toy. Her feet are safely held with dark blue straps. Toys and books crowd the background.

Supine Stander Adjustable

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A red tricycle is fitted with a high-backed cardboard seat painted the same shade of red and decorated with two white racing stripes. The seat has sloping sides several inches high. The pedals have been built up with blocks and fitted with straps.

Tricycle Modification

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An armchair upholstered in beige fabric has a patterned cushion added to the seat. A rigid, flat backrest has been inserted in front of the chair back. Attached to it is a sharply curved support at waist level, about 8” high; it extends further around on the right side than the left. At the top of the backrest is a sturdy U-shaped bracket holding another curved support.

A couple in their sixties sit in their living room with their backs to a sunny window. The woman, with short gray hair, sits upright in the modified armchair. The lower curved support is visible as it wraps around her ribs on the right. The higher support cradles the back of her head just below the crown.

Home Chair Modification

An unusual looking chair has a backrest and seat, but no arms. Instead of legs, it has two flat panels extending from the front and back of the seat to the floor. On the front panel, about a foot from the floor, is a platform that protrudes about 10”. A navy blue cushion covers most of the backrest, and two stripes of wide black tape run across the platform. The whole chair is painted a glossy blue.

Cafeteria Chair

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A blue cardboard chair with armrests is attached to a low platform. The chair’s seat and back are lined with dark blue yoga matting and tilted back about 30 degrees. The slightly curved headrest and the sides of the chair are comfortably cushioned.

A small boy smiles as he sits in the blue floor chair, which is now fully upright on its base. His left arm rests on the armrest and his bare legs and feet reach almost to the end of the padded seat. The child is secured by a wide blue torso belt.

Floor Sitter Adjustable

An 7-year-old girl sits in the rocking chair with arms extended to place her hands in her lap. Her head is reclined slightly against the cushioned backrest, which rises to just above her head. The belt wraps snugly around her torso. Her bare feet rest on the floor.

A cardboard chair has side panels that are curved at the base to form rockers, and are topped with armrests parallel to the floor. The seat and backrest are padded with white-covered cushions with bright pink trim. A wide belt is slotted through the cushion and backrest of the chair. The chair itself is painted sea blue with an elaborate undersea scene.

Rocking Chair

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A cardboard chair, painted a variety of vivid colors, sits atop a wheeled cart. The chair has a straight backrest, topped by a curved headrest covered with padding and gray fabric. Side panels are topped with armrests parallel to the floor. The seat is tilted so the the back edge is slightly higher than the front; it’s padded with purple yoga mat and equipped with a lap belt. The foot rest height can be adjusted by removing one or both of two cardboard plates. The wheeled cart, painted blue, has four casters mounted beneath a platform about 6” high and large enough to accommodate the chair with a few inches of margin all around. Round tubing attached to one short end of the rectangular platform forms a handle about 2’ wide and 4’ high, just higher than the chair’s headrest.

A girl, about 2 years old, with her hair in twin ponytails sits in the rainbow chair. Her elbows rest on the armrests and her feet are widely spaced on the footrest. An adult walks behind and slightly to the side, using one hand to push the wheeled cart. In the background, another adult holds two children by the hands.

Chair and Cart

Little Danna is riding in the adapted toy car. The big button on the backrest is positioned right behind her head. A series of black straps secure her trunk to the backrest. Her hands grip the steering extension.

A child-sized toy car has been modified for 4-year-old Danna. A high back support, padded with yoga matting, holds a large red button at the top. The lower part of the backrest curves around for her hips and trunk. Attached to the steering wheel is a rectangle of tubing reaching toward the rear. The car is hot pink; the modifications are pink and purple.

Ride-On Car Go Baby Go

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Two blue cardboard chairs with armrests stand side by side. Each is mounted in a base that extends a few inches to the back and sides. The taller chair has a beach ball painted on its side. Each chair has a blue-covered cushion, black yoga matting on the seat, and a footrest with non-skid strips.

Two young boys sit side by side in the blue cardboard chairs on bases. In their upright posture, their arms rest comfortably on the armrests with fingers curving over the front edges. The footrests position their legs so their thighs are parallel to the floor. Though the older boy wears glasses and the younger does not, the family resemblance between the smiling brothers is evident. In the background are bookshelves and a floor fan.

Freestanding Chair

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A red and blue open-sided box-like structure is new and shiny. It has a slightly wedge-shaped base. At the high end of the wedge, two dark blue belts are slotted through the side of the box. Below the belts, two rigid knee-level blocks protrude. Beneath is a blue plate with more straps.

A small boy is looking at an open Babar book as he stands leaning on the box-like stander. His arms rest on the play surface which comes to a little above his waist. HIs feet are on the blue footplate and one of the knee blocks is visible next to his leg. An adult holding the book is sitting on the floor next to him. In the background are a red sofa and some toys.

Prone Stander

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A set of three steps, each with a vertical red pvc handle at each end. The top step is on a narrower base, though the handles are set into an extension on each side to make them the same width apart as the others. The step unit is painted blue with red trim to match the handles. The treads of the steps have a white spider web pattern painted on them.

Wheelchair Transfer Steps

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A face mask sits on a plain background. Mask has a clear panel that makes the entire front of the mask transparent. The rectangular panel is framed by green fabric patterned with pale stars. Black cord attaches to the fabric panel on the side nearest the camera.

Clear Mask

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Tangible Symbol Cues

At Adaptive Design we make the Standardized Tactile Augmentative Communication Symbols Kit for American Printing House for the Blind. This system of communication is ideal for children with low-vision, blindness, hearing impairment, or other speech, language, and learning needs. This set helps learning partners (teachers, parents, peers, etc.) teach a beginning standardized vocabulary. To purchase custom cues and/or extended vocabulary options explore the order form.

Cue Project Gallery

A young student in a wheelchair with an attached plexiglass tray is laughing as an adult shows him a rubber duck embedded in a 4” x 6” white card. The adult, a man with glasses and a beard, is holding a spray bottle pointed toward the boy and is smiling. The background shows classroom shelves.

Water Play

A student is looking down at a 4x6” white card. His arms are resting on a blue cushion. The boy holds the card with his right hand, touching the red and yellow Ritz crackers wrapper embedded in it. His teacher, across the table from him, holds one corner of the Ritz crackers card with her right hand, while showing another card with her left. That one has two small ceramic tiles embedded in it.

Snack and Bathroom

A young student wearing a long-sleeved purple top reaches toward two cards held in front of her by an adult’s arm. One is a 4” x 6” white card with a yellow tennis ball embedded in it. The other card, barely 2” square, is right above it. She is touching the smaller card with one finger. Her other hand is tucked completely inside her sleeve.

Gym

A boy about 6 years old is facing mostly away from the camera, looking at 6 white cards, 4 x 6 inches each, arranged in 2 rows. Each card has a 3-dimensional object partly embedded in it. The boy is touching the card with the small yogurt cup, beneath which is a label: “yogurt.” The other cards are “juice” (juice box), “drink” (plastic cup), “cereal” (cereal pieces encased in plastic), “muffin” and “food.” (The last two objects are obscured.)

Food and Beverage