{"id":26207,"date":"2026-04-21T16:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=26207&post_type=story"},"modified":"2026-04-21T16:13:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:13:07","slug":"on-the-move","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/on-the-move\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Move"},"content":{"rendered":"
When you need to find 166su Clinical Associate Professor of Physical Therapy Jennifer Tucker \u201923PhD<\/strong>, chances are she\u2019s sitting cross-legged on a vinyl floor, tinkering with a child\u2019s electric car in the College of Health Professions and Sciences<\/a> Rehabilitation Innovation Center.<\/p>\n Or giving her cellphone number to parents of children with mobility challenges, encouraging them to call with questions or text photos of their kids driving their customized cars around their neighborhoods.<\/p>\n Or organizing dozens of volunteers \u2014 ranging from elementary schoolers to college students training to become future physical therapists, educators and engineers \u2014 in one of her many hands-on Go Baby Go! workshops throughout the year.<\/p>\n A national, community-based research<\/a>, design and outreach program, Go Baby Go! provides accessible and inexpensive solutions for kids and adults with limited mobility at no cost to their families.<\/p>\n True to the name of Go Baby Go!, Tucker hasn\u2019t stopped for a moment since introducing the program at 166su a decade ago. More than 200 cars and happily cruising kids later, Tucker and her team are gaining speed.<\/p>\n The origin of 166su\u2019s Go Baby Go! begins in Spring 2015, roughly 900 miles north of the university\u2019s main campus, at the University of Delaware. At the time, Tucker was six years into her teaching tenure at 166su. She says, while she loved shaping the next generation of pediatric physical therapists, she missed daily interactions with patients and impacting them as a clinician.<\/p>\n As she searched for a solution to fill that passion, she discovered the University of Delaware\u2019s Go Baby Go! \u2014 the first iteration of the program founded by Cole Galloway. His idea explored promoting mobility through play by modifying electric riding cars through household items including pool noodles, swimming kickboards, PVC pipe and industrial-strength Velcro to fit a child\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know when we look at children, from the minute they can figure out their arms and legs move, play is how they learn,\u201d Tucker says. \u201cChildren [who] have motor impairments \u2026 don\u2019t get the opportunity to have some of that cause and effect because they stay where they\u2019re put. They don\u2019t get to see, \u2018If I do this, then this happens.\u2019 And it diminishes their opportunities because the world doesn\u2019t always come to the child who is still. Many times, they have to go crash into it. That\u2019s where these modified cars can make a huge difference.\u201d<\/p>\n Tucker goes on to explain the benefits of movement and play as they relate to a child\u2019s development \u2014 affecting cognition, speech and language skills, and self-efficacy.<\/p>\n According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, \u201cearly learning and play are fundamentally social activities and fuel the development of language and thought. Early learning also combines playful discovery with the development of social-emotional skills.\u201d Plus, \u201cplay has been shown to have both direct and indirect effects on brain structure and functioning \u2026 [and] usually enhances curiosity, which facilitates memory and learning.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo if we can offer a form of movement in the same moment that their peer would experience in a typical developmental timeline, we can hopefully alter that trajectory and maybe prevent some secondary impairments, like diminished self-efficacy, or speech and language delays,\u201d Tucker says. \u201cThat\u2019s the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n Tucker thought Galloway\u2019s Go Baby Go! had promise and wanted to learn more. She cold-called Galloway on the spot, and he offered to visit Orlando to collaborate on opening a chapter of Go Baby Go! at 166su.<\/p>\n It seemed like a no-brainer \u2014 with three children\u2019s hospitals within a 20-mile radius of the main campus, UCF\u2019s longstanding commitment to community partnership and Orlando\u2019s reputation as a family-friendly destination.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Cole visited, he said, \u2018Jen, this place is magical. If this should happen anywhere, this should happen here,\u2019 \u201d Tucker says.<\/p>\n She adds that 166su was unequivocally supportive when she brought the idea to administration, who asked her what she needed to get started. Two months later, thanks in large part to Go Baby Go!\u2019s first philanthropic gift from the Down Syndrome Association of Central Florida, UCF and the community partnered for the chapter\u2019s first car-building event.<\/p>\n \u201cThen it just exploded,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know when we look at children, from the minute they can figure out their arms and legs move, play is how they learn.\u201d \u2014 Jennifer Tucker \u201923PhD<\/strong>, Clinical Associate Professor of Physical Therapy<\/p>\n For as long as she can remember, Cami Osier \u201915 \u201919DPT<\/strong> has been interested in working with children. The push toward physical therapy, she thinks, stems from her own experience observing her older brother\u2019s progression from therapy after he sustained a stroke at the age of 10.<\/p>\n She says he was told he would never walk again. Years later, he started running half marathons.<\/p>\n In 2016, Osier \u2014 who is now the associate director of Go Baby Go! and a pediatric therapist for Balanced Baby, a small business that offers prenatal and newborn services \u2014 was deep into her first semester of the doctoral physical therapy program (DPT)<\/a> at 166su when she says she was struggling with rigorous coursework. She felt very disconnected from her \u201cwhy\u201d \u2014 why she even wanted to become a physical therapist.<\/p>\n Go Baby Go! was gearing up for its second carbuilding event, sponsored by Orlando Health, that would produce 10 motorized, child-size Lightning McQueen vehicles<\/a>. Despite her limited free time, Osier decided to sign up to help, not knowing much more than it was about \u201ckids in cars.\u201d<\/p>\n She showed up and put all her studies into practice (while figuring out power tools she had never used before) to lead a team in outfitting a car for a little boy named Asher.<\/p>\n \u201cWe did this big race on Memory Mall, and I just wanted to cry. I thought, \u2018This is why I\u2019m doing this,\u2019 \u201d Osier says. \u201cI knew my purpose, so in that semester I was able to hunker down. Whenever I started to feel that disconnect, I could call back on that moment and remind myself that that was why I was putting myself through the stress of grad school.\u201d<\/p>\n Since then, the program has averaged 10 to 15 workshops from August through May annually to benefit children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years old with mobility issues stemming from Down syndrome, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy and osteogenesis, among others.<\/p>\n Every DPT student at 166su is exposed to Go Baby Go! because of the academic program\u2019s curriculum requirements. Participation is not mandatory, but Tucker says inevitably a core group of students every year commits to volunteering every chance they can.<\/p>\n Cait Wilkerson \u201920 \u201923DPT<\/strong>, who now works locally as a pediatric therapist at BrightStart Pediatrics, was one of those students. She still shows up around Tucker\u2019s lab and Go Baby Go! events. She\u2019s even referred some of her patients to the program.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t interested in pediatrics at first,\u201d says Wilkerson, who was hired at BrightStart immediately after graduation. \u201cGoing to Go Baby Go! events made me want to do it more. Now with my job, I work with super complex kids, and my experience at 166su and with Go Baby Go! and Dr. Tucker prepared me for that. It has had a huge impact on what I do now, and why I\u2019m passionate about my job.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the last decade, UCF\u2019s Go Baby Go! has built up such a reputation that prospective students talk about it in their interviews as they look to gain acceptance into the doctoral program. It\u2019s gone international, too, with partnerships in Belgium<\/a> and Wales. It formed a community advisory board in May 2025 with 13 partners, including Wilkerson, all ready to work together to make children\u2019s lives better and the community stronger.<\/p>\n As word has gotten around, students from other majors have gotten involved. College of Engineering and Computer Science<\/a> students have helped with the re-wiring required for the cars to go at the push of a button. Education<\/a> and psychology majors<\/a> have asked to join, and one College of Medicine<\/a> student was so impacted by her experience at a build that she asked Tucker to serve as her research mentor. That alum is now training to be a neuro-developmental pediatrician.<\/p>\n \u201cThe students are the engine that runs Go Baby Go! I couldn\u2019t do it without them,\u201d Tucker says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s mutually beneficial for them because this is an opportunity to practice professional skills they are going to need in the workforce: interacting with families, talking with them about a patient\u2019s strengths, assessing the fit of a child in a device,\u201d she adds. \u201cThey\u2019re practicing these skills in a way that\u2019s so much more impactful because there\u2019s an actual child in front of them. We\u2019re problem-solving in real time: \u2018He can\u2019t lift his shoulders up. What should we do to the button?\u2019 And that\u2019s a different sort of active learning and problem-based learning that really can\u2019t be replicated in a classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI work with super complex kids, and my experience at 166su and with Go Baby Go! and Dr. Tucker prepared me for that. It has had a huge impact on what I do now.\u201d \u2014 Cait Wilkerson \u201920 \u201923DPT<\/strong>, Health Sciences and Physical Therapy Alum<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A blonde toddler diagnosed with a form of muscular dystrophy sorts through Mickey Mouse and Bluey stickers for a red Mercedes convertible, which arrived by way of Amazon. Yellow pool noodles flank the sides of the car. A swimming kickboard helps support a padded seat insert. A chunk of an orange pool noodle boosts a blue plastic disc on the top of the steering wheel.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to see him with the chest strap and let\u2019s bring the button closer. We\u2019ll see if he can do it. I think he can,\u201d Tucker says.<\/p>\n The tot is a tad apprehensive at first. His mother places her hand on the newly affixed button.<\/p>\n \u201cCan you squish mommy\u2019s hand?\u201d<\/p>\n Challenge accepted. And<\/em> completed. He smiles.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this placement makes a big difference,\u201d Tucker says.<\/p>\n Tucker then turns to the parents. She gives them two of the three rules she lives by, along with her cellphone number.<\/p>\n No. 1: The car is not therapy. It\u2019s a toy. Go have fun with your child.<\/p>\n No. 2: Have the child wear a helmet, just like they would on a bike.<\/p>\n And then there\u2019s No. 3, her biggest rule: The cars don\u2019t cost anybody anything.<\/p>\n
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