Katie Ritz, a second year physical therapy student, shares about some extra steps taken in her recent clinical at Special Kids. . . .

While doing my clinical at Special Kids in Murfreesboro, I was asked by my course instructor to think of an inservice or project that would identify a need at the clinic. I noticed that while working with the children, we often used stairs as a strengthening technique, but the 8 in stairs were too high for many of the kids. The therapists would improvise and use benches to create steps that were not as high, but the benches were not secure, and made a safety issue. I enlisted the assistance of my husband, and with the space guidelines from Special Kids, we designed the staircase with 4 3″ steps and 2 6″ steps and handrails at two different heights. My husband and I donated the material and built the steps in a weekend. It is a great feeling to know that the stairs now sit in Special Kids’ main gym and are utilized on a daily basis by many children!