Mobility and Public Transport Use Abilities of Children and Young Adults With Intellectual Disabilities: Results From the 3‐Year Nordhorn Public Transportation Intervention Study

Abstract

AbstractIn addition to individual mobility needs, today's society requires spatial mobility within the expected social role of a pedestrian and bus passenger. A social‐ecological model helps to identify opportunities to promote participation in traffic wayfinding by recognizing the multiple factors that influence an individual's behavior. The Nordhorn Public Transportation Intervention Study project in Germany had the aim of increasing the independent use of public transportation by students with intellectual disabilities (ID) through interventions in the social and physical environment. Success of the project was measured by the number of students who were able to independently go from home to school at the end compared with the start of the project and by the skills students evidenced with coping with barriers on their way to school at the end of the project compared with their baseline skills. This multicenter study included various types of interventions: assessment of mobility/traffic competency, mobility integrated individual educational plans, mobility and traffic curriculum, information for teachers and parents, training for bus drivers, real‐life traffic training, support by mobility trainers and trip coaches, adaptations to streets and buses, and incident management including the use of communication devices (e.g., mobile phones with Global Positioning System). At the start of the project, <1% of the 124 students with ID used public transport to get to school, 3 years later, the proportion increased to 65.3%. On 19 of 29 items, students showed relevant and statistically significant improvement of skills in public transport use and traffic wayfinding behavior compared with the situation at baseline.