Seating Problems Solved by the Rifton Activity Chair

We always appreciate it when clinicians tell us about unique ways they’ve found to use our innovative medical equipment. Since introducing the Rifton Activity Chair in March 2010, we’ve had a steady stream of compliments and feedback from therapists telling why they like the chair. Here’s a short list sent to us by Judi Rogers, OTR/L, of Los Angeles Unified School District.

Clinicians in Feeding Clinics are telling us that it is the chair of choice for use in their clinics and for parents to use at home to teach children who cannot easily swallow. “Children are making faster progress in therapy because we are not constantly battling the problems with positioning. I don’t know what I ever did without it!” — Elizabeth P. Clawson, MS, Ph.D., LCP, HSPP

Parents love the quick and intuitive adjustments they can easily make with the Rifton Activity Chair. One parent told us she sits her child in the chair to cut his hair, brush his teeth, and seat him at the table with his family for meals.

School therapists report preferring the Rifton Activity Chair over children’s wheelchairs because it allows for active seating.

• “I can easily adjust the same chair to fit a kindergartner or a 3rd grader and everything in between.”
• We can drop the chair down to the child’s table level and pump it up again, so the child can be transferred to a changing table of almost any height.
• The pelvic harness is a perfect design for supporting both pelvic alignment and external rotation at the hips.
• The chair tray angle is perfect for use as a slant support for students with decreased trunk control.
• “The adjustments are fabulous! The most important factor is how comfortable, functional, and straight the kids are in the chair!” — Judi Rogers, OTR/L, Los Angeles Unified School District

Six Seating Problems solved by the Rifton Activity Chair:

1. Wheelchairs are primarily designed for transportation, not function. They rarely fit under a desk or table. The height of the Rifton Activity Chairs can be easily adjusted—by therapist or teacher—to fit the student and the task every time.
2. To adjust a wheelchair requires new parts, a whole tool kit, and an appointment with a qualified technician. Rifton’s chair requires no tools to adjust.
3. Parents must choose a wheelchair or adapted stroller when their child starts school… Rifton’s chairs are designed for function, with more adjustments than expensive desk chairs.
4. Wheelchairs are so expensive that children often sit in the same chair from preschool through 4th or 5th grade… Rifton chairs can be adjusted over a wide range to grow with the child—and because they aren’t customized to one child, they can be passed to the next student, keeping fit perfect and costs down.
5. In order to learn, students must be comfortable, pain-free, and rested. Because the seat and back angles change easily, the Rifton chair can go from supporting good posture—to relieving pressure—to allowing a nap in seconds.
6. Lateral supports on wheelchairs are rarely adjusted properly… The lateral supports on Rifton chairs adjust independently and easily, so they can move out to accommodate jackets and back in when removed. A perfect fit means perfect support.