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Local Lekotek
The Delaware Valley has two Lekotek Centers. They lend special needs toys & software. • Lekotek of Southeastern Penna., • National Lekotek, Shirley Eves Center, 313 N. 10th St., Millville, NJ 08332, 856-825-5840 |
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by Brenda Nixon
Play is children’s work. Through toys and activities, children receive a wide variety of experiences that nurture their developing abilities, stimulate the brain, support social and emotional skills and ultimately, assist them to succeed in life.
“Children who don’t get enough play time, (especially physical activity) often have a hard time sitting still, focusing on tasks or school work, calming down, falling asleep or managing their own emotions or behaviors,” says Kelli Arnone, an occupational therapist and co-owner of RehabToys.com.
Differently-abled children also benefit from toys for their therapeutic, educational and entertainment needs. Says Arnone, “Appropriate toy choices are important for children to have opportunities to acquire new skills and build their self-esteem.”
An entire industry is devoted to creating toys and educational materials for children with special needs. These are toys either made especially for this population or “off the shelf” toys with creative adjustments. Buying these toys can be a challenge. Explains Pat Ryan of Lekotek, a national network of toy-lending libraries that selects and adapts toys to a child's individual abilities, “The expense of specially adapted toys can be prohibitive to families.”
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Assistive Toys on the Web
Unfortunately, there are few retail outlets where assistive toys can be purchased. It’s primarily an Internet and catalog industry. Here are websites to get you started. Bear in Wheelchair is the first in a series of Crooked Critter Collectibles designed by Crooked Rainbows. This series will offer different animals with different disabilities. www.specialneedsfamilyfun.com/ KidAbility offers a variety of toys, furniture and adaptive technology, organized by category and sortable by price. www.kidability.com RehabToys.com divides its products into categories related to developmental needs. Its website includes an “Ask Our Therapist” section. www.rehabtoys.com SensoryTools.net provides sensory integration tools and resources by Carol Stock Kranowitz, an author, and Genevieve Jereb, an occupational therapist. Sew Dolling provides specialized sew *Able* and special like me dolls. The Toy Industry Association offers the free booklet: A Guide to Toys for Children with Special Needs. www.toy-tia.org (click on Library) |
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• Playdough and cookies, which offer tactile, olfactory and tasting benefits. If older children are ready, they can follow pictures or word directions for the recipe. “Playing with playdough is akin to doing art therapy,” says Lavin.
• Bubbles. Simple recipes are available on the Internet. According to Lavin, bubbles teach how to blow — which is great for children who have speech and sometimes facial issues — because you’re strengthening oral motor skills. “Blowing may also help with sucking,” she adds.
• Sidewalk chalk is fun for everyone. “Anything you can do with a child to tactilely, emotionally or intellectually stimulate in a positive way is great,” advises Lavin.
• Nursery rhymes. Singsong rhythms are important in developing speech. When parents "dance" with children, either while holding them if they need support or with two or more of the family holding hands to dance, it can improve both speech and coordination. “Some kids do their best communicating through music,” says Lavin. “I’ve heard many wonderful success stories where parents believe the seeds to their child’s success were planted when they read nursery rhymes to their child. It’s powerful stuff.”
• Laughter. A fun movie or game boosts the immune system and increases circulation. Laughter benefits the heart. Scientific studies show laughing has positive effects on the blood vessels, stress hormones, mental health and family relationships.
• Hand-sized squeeze balls, suggests Arnone, can be made by “filling balloons with sand, rice, flour, sugar or salt. Stretch the balloon by blowing it up a few times and then letting it deflate. Place one filled balloon inside a second stretched balloon and tie it off, making the squeeze ball more durable.”Squeeze balls assist sensory calming as well as hand strength. Arnone cautions, “These activities are not recommended for children who are still exploring toys with their mouth, as they may bite them.”
Parents find that encouraging simple pretend play can be therapeutic and cost-effective. Studies show that children with learning differences often respond to dramatic, expressive play-acting.
Borrowed and Purchased Toys
“While our program is not therapeutic in nature, families have expressed that the toys they are able to find at Lekotek have helped them to address the suggestions of OTs or PTs,” explains Ryan.
By providing a family with several “new” toys to take home to use for a month, Ryan says, “Lekotek works to minimize the amount of money that a family must spend to give their child meaningful and engaging play experiences.”
A trained leader also advises the family in methods of adaptation and in obtaining commercially marketed toys.
Purchased toys Arnone recommends include:
• Shape sorters and stacking blocks. These activities at a young age are important perceptual activities that will help children with more difficult tasks such as tying their shoes or writing.
• Tunnels are fun for many children, whether “typical” or having special needs. A tunnel can become a private place, a pretend house or a “time machine” to a magic land. Crawling through a tunnel causes weight bearing on the hands and arms, which prepares children for fine motor play.
“Pillows can be added for children to relax and calm them, or help active children to work harder to climb through the tunnel,” says Arnone. “This will help them work their muscles harder so they can improve their strength, endurance and arousal. When children get a lot of physical input, they will be better able to sit down and focus on skilled activities, sit still to eat a meal with the family or fall asleep better at night.”
• Puzzles help kids expand visual-spatial and visual-motor skills. “Playing with puzzles with your children while they are lying on their stomachs is a great way to get them to strengthen their back, neck and shoulder muscles too,” advises Arnone.
“These muscles play an important role in holding a child upright to sit in a chair without wiggling or slouching. Children who don’t have good postural strength have a hard time sitting, focusing and attending,” she says. Give children lots of time and opportunity to explore and play with a puzzle. Not only will their motor skills improve, but so will their concentration and ability to focus on a task.
Toys need not be expensive to fulfill their purpose. Psychologist Jean Piaget said, “Knowledge arises neither from objects nor the child, but from interactions between the child and those objects.”
Brenda Nixon is a freelance writer and author of Parenting Power in the Early Years (Wine Press Publishing, $12.95).