OT - toys for autistic children

[Guest guest]

I'd never heard of this guide before, and I know we have parent of autistic

children on the list. I thought this might be helpful, as the holiday season

is coming. Sorry it is a bit off topic. But, it is meant in the best of

spirits.

Jazz

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Like most 5-year-olds, loves to play. But not

every toy is fun for , who is autistic.

" It's hard to find something just for him. It's pretty aggravating shopping

for toys for him, at times, " said his mother, Navarro. " Some toys

that are meant for his age group are too complicated, but some are too

simple. "

Two years ago, Navarro got some help in finding good choices for by

consulting a guide compiled by experts at the nonprofit National Lekotek

Center and distributed by the New Jersey-based retailer, Toys R Us Inc.

" I thought it was wonderful. I've never seen anything like that before, "

said Navarro, 32.

The latest version of the free guide will be available Monday at Toys R Us

stores and online.

The family, which lives in Naplate, Ill., did not have good luck with items

from catalogs aimed at special needs children.

" He's advanced over a lot of those and they don't hold his interest, "

Navarro said. And also wanted to play with toys like those used by

his brother, Peyton, 3.

Navarro said the right toys help with the development of , an active

boy who loves to play outside as well as with laptop computer learning toys

such as LeapPad.

" If I gave him a set of blocks, instead of making a building or making a

castle, he will line them up from one end of the room to the other, " Navarro

said, adding that this is typical of many autistic children. will

also line up other toys, such as miniature cars.

" He doesn't play with them (toys) like other kids, " Navarro said, so she has

found toys that help him learn to read and speak, including those that play

rhyming Dr. Seuss stories.

The 85 toys in the guide are sold nationally, with just six available only

at Toys R Us stores, said company spokesman Cullen.

The company is printing 600,000 copies of the " Toy Guide for

Differently-Abled Kids, " about 100,000 more than last year, and absorbing

all costs, which will not be disclosed, Cullen said. Wayne-based Toys R Us

started the guide in 1994.

The guide arrives as the struggling toy industry prepares for the holiday

shopping season, when most sales are recorded. Children are increasingly

turning to video games and other gadgets. Sales of traditional toys fell 4

percent to $21.3 billion in 2005, from $22.1 billion in 2004, according to

NPD Group, Inc., a market research firm in Port Washington, N.Y.

Each toy in the 52-page guide includes a detailed description of how it can

be used, along with icons indicating whether the toy can stimulate

development in such areas as creativity, self esteem, vision or hearing.

The guide can be useful to people buying toys for many of the more than 6

million children in the United States who have disabilities, said

Nielander, executive director of the Chicago-based National Lekotek Center.

The group, which operates 38 therapeutic play centers in eight states,

evaluated some 200 toys over the past nine months to select those included

in the guide, Nielander said.

Certified play specialists observe families and children with the toys, and

determine which would work, for example, for a child who is blind, or for a

child who can't close their hand, she said.

" A lot of times, people look at play as being very simplistic. And it is

simplistic, unless it's your child that has trouble with play, " Nielander

said.

Lekotek chose a variety of toys, including some new toys " because those are

the ones that their friends and neighbors are playing with ... and everyone

wants to fit in, " Nielander said. " We try to get all the fun ones that are

going to be on TV and will be hot for the holidays. "

The criteria include toys that are easy to handle or manipulate, and don't

have a " right way " of being used.

" These are things that are good for all children, but especially good for

children with challenges, " Nielander said.

" We want to see toys that are great for the most amount of children. And

sometimes the smallest thing can make the biggest difference, " she said,

such as knobs that allow puzzle pieces to be lifted easily from their board.

Nielander noted that the guide features photographs of disabled children

playing with the toys, adding, " One mother told me that her daughter sleeps

with this guide because it's the first time she saw children who look like

her. "

---

On the Net:

National Lekotek Center: http://www.lekotek.org/

Toys R Us: http://www.toysrus.com/differentlyabled

[Guest guest]

What a perfect marketing ploy for increasing sales this holiday season. Who

cares if an autistic child does not play with a toy " normally " . If parents have

time to worry about this nonsense, then they are using up time that could be

used in having fun with their children, teaching them, and healing them.

I buy toys for my kids to have fun with, period. If it is not fun, then it is

not worth having. Autistic toys, what will they think of next? Autistic garden

plants? Autistic dining room tables? Autistic counter tops?

I used to line up seashells as a child, I collected from the beach. Just got

back from a coast trip, and I lined my dining room walls and windows with

fossilized rocks. And its beautiful.

What's not normal is taking every last dime, in the quest for normalcy from

people with autism or caring for someone with autism. What's not normal is

buying all this stuff just to find you are no better off.

Summer

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