PediaStaff Resources - Switch-Adapted Toys: The Power Of Fun Therapy

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Switch-Adapted Toys: The Power Of Fun Therapy - Featured June 25, 2010

By: Eva Witkowsk

Early Intervention Specialist and founder of adaptivePlay

As the famous author Diane Ackerman once expressed, “Play is our brain’s

favorite way of learning”. From a very early age, most of us get to embark on an

exploratory mission to become aware of our surroundings and our own capabilities

through Play. Toys prompt us to not only have fun, but also to help us sustain

our curiosity to keep learning. However, many children with limited fine motor

skills and low muscle tone (for example, Cerebral Palsy, SMA, etc) do not get

the chance to interact with most of the cool toys that are readily usable by

everyone else. Many of these children cannot interact with battery-operated toys

because the ON and OFF switches are very small and require the user to have

enough dexterity and strength in the fingers to operate them. Fortunately, there

are ways of making these toys accessible to these children; in fact, toys can be

adapted so that they can be operated using a larger switch that is much easier

to activate (similar to Ablenet’s Jelly Bean switch). In this short article, we

will give a quick overview of the different methods to adapt toys, and discuss

the benefits of using switch-adapted toys as tools for therapy.

Toys can be adapted so that a much larger switch can be plugged into the toy and

become the toy's new switch. It is then much easier for the child to hit/push

the larger switch to interact with the toy. There are primarily two methods to

adapt toys: 1) interrupting the batteries, or 2) interrupting the switch

directly. Obviously, each method has its own advantages and challenges.

The most straightforward method to adapt a toy is to interrupt the batteries of

the toys, which basically means that the wires of the larger switch are

connected to a piece of cupper-platted board that is squeezed in between one of

the batteries and the terminal that feeds to the hardware (motor/CPU/speaker of

the toy). Once the large switch is pushed, the batteries provide the power for

the toys. In this method, the large switch essentially becomes a traditional

ON/OFF switch. Therefore, this method can only be used with more basic toys that

only have continuous ON/OFF modes (for example, a small dog that keeps barking

until it’s switched off). The advantage of this method is that it is relatively

easy to implement; however, there are some clear limitations such as the

interactivity of the toy. Additionally, this method presents some challenges

when the batteries run out and need to be changed since the cupper-platted board

is squeezed in between the battery and the terminal.

The second method of adapting toys is by interrupting the switch of the toys

itself. Instead of simply interrupting the batteries, the toy is disassembled to

find the wires of the toy’s primary switch. Once the wires of the switch are

found, the wires of the switch are cut and rerouted to the larger switch.

Obviously, this method is much more complex and requires a certain level of

technical know-how to implement. However, it opens up a whole new range of

possibilities as far as adapting engaging toys that are popular and highly

interactive, such as toys that do something new and different every time the

switch is activated. The challenges associated with this method are mostly

around time and technical know-how since every toy is unique and requires a fair

amount of exploration before finding the wires that connect to the hardware.

Switch-adapted toys allow some children with special needs to experience fun

times in their lives. Parents of children with special needs are not always

aware of the switch-adapted toys options available to them, and understandably

default to not buying toys for their children. There are clear benefits of

creating playful moments in these children’s lives and switch-adapted toys are

one of many ways for parents to bring Play into their children’s routines.

Building on children’s desire to experience fun moments, occupational therapists

and early intervention specialists can leverage switch-adapted toys and

integrate them in their therapy strategies. When working with younger children

with special needs, therapists regularly have to deal with compliance and

adherence challenges:

* Child does not comply with therapy exercises because they are painful or

simply too boring.

* Therapy stops when the therapist leaves because parents do not feel

properly equipped to pursue the exercises on their own, which ultimately slows

down the child’s progress.

Switch-adapted toys are effective prompts that therapists can use during their

sessions and parents can use after-hours. Depending on the circumstances,

switch-adapted toys can have significant positive impact on the following:

* Strength

* Fine motor skills

* Visual focus

* Range of motion

* Cause and effect

* Sense of control over environment

Different types of toys will accomplish different goals, but therapists can use

their creativity to purposefully integrate switch-adapted toys into existing

practices. Switch-adapted toys are becoming much more sophisticated and fun, so

therapists/parents have many more options to pick from to ensure their

patients/children get to play with toys that they truly love.

This Month's Featured Vendor: AdaptivePlay

We thank Adaptive Play's founder, Eva Witkowska for providing this article for

our Newsletter.

adaptivePlay is an organization that focuses on promoting the importance of Play

for children with special needs. On their site, you will find a diverse

selection of toys that will help children with special needs to enhance their

physical, cognitive and socio-emotional skills. At adaptivePlay, they strongly

believe that play can be a great complement to therapy by making it fun and

easier to adhere to.