Toys for Children with Disabilities – It is the nature of children if they like playing. For some parents with special needs children, giving and providing the best for their loved ones are necessary conditions. Choosing appropriate toys for children with autism can help them to have the same chance to any child. Some online stores provide toys that are designed for children with autism. Children with autism often have difficulties in understanding verbal communication and developing social interaction. Children with autism might not be comfortable to play or to share their toys with other children. In communication, they might have a problem in showing gestures, even pointing.
Good toys for helping them are now widely available on the market. They offer various types of toys for children with special needs. Some toys specifically aim for children to enable their sensory system. Sensory toys for special needs allow children to develop their sense. To be more aware of something they touch, something they see, and something they listen to. Sensory toys also help them to focus and learn. Sensory Toy Warehouse provides various sensory toys for children with special needs. One of the beautiful toys is Wooden Flexi Ballerina. This toy is good to activate fine motor skill. This is designed beautifully and safe for children to keep fidgeting to distract negative behavior. Furthermore, this can also be toys for children with Down syndrome. Children with Down syndrome might have difficulties with fine motor skills. This type of toys and puzzle are good for children to develop fine motor skill.
Some parents might look for toys for toddlers with learning disabilities. Puzzles, building blocks, flash cards, songs, videos can be the options as learning aids. Educational toys are helpful for children with learning disabilities. However, parents need to recognize which ways of learning work for their children. Some might develop an auditory, visual, or kinesthetic way of learning. Toddlers with kinesthetic learning learn best through experiencing things on their own. Visual learners need to see things they learn. For instance, learning kinds of fruit by having the fruit toys with actual size and color can help visual learners. The children can see the appearance of certain fruit and easily memorize it.
Also, some might look for adaptive toys for special needs children. Adaptive toys can be adjusted to certain aims or situations. This type of toys could be effective both in cost and function.
Grants Sources of Toys for Children with Disabilities
There are several places (in this case website) where you can get a grant for those toys, such as:
• A Kid Again: This organization provides children with disabilities and life-threatening illness along with their families support and funding including the need of toys for those children.
• You can also visit Aubrey Rose Foundation to find and get several grants for children with disabilities and life-threatening condition; they also give grants to pay medical bills.
• Meanwhile, for children with visual disabilities, you can visit Association of Blind Citizens (http://www.blindcitizens.org/assistive_tech.htm) to get the Assistive Technology Fund (ATF): This particular grant will cover your expense when you buy adaptive toys, software or device for special needs children.
References:
- Autism Speaks – Ten Toys for Children with Autism – https://www.autismspeaks.org/news/ten-autism-toys
- Frienship Circle – http://www.friendshipcircle.org/blog/2013/10/21/15-great-online-toy-stores-for-children-with-special-needs/
- A Kid Again – http://www.akidagain.org/
- Image: mirror.co.uk
