Child’s Play: Special Toys For Special Kids

All parents are concerned about what their children play with. In fact, they want to make sure that the toys their child/children are playing with are safe, entertaining, and educational. And, for some parents with special needs children, finding a suitable toy may be a bit more challenging.

But, that may slowly but surely all be changing. Now parents of autistic and other special needs children can find appropriate toys by consulting a guide put together by experts at the nonprofit National Lekotek Center and circulated by Toys R Us Inc, a guide made available at Toys R Us stores nationwide as well as online.

The 85 items/toys listed (in the guide) are available nationally, with just six sold at Toys R Us stores only.

The company plans to print 600,000 copies of the “Toy Guide for Differently Abled Kids”, and looks forward to their distribution in advance of the struggling toy industry preparing for the holiday shopping season ahead.

In addition to featuring specialty toys, the guide will include a detailed description of how the toy can be used and a notation via icons indication whether the toy is capable of stimulating development in areas such as creativity, self-esteem, vision or hearing.

Experts suggest that the guide can be a welcome “aid” to those buying toys for many of the more than 6 million children nationwide that have disabilities.

Besides certified play specialists observing families and children and how they receive and use each toy, additional criteria includes toys that are easy to handle and manipulate and don’t have a “right” or “wrong” way of being used; and making them good for all children, but primarily those with learning and developmental challenges.