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'TIS THE SEASON TO CHOOSE TOYS WISELY

December 11, 1999

Knowing what to buy children for the holidays is a challenge, as new items keep popping up on the shelves, but choosing appropriate toys for children with disabilities adds an extra factor of difficulty. Researchers say parents and educators should take child's play seriously, since it is a critical component of the early development of many different skills. Fortunately for holiday shoppers, these experts are also offering advice for how to choose a child's development tools -- toys -- wisely.

Understanding basic brain function in young children is a good first step, according to Dorothea Goldenberg, an early childhood consultant in Highland Park, Ill. The constant interaction between experience and brain activity helps the brain grow and develop, she says, so the more a child plays and is stimulated, the more the brain's functions will improve and expand. Play promotes social interaction and a child's awareness of people, places and things. In addition, it teaches that the child's actions impact others, and it builds small muscles to develop motor skills.

Even in children with disabilities, the brain makes adjustments to keep growing, by compensating for its inabilities by letting another part of the brain take over a particular task, she said. Experiences a child has through repetitive play builds memory and further expands the child's skills.

Helping a child experience success is a critical contribution play makes to that brain development, Goldenberg and others said Saturday during the Council for Exceptional Children's Division for Early Childhood conference in Washington, D.C. In fact, researchers have found a direct link between brain function and the rising stress level caused by a lack of success during play and other activities. As a child's frustration or stress level rises, the level of the hormone cortisol in the brain also increases, slowing the activity in the hippocampus, which handles memory functions. Toys that are appropriate to a child's developmental stage and abilities help ensure frequent successes, building brain function as well as self-esteem.

Though these brain development stakes are high when children start to play, children rarely need to be prodded. Playing is an instinctive, natural activity for most children, according to Renee Hirsch, an early childhood special education teacher in Gages Lake, Ill. However, for children with special needs, play is often not self-initiated. They need demonstration and stimulation by adults, and some may have trouble choosing one toy from several, she said. Children with cognitive problems do not have the same plan of action that typically developing children do, so organizing themselves and their activities is more difficult.

With that understanding, adults can do a few things to help a child with special needs play. Choosing age-appropriate toys, adults should build on a child's ability levels and interests, encouraging creativity and exploration, Hirsch said. Adults should get on the same physical level as the child, lying on the floor if necessary, and follow the child's lead in choosing a toy and what to do with it.

While their help can be critical to showing a child with special needs how to play, adults must walk a fine line between demonstrating and dominating that play, Hirsch added. "We can provide the environment and the tools, but only the child can match the play to his skills and interests," Hirsch said. Too much adult interaction, particularly when the adult's idea of the desired outcome of that play is imposed on the child, causes stress levels to go up, she noted. Likewise, self-directed play can relieve tension and stress. So even if adults have a specific outcome in mind for each toy, such as fitting a small cup into a larger one, that should not be the sole source of success in playing with that toy, Hirsch said. "Play should focus on the process rather than the product. The joy of play has to be the exploration."

Toys on Loan

To maximize a child's ability to play independently, some adaptations can make a big difference, according to Susan Mistrett, director of the "Let's Play! Project" developed by the Center for Assistive Technology at the University of Buffalo. Presenting her program with Goldenberg and Hirsch at the CEC conference, Mistrett noted the general goal for typically developing children and those with special needs remains the same -- play for play's sake. But for many children with special needs, parents, caregivers and teachers are less playful and less willing to let them play independently. Playtime is often focused more on learning specific skills than on simply having fun, Mistrett said. "There seems to be a lackluster value in early childhood on the importance of play for play's sake. I think we need to rethink that," she said.

Letting children with sensory problems, motor difficulties or cognitive problems play independently simply takes a little problem solving by adults, Mistrett argues. Play materials can be adapted, such as putting velcro on two-part toys to keep them together once the child makes that connection. Other child-related items, such as a "boppy" pillow, can be used to support the child in a position that makes it easier to reach toys or stay upright. Finally, items specifically designed for children with special needs, such as a floor table for a child to lean on, can help keep toys within reach.

The Let's Play! Program helps families identify desired outcomes for children with disabilities and find ways to adjust their playtime and their toys to help the child develop those skills. Consultants from the program discuss the child's developmental level with parents and educators and recommend toys and supports for them. The program also lends those toys and supports for as long as the child needs them, re-evalutes the child's progress after four weeks and then lends different items to develop new skills, Mistrett said. The group also conducts workshops to instruct local organizations to do the same evaluations and develop similar toy lending libraries.

Another Toy Source

For families looking to make some toys permanent items in their children's collections, the National Parent Network on Disabilities, the National Lekotek Center and toy retailer Toys 'R' Us have put together a holiday shopping guide. The "Toy Guide for Differently-Abled Kids," available free from the NPND, "has had a tremendous impact on the way that 'Madison Avenue' views children with disabilities," the organization says.

Toys 'R' Us expanded its roster of toys for kids to include items that are particularly useful for children with special needs, according to the NPND, and has coded them with ability symbols for easy identification. The National Lekotek Center, an organization that promotes family-based play for children of all abilities, evaluated the toys with children with disabilities in its testing centers.8