August 2006
Good to Grow Program Matches
Special Needs Children with Best Toys
If you have a child with special needs – physical limitations, mental impairments or social concerns – how can you select appropriate toys for him? Which ones will adapt well to his range of motion, his ability to concentrate or his need to connect with other people?
These considerations affect a sizable number of parents, as 7.7 percent of children in Washington state have disabilities, according to the U.S. Department of Education, office of Special Education Programs (2000 Census). Many more children may have minor impairments or differences.
Good to Grow, a national toy research program for children with special needs, lists several hundred toys that have been evaluated by occupational therapists. The program was started locally through the efforts of Joan Machlis, one of the owners of Wind Up Here toy store in downtown Olympia.
Machlis invited an occupational therapist from the Washington Elks Therapy Program for Children to train her toy store staff on how to select appropriate toys for children with special needs. The Elks Therapy Program allows therapists, who have extensive education, training and experience helping special needs children, to serve children in their own homes at no cost to families.
The occupational therapist wrote an evaluation of one of the toys and how a child played with it. Machlis saw an opportunity to help other parents of special needs children. “Because of the Elks therapists’ expertise, we had to capture this opportunity to share this research,” explains Machlis.
Machlis requested funding from U.S. Senator Patty Murray to evaluate more toys and to publicize the results nationwide. Murray helped secure an economic development grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to fund the prototype Good to Grow program. Manufacturers donated toys, and the grant paid to ship them to Washington Elks therapists and to pay the therapists a nominal amount to test them.
The therapists took the toys with them on their home visits. They observed the children playing with them, talked to the parents and wrote assessments of the toys. They asked a variety of questions, including:
- How open-ended and accessible is the toy?
- Can it be used in a variety of settings and in different positions with children with limited mobility?
- Which skills does the toy help the child to develop?
- Does it offer opportunities for parents to interact with the child?
- What aspects of the toy kept the child’s attention best?
The grant also paid to develop the Web site (listed under resources) and to begin marketing it. Building on the Elks program, the volunteer-run Good to Grow program is expanding around the nation and in Canada. Toy stores are joining, for a fee, to offer the Good to Grow research to customers and to stock the toys best suited for children with special needs.
“These toy evaluations can assist parents in providing help and intervention for the child’s skill development early on, especially where there are no birth-to-three therapy programs available,” says Machlis.
Often an adaptive toy isn’t needed for children with special needs, according to Machlis. “Children will play with a good toy the way they need to. There is no separate section for these toys at Wind Up Here, so everyone can have access to all the toys. We want to have our stores be open to all children and people,” explains Machlis.
“Children are learning what they need from good playthings.”
Paula Rudberg Lowe is an Olympia-based freelance writer. She is a proofreader for Northwest Parent Media.
Resources
Good to Grow – The national program provides evaluations of several hundred toys, in a searchable list, on its Web site, along with descriptions of dozens of physical and developmental disabilities. www.goodtogrowtoys.com.
Fifty-two stores in the nation, plus some in Canada, are part of the Good to Grow program. Staff at these two Puget Sound area stores can help parents select toys for their special needs children:
Wind Up Here, Fifth Avenue S.E. and Washington Street, Olympia. 360-943-9045 or 1-800-531-2616. www.winduphere.com.
Top Ten Toys, Inc., 104 N. 85th St., Seattle. 206-782-0098. www.toptentoys.com.
Washington Elks Therapy Program for Children – The nonprofit corporation of the Washington State Elks Association provides free, in-home physical and occupational therapy to needy disabled children, under the direction of physicians. 1-800-825-ELKS (3557). www.waelks.net/therapy.htm.
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