Toys for Specially Abled Kids

Guide lists playthings that develop skills
Sunday, November 25, 2007

By EVELYN SHIH
STAFF WRITER

Shhh -- don't tell. Jack Foley of Hoboken will probably get a Jump 'n Slide Bouncer from Little Tikes this year for Christmas. The 3-year-old's mom is in cahoots with friends and family, who will be chipping in to buy him the inflatable mesh-enclosed jumping toy.

His 1-year-old sister, Kayla, will be enjoying it, too. She's just learning to walk. But their mother, Kathleen, knows the toy will be especially important for Jack.

That's because Jack has Down syndrome. He's what child psychologists call "developmentally delayed," and he needs special help with fine and gross motor skills as well as speech. The Jump 'n Slide, beyond being loads of fun, will help him learn balance -- a skill that his therapist is working on with him right now.

When he was a baby, Kathleen Foley did not know what to get Jack for Christmas that might also help him develop like other children. Therapists gave suggestions, "but it was hard, because they would give you something vague, but nothing specific," she said. "They wouldn't say 'Look for such and such from Fisher-Price.' They'd say, 'Look for a toy that kind of does this.' "

But two years ago, Foley discovered the "Toys "R" Us Toy Guide for Differently-Abled Kids." The guide, which has been published for 11 years, color codes toys by the skills that they help develop in children with special needs.

"Now I just give the guide to everybody and say, 'This is what we're working on,' " said Foley. "It saves a lot of legwork for me."

Jack, who works with therapists through the Stepping Stone School for children with Down syndrome in Livingston, is featured in this year's guide on a Rock 'n Bounce Pony from Radio Flyer.

Kathleen Foley will be sending out copies of the guide, not only because her child appears on its pages -- although it is exciting. But she also trusts the guide because it comes from the research of the National Lekotek Center, which tests toys on kids with special needs in play groups across the country. The research group analyzes the reactions of differently abled kids who are presented with each toy to see if it helps with auditory skills, creativity, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, language, self-esteem, social skills, tactile skills, thinking or visual learning.

Higher-level thinking

Toys are key for development, said Corinne Catalano, a psychologist with the Children's Center at Montclair State University.

"We use a lot of play-based therapy," she said. However, parents should think twice before buying too many fancy electronics for their children, Catalano warned.

"Most of the old toys, like wooden blocks that you can be creative with, or dollhouse that doesn't have characters all over it, let you decide what you want them to be," she said. "You want them to develop creativity and higher-level thinking. It's not just about learning ABCs and colors."

This concept applies to all children, whether or not they have a developmental disability, Catalano said. All children begin by understanding toys with their senses. Then they explore the function of the toy: a ball rolls, and a shovel is for scooping and pouring. The final step is to enter the world of make-believe -- "Pretending has more to do with abstractions and the ability to represent things in their life," said Catalano.

Although children with special needs may pass through these stages more slowly than their peers, they still have a lot to gain from being included in games with other children.

Kathleen Foley knows that's definitely true. Jack may not take to the Jump 'n Slide, although 4-year-old Carolyn and baby Kayla will probably climb all over it right away. "But he'll go in and have a great time with his sisters," she said. "He'll see them jumping, and want to try it, not even knowing that it will help him learn to jump."

E-mail: shih@northjersey.com

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