Talking to Parents, Teachers, and Therapists About Toys for Children with Special Needs

Childhood development can be tricky to measure, as it doesn’t always align with chronological age. This can be especially true for children with special needs. But there are six play milestones that can be measured, and that children can tackle at their own pace: Shared Attention, Social Engagement, Two Way Interaction, Shared Problem Solving, Creative Thinking and Logical Thinking. Each stage builds upon the previous, allowing children to learn the fundamentals, and apply them to specific situations with greater understanding. Toys can help to promote play and children will be more engaged when the features of the toy match the characteristics of the stage. 

The first stage, Shared Attention, encourages sensory exploration, sensory experience and physical proximity. The focus is to allow for two or more children to interact and understand physical boundaries as well as gain exposure to different sensations. The second, Social Engagement, emphasizes person-to-person connection and a shared experience. The goal in this stage is to provide the basics in interaction between two people, like waving or hugging. Third, Two Way Interaction, is a stage similar to social engagement, but also encourages the child to take initiative in a conversation and reciprocate actions, which could be as simple as rolling a ball back and forth.

Next is Shared Problem Solving, where children engage in longer periods of shared attention and handle complex emotional exchanges. In this stage they are also encouraged to seek and receive help. This stage includes toys like building blocks or puzzles, anything that can be put together and takes some level of concentration. The fifth stage is Creative Thinking, where children begin to use their imagination and think symbolically. This can begin as imitation of parents or elders and evolve into less realistic themes and more conceptual. 

The last stage, Logical Thinking, is when children begin to connect ideas to gradually make a story, question their surroundings and, when they receive answers, deepen their understanding of the world around them. This post was based on an article in the August 2011 newsletter from the American Specialty Toy Retailing Association. Visit astratoy.org for more information on specialty toy retailers and the organization itself.

To purchase special needs toys to incorporate into your child's play, visit playabilitytoys.com.