A kid's need for play

One 3-year-old girl used the Bilibo, a cup-shaped, seated slide toy that spins and rocks, to center herself and discover her surroundings. Like most children who are visually impaired, she was insecure about exploring the world around her and used the toy as a base of exploration. In fact, children with communicative, cognitive or other physical and mental disabilities may be able to use the Bilibo or one of the many other toys on the market today appropriate for kids who are similarly challenged. Now, through several non-profit agencies who rate thousands of toys, retailers can be a resource to parents, therapists, grandparents, teachers—an entire community of people who regularly care for children with special needs, a demographic that spends more than $3.5 billion each year on toys.

Unfortunately, finding toys for children with disabilities isn't as easy as it sounds. Most retailers may not know what recreational or therapeutic toys to offer the grandparent of a blind child or a teacher who is working with children who may have communication or cognitive problems that may be brought on from autism or Down syndrome.

In response to this growing need, several organizations, such as AblePlay (National Lekotek Center), Good to Grow and the Toy Industry Foundation (through its Let's Play initiative), have developed rating systems and catalogs of appropriate toys for specific developmental, learning and other disabilities.

Olympia, Wash.-based Wind Up Here was one of the first retailers to stock Good to Grow's recommended selection of toys. The move was seamless as the playthings were mainstream products from toy makers like Small World Toys, Alex and Playmobil that could be sold in the specialty market to any kid; they weren't “special” toys for “special” kids, says owner Joan Machlis, a sentiment echoed by other retailers contacted by Playthings. At Wind Up Here, the First Friends Car set from Small World Toys is a big seller for children who need to work on interaction and multiple senses through honking horns and light-up head and tail lights.

One thing retailers have to remember, Machlis tells Playthings, is that they do not want to stigmatize children, parents or anyone who visits their store looking for toys with a “special needs” or “disabilities” section. She warns that by placing toys in such categories, retailers may also stigmatize the toy companies as ones who only produce toys for special needs.

Educating staff members about the appropriateness of certain toys for kids with special needs—something as simple as making sure sales help have in-store access to toy rating Web sites or their lists of rated toys—can go a long way towards building relationships with customers looking for toys for special needs children. In-store visits by therapists also help draw in this segment of the community and give parents a chance to ask specific play or other questions to people who rely on toys on daily basis to help kids, Machlis adds.

“It's not offering products for children with special needs as much as it's knowing how products are helpful to them,” says Machlis. “The goal is to be able to have products that are sold in mainstream specialty stores' inventory, but be able to talk to customers with more knowledge. It helps that the products are graded. Some toys may not appear a certain way on the surface, but we've learned how to look at a toy from that point of view.”

The Rib-it ball from Bill and Bud can help children with physical disabilities; for visual and sensory skill problems, therapists recommend Corolle's Bebe Do-Doll, which appeals to their senses with soft velour, a soft rabbit doll and slight vanilla scent; Dream Nouveau's Hop and Pop and Play Along's Nurture Basics can help with communicative disabilities that may be brought on from Autism; the ImagiPlay Day at the Zoo or Bucket Blast from Lolo can help develop cognitive skills. All are just a few popular recommendations from Lekotek's AblePlay site, www.ableplay.org.

Joyce Lopez, product development director for San Leandro, Calif.-based Bill and Bud, says the company wanted to create toys that could help children with multiple disabilities, like Asperger's, a milder form of autism where social interaction, non-verbal communication, speech abnormalities and gross motor behavior are affected. They also wanted the toys to be appealing to kids without special needs. The company is currently working on another version of its Rib-It ball, the Bizi Ball, one that opens in different sections, with sensory-friendly fabrics and different textures for oral stimulation.

“Kids with special needs are now getting more attention,” Lopez says. “We're pinpointing things now that we couldn't in the past. When we have toys geared for special needs, it helps the parent and child to go to a regular toy store and find something for their child. Every child can benefit from it, which was one of our rules when started to pay attention to the special needs market. The fact is, all kids learn things but at different times and on different levels.”

For public advocates like Diane Nielander, director of Lokotek, increased awareness among toy retailers of the widespread availability of toys and other products for children with disabilities can be a win-win for both merchants and the children and parents whose lives they can impact.

“I don't dig my heels in the sand about a lot of things, but I strongly explain that parents and professionals buying these products for children will be their most loyal customers, because they are invisible to so many people,” says Nielander. “Once [parents] recognize that you acknowledge them and their kids through and through, there will be no other customers as committed.”