BellaOnline Forums Family Special Needs Children interactive learning toys

hi, i work for a very reputable special needs company. i design and make learning equipment for children with special needs. This may sound cheaky, but can anyone think of something that is missing?? have you ever thought 'why dont they make...' or 'if it only did that'
At the moment, i'm working on some new tactile equipment - touchy feely items. where colour, noise and sounds matter.

anything??

thanks

I have a love hate relationship with interactive learning toys. My children love them and I hate them, mostly because so many of them come without adequate volume controls.

I would love to see interactive toys that do more to teach concepts, especially math concepts.

I had one son in Montessori for a while and loved the numeracy toys they used there to physically explain what it means to have 10 of something, 100, 1000, etc. They had several versions, some that enhanced measurement as well as counting - eg. cups that measured content, sticks that you could match, etc.

I asked where they got them from, but no one seemed to know. Some had to be adapted for physical disabilities, like cerebral palsy, i.e. made of softer material so that they couldn't hurt themselves or others, and more rigid or stable containers that wouldn't fly off the table.

I haven't been able to come across anything like it yet. Overall, I loved the Montessori approach to learning materials, but just haven't found a source.

When I do find it, I'd like to offer in on my site as well. So...
I'd love to know if you know!

Ciao
Anna

Hi Lynn. I agree with you on the volume issue.

One quasi-solution that my husband came up with is to tape over the speakers with regular invisible tape. That usually helps muffle the sound sufficiently.

I also love the toys that turn themselves off - without making loud announcements of doing so!

Anna

Thanks for your replies, i'll look into the concept idea above, and try and come up with a few things, ill post them on here to see what you think. maybe sometime though. i'm working on an alternative to bulky heavy tactile boards. As to the volume problem - its not really my department but i can put forward suggestions.

thanks

It would be great to have characters that reflected the diversity of inclusive groups, like a blond haired boy with those beautiful tilted eyes, a basketball playing girl using a sport wheelchair, instead of just animals or space creatures.

Toys from different cultures seem to address learning and development from interesting perspectives. Rewarding divergent thinking rather than having children 'color inside the lines' all the time makes creativity and the process of creating its own fine goal.

I also like real tools, household items and nature to be represented realistically in toys and games. Being immersed in learning rather than having it offered in bits and pieces makes science seem like a simple observation of natural events, and math something practical and useful for *right now*.

My son would like cards that showed kids what happens if you make pizza in a different series than his speech therapist scored as correct - he wanted to put the cards in order according to how performing bakers made ours in a local restaurant, with several steps that were not shown in the therapist's card set. She was angry about him at the IEP meeting, and when I asked him to cooperate with her the next day he looked at me with horror and said, "but she makes bad pizza!"

For hearing impaired kids, and those with sensory / perception problems instead of noise and sounds, vibration and light?

My son would like an iPod that also did quick blood sugar tests - or rather, that his diabetes meter played iTunes.

Pam W
SE of Seattle

Inclusive Education and the Culture of Down Syndrome
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thanks again for your posts.

i'm more wanting thoughts on special needs equipiment than every day toys. i want to cater for all disabilities. what works?? what doesnt?? what enjoyment do your special needs children get from learning equipiment?? what gets a reaction from them??

i dont want you to thinks that i dont know my market, im just wanting real input from real people.

thanks again

I'm thinking that you could remove the phrase 'special needs' and ask the same questions - What enjoyment do children get from learning equipment, what gets a reaction - catering to all children does cater to all disabilities.

Building accessibility into a mainstream toy might be what we appreciate the most.

Check out the Universal Design articles, and Accessible Playgrounds and Play Spaces. The links listed after the narrative might lead you to a goldmine or two.

You might be successful in finding what you seek if you volunteer in a classroom with one child at a time. That seems to be the secret to designing for all children.

Good luck!

Pam W
SE of Seattle

Universal Design for Learning
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