Inspiration
A few years ago, a mom of one of our patients said that her priority goal was independent play. Her then 3 year old son could not grasp or use a toy unless he had a lot of help, but he loved to play. She found it challenging to get anything done because he was so sad when he wasn’t able to play. That request started a project and passion for finding and modifying toys and led to a lot of new toys and play for many children in our therapy program. As some of these children no longer come to see us every week, it became obvious we needed a way to share new ideas as we discover them.
Why Adapted Play?
Play is vital to children, for learning, motivation and fun. When children have limited use of their hands, the opportunities for independent play are scarce. Switch adapted toys can be expensive and are mostly cause and effect, which is a skill usually mastered at an early stage of development.
How Does It Work?
In my work as an occupational therapist working with children with cerebral palsy I take three approaches to help the children with more independent play.
- Searching for toys at the stores that provide a lot of fun without a lot of fine motor skills.
- Modifying commercially available toys to make activation easier, to make them easier to grasp and hold onto and to hold them in place for easier play.
- Play routines can be set up to limit the motor skills needed, for example pushing the toys instead of picking them up to move them.