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In last week’s blog ‘Exceptional toys for exceptional children’ we listed five top toy picks for Autistic children based on recommendations from Melissa Stolz, Behavioural Therapist and Early Childhood Educator (ECE).
Now I want to share with you why she liked each specific product and remind you that I have detailed exercises on how to use each of these toys as a learning tool, based on what I learned from Melissa. I make this information available to parents, grandparents and teachers. I would be happy to share this information with you, wherever you are. Just email me your request.
Schleich Animals, of any kind, were one of Melinda’s recommendations. Here’s why!
Melissa uses Schleich animals to teach ‘exceptional’ children about ‘categorizing’ and natural environments. She loves the Schleich animals because they are excellent replicas, not fake looking ‘cartoonish’ animals, and teach children what animals look like ‘in real life’. They are also anatomically correct, helping children to understand that animals, like people, can be sorted into boy and girl. She also appreciates their durability. Animals she has purchased years ago, after being played with by many little hands (and even some teeth), are in excellent condition. She has learned that although there are less expensive animal toys available it costs more in the long-run to keep replacing these.
With respect to developing communication skills, Melissa uses sign language in her program for Autistic children, regardless of the child’s level. She loves this form of communication for both verbal and non-verbal children with Autism and also teaches it to family members as a means to communicate with these ‘exceptional’ children. She uses My Smart Hands flash cards as her teaching tool for this.
Imagine yourself in a situation in which every person speaks a different language than you. Trying to make yourself understood would become very frustrating. This is the case with a non-verbal child. Sign language is a great tool to help ease some of the frustration.
Children that are able to communicate with speech may still have times where they cannot make themselves understood. This second form of communication gives them another way to talk to the people around them.
Siblings need a way to interact with their non-verbal brother or sister. Sign language can foster the bond between them and Melissa tells us that children think it’s really cool to be able to speak their own ‘secret’ language; very “James Bond-ish.”
My Smart Hands card sets are bright with colourful pictures and straight-forward instructions. The cards are extremely durable, printed on thick board paper, laminated and come with a large ring to keep them all together when not in use.
In our next post we will take a closer look at the additional products recommended by Melissa, including Schylling Nesting Monkeys, Lauri Number Puzzle Boards and Pegs and Melissa & Doug kitchen/food products.
Toy Sense is a giant specialty toy retailer in Thunder Bay ON and a member of Neighbourhood Toy Stores of Canada (NETS). We offer a fun and friendly shopping environment with a knowledgeable sales staff that provides the expert advice needed to the find the ‘perfect’ toy. Our products are hand-picked by our experienced staff which gives you widest selection of the best products available at a variety of price points. Our 4000+ square foot showroom boasts over 8500 in-stock items. We pride ourselves on the quality and uniqueness of our toy selection.
Toy Sense recently invited Melissa Stolz, Behavioural Therapist and Early Childhood Educator (ECE) with the Children’s Centre Autistic Intervention Program, to our store to talk to us about the types of toys she uses in her program while working with autistic children.
To give a bit of a background, Melissa has more than 13 years experience working with ‘exceptional children,’ the majority of these children having Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorder. She has tried many different curriculums and has tailored these to create a system she feels receives the best results.
I have been working with Melissa for some time, ordering specific toys for her to use in therapy and making sure that we stock our store shelves with products she suggests we carry for both parents of Autistic children and all parents in general. Even with my years of experience in selling toys, I learned new ideas from Melissa on how to use what we consider to be ordinary toys, in working with exceptional children. Luckily, her visit wasn’t limited to only picking out toys. Melissa also gave me a valuable lesson in how to encourage and engage Autistic children, who may otherwise be hard to reach.
Based on what I learned from her, I have created a small binder of information that I make available to any parent, grandparent/teacher to read anytime, here at Toy Sense. We also have a recommended shopping guide. We will be sharing recommendations from this, here in ‘The Toy Box’, over the next several weeks.
To begin, here is a list of the top 5 toys Melissa recommends, in no particular order, for anyone buying for Autistic children:
1. Any/all Schleich Animals
2. My Smart Hands Sign Language Cards
4. Lauri Number Peg Board
5. Melissa and Doug kitchen/food products (although she likes anything Melissa and Doug)
‘Honourable Mentions’ go to Tangle Jr. and The Writing Claw.
The reasoning behind Melissa’s picks, and how she incorporates these toys into her curriculum, will be explained in more detail in the my next several blogs. Be sure to come back to ‘The Toy Box’ next week.
Toy Sense is a giant specialty toy retailer in Thunder Bay ON and a member of Neighbourhood Toy Stores of Canada (NETS). We offer a fun and friendly shopping environment with knowledgeable sales staff that provide the expert advice needed to the find the ‘perfect’ toy. Our products are hand-picked by our experienced staff which gives you widest selection of the best products available at a variety of price points. Our 4000+ square food showroom boasts over 8500 in-stock items. We pride ourselves on the quality and uniqueness of our toy selection.
Do you have a dad in your life that is incredibly difficult to buy for? Do you have one of those dads that when they want something they usually just go out and buy it for themselves? Quite often people don’t think of their neighbourhood toy store as a resource for gift ideas for adults but in reality these experts in “fun gift giving” can steer those in search of a unique gift towards tried and true, or novel and hilarious items dad won’t have found himself. Almost every man has that boy inside that needs to be released.
Check out these themes that have proved popular year after year with a few specific examples of top “Big Boy Toys.”
Novelty: Classic tricks and jokes (like the self-inflating whoopee cushion), yo-yos, slinky, milk straws, the possibilities are endless and most are under $5 which make a light hearted add-on to a more significant or luxurious (i.e., serious) gift. Moustache sunglasses for the hairless man, one with “Movember” envy, or just going for the laugh at the office.
Brain Teasers and Jigsaw Puzzles: Challenge a genius or novice to countless hours of testing their own patience and logical thinking with single player brain busters. Ravensburger puzzles, made in Germany, have designs to appeal to dads. The number of pieces you choose would depend on how long he wants to work on it. There are even super size pieces for easier handling and viewing. The Perplexus Epic is a best-selling, award winning, mind twisting challenge for adults.
Active: Get dad outside with friends and family, and not just on the golf course or playing a team sport. It’s just about picnic season and the Stomp Rocket for age 16+ is sure to impress with heights well past the top of any neighbour’s house. Pocket Discs can fold up in the pocket or fit nicely in a glove compartment for impromptu games of high flying fun. Only those wearing the special optics will see the steaks of glowing light as the football flies through the air with the Cyber Fire Football!
Board Games for the Group: Settlers of Catan, Quirkle, Ticket to Ride are all games that will prove addictive for 4 or more players bringing the family together for quality memory making.
Building and Construction: Lego (especially Star Wars—actually anything Star Wars for that matter), Meccano, and Magformers keep the hands busy and the tinkering mind satisfied not to mention the nostalgia factor.
Office Toys: Sometimes a solitary office or cubicle can get tiresome, but not when outfitted with the silliest and interactive slingshot monkeys propelled at the unsuspecting, unusual wind-up toys, or an actual Marshmallow Shooter (also great for camping trips). This is the best kind of “office warfare.”
Tickle his silly bone or choose gadgets ‘n gizmos, whatever route taken in the gift selection path the ultimate goal is to bring a smile to the man that means so much in the family. Cheers to all the wonderful dads out there!
‘Toyologists’ are available to personally prescribe custom Father’s Day gift ideas, including details about the above-mentioned toys, at The Village Toy Shop, a member of Neighbourhood Toy Stores of Canada (NETS), located in the quaint, European-style Newport Village of Port Moody, BC. Kirsten Anderson is the original Canadian ‘toyologist,' starting her toy career over 20 years ago. With two active boys under age seven she happily shares her toy-testing duties with the family. You can watch her monthly ‘Toyologist Tips’ interviews on Global Noon News or on the Village Toy Shop YouTube channel.