MMI’s adaptive toys program keeps spreading skills

A group of 10 families, as well as volunteers from the Munroe-Meyer Institute, gathered at the Munroe-Meyer Guild Institute in early December, all hoping to make the holidays brighter for young family members with disabilities.

Organized by MMI’s Monica Pleiss and Korey Stading and led by Jamie Gehringer, PhD, the event helped families adapt toys so that they could be activated via a switch component, making them accessible for children with mobility or movement challenges. Parents who enrolled in the course were given the option to adapt one of two toys, a bubble machine or a drum that lights up and plays music.

The evening was funded through a grant by the Munroe-Meyer Guild. Families were provided their own tool kits to use throughout the course and to take home with their newly adapted toy and switch. MMI lab technician Ryan Thomas assisted as Dr. Gehringer provided step-by-step instructions to the families on how to disassemble, rewire and add a switch mechanism to the toys so that they could be played with by pushing a large, adaptive button.

“The goal of this event was to not only provide families with an accessible toy for their child to interact with, but to give them the tools and skills to adapt additional toys at home,” said Pleiss, a member of the MMI Department of Occupational Therapy, who received the original Guild grant and was on hand to assist families at the event. “The switch they were provided can be used with multiple toys, thus opening a world of options for future toy adaptation in their own homes.”

The goal, Dr. Gehringer agreed, “is that parents will be able to crack open a toy, any toy they get, and make adaptations as needed.”

MMI has been adapting toys for about nine months with the help of the Munroe-Meyer Guild grant Pleiss was awarded, Dr. Gehringer said.

“We’ve adapted about 30 toys so far, and tonight we adapted 10 more,” Dr. Gehringer said. “Our goal for the year is to adapt 50 total, and we have an event we’re scheduling for October with a local Boy Scout troop that should put us over that mark.”

In addition to teaching parents to adapt toys, MMI will create a library of the adaptive toys to loan to client families, as well.

“Adaptive toys bought from specialized therapy catalogs can sell for three to five times the cost of the actual toy,” Pleiss said. “This program is making it easier for children to play – and after all, that’s they’re job.”

Munroe-Meyer Guild President Luann Rabe said the event was a perfect showcase for why the guild works so hard to raise money for MMI projects.

“This simple, innovative method not only enhances play time for these children, but the play increases learning and cognitive function,” Rabe said. “I am especially excited that the parents were given the tools to adapt future toys, so the effect of this grant will continue to blossom far beyond the initial funding.”

“This event would not have been possible without the support of the Munroe-Meyer Guild,” Dr. Gehringer said. “We are thankful for their support, which has been the foundation of the whole toy adaptation project.”