{"id":290732,"date":"2018-01-09T08:43:02","date_gmt":"2018-01-09T13:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=290732"},"modified":"2025-11-19T07:59:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T12:59:46","slug":"toys-tots-golisano-children-special-needs-290732","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/toys-tots-golisano-children-special-needs-290732\/","title":{"rendered":"Adapted toys a godsend for parents and their children with special needs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"embed-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/459EYitjtzU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><i>Making their first toy delivery to a pediatric clinic, members of Toys for All Tots, a student organization at the URochester, demonstrated and gave away battery-operated toys they adapted for use by special needs children.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Toys that quiver. Toys that light up and sing. Toys that spit out bubbles. And all of them adapted for children with special needs.<\/p>\n<p>The sight was almost too good to be true for parents who arrived recently at a URochester Medical Center clinic with children who are limited in their ability to reach for a toy or activate one because of cerebral palsy or other disorders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is awesome,\u201d said Shaneishka Rivera, who placed a succession of toys in front of her daughter, Jeneishka, before choosing a Tickle Me Elmo to take home with them.<\/p>\n<p>The toys, many of them donated by Mattel, were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/toys-for-all-tots-special-needs-play-288532\/\">adapted with special switches by Toys for All To<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/toys-for-all-tots-special-needs-play-288532\/\">ts<\/a>, a URochester student project.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know that play is how children learn and that toys are crucial for children in development,\u201d said Hannah Peck, a\u00a0 pediatric occupational therapist at the URochester Medical Center. \u201cThis is giving these children the ability to use a toy to its full potential.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Adapted toys are expensive and hard to find. A goal of the project is to eventually adapt enough toys to stock a library, where families can check out toys, trying them to see which best meet the special needs of their children, then return them when their children outgrow them or are ready to try a different one.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, Ashley Carl was able to return home to Almond, New York, with a Dance and Move BeatBowWow toy after seeing how it caught the eye of her son, Chasyn.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fact that you have college kids caring enough to do things like this is really awesome,\u201d she said. \u201cIt makes it more inclusive for kids like Chase. When the other kids are playing with toys at school, he can play too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a class=\"button btn\" style=\"color: #ffffff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hajim.rochester.edu\/academics\/undergraduate\/toys-for-all-tots\/index.html\">Learn more about Toys for All Tots and how to make a donation.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toys that beep. Toys that light up and sing. All adapted by engineering students for children with special needs. For parents visiting the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ Medical Center, taking home a toy their child can play with themselves is &#8220;really awesome.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":291162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,42472],"tags":[9436,5326,18632],"class_list":["post-290732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-health-medicine","tag-community","tag-disabilities","tag-hajim-school-of-engineering-and-applied-sciences"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Adapted toys a godsend for parents and their children with special needs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/toys-tots-golisano-children-special-needs-290732\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Adapted toys a godsend for parents and their children with special needs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Toys that beep. 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For parents visiting the Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ Medical Center, taking home a toy their child can play with themselves is &quot;really awesome.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/toys-tots-golisano-children-special-needs-290732\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-09T13:43:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-19T12:59:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/2018-01-04_toys_disabled_kids_262.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bob Marcotte\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bob Marcotte\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/toys-tots-golisano-children-special-needs-290732\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/toys-tots-golisano-children-special-needs-290732\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bob Marcotte\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\"},\"headline\":\"Adapted toys a godsend for parents and their children with special needs\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-09T13:43:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-19T12:59:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/toys-tots-golisano-children-special-needs-290732\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":364,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/toys-tots-golisano-children-special-needs-290732\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/2018-01-04_toys_disabled_kids_262.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"community\",\"disabilities\",\"Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Campus &amp; Community\",\"Health &amp; Medicine\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/toys-tots-golisano-children-special-needs-290732\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/toys-tots-golisano-children-special-needs-290732\\\/\",\"name\":\"Adapted toys a godsend for parents and their children with special needs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/toys-tots-golisano-children-special-needs-290732\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/toys-tots-golisano-children-special-needs-290732\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/2018-01-04_toys_disabled_kids_262.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-09T13:43:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-19T12:59:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e0d8d271cd290d592461fa9cefca013b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/toys-tots-golisano-children-special-needs-290732\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/toys-tots-golisano-children-special-needs-290732\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/toys-tots-golisano-children-special-needs-290732\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/2018-01-04_toys_disabled_kids_262.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/2018-01-04_toys_disabled_kids_262.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Jacob Bonilla, 13, tries out an adaptive switch on a bubble blowing toy frog with help from his mother Rebecca Perez. 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