Looking for the perfect holiday toy for a child with developmental disabilities? Many toys and games offer a lot more than the sheer delight of playing.

This holiday season, consider these toy and game ideas for children with autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and other developmental disabilities, suggested by occupational and speech-language experts at the League School of Greater Boston.

“We’ve grouped the gifts into two categories that concentrate on the main skill sets children with disabilities usually need the most help with: promoting independent play and promoting cooperative, such as group or social play,” says Melissa Fitzpatrick, a licensed occupational therapist at the school. “Within each category, parents can find toys that address a variety of motor, sensory and language areas across a broad range of abilities. We encourage parents to use their knowledge of their child’s specific strengths and challenges when exploring their gift-giving options.”

Toys That Promote Independent Play
Choose toys, crafts or games of interest that your children can participate in by themselves. If your child is not able to play independently, these activities can be modeled for your child to imitate:

Sensory Exploration – These products help kids explore objects through activities that stimulate or appeal to one or more of the sensory systems (visual, auditory, touch, smell, movement). The following games encourage development of sensory discrimination and processing:
• Crayola Model Magic Fusion™
• Fascinating Pin Art (Toysmith®)
• Insta-snow®
• Koosh® balls
• Moon Sand
• Non-Stop Top (Can You Imagine)
• Uncle Milton’s Moon in My Room
• Twilight Ladybug

Fine Motor Skills & Finger Strength – Fine motor skills involve using our hands in precise, controlled ways for purposeful activity.  These skills incorporate the ability to use both hands together, to manipulate small objects, and to use appropriate pressure and force while engaging in meaningful activities such as grooming, dressing, school tasks, and play.
• Crayonball™ Crayons
• Cube Burst (Magnif)
• K’NEX
• Legos®
• Hello Kitty® Fortune Cookie Maker
• Lite Bright (Hasbro®)
• Pop Bead People (Klutz®)
• Model airplanes or cars
• Spyro Gyro Pen (Hog Wild)
• Write & Learn Desk (VTech)

Visual Perceptual Skills – Visual perceptual skills help us to make sense of our visual world. Visual perception consists of the ability to recognize, recall and discriminate the differences and similarities among what we see. These products promote skills essential for reading, writing, locating items in a busy environment, and understanding facial expressions:
• Etch-a-Sketch® (Ohio Art)
• Highlights® Hidden Picture Books
• I Spy books and games
• Spore for Wii and Nintendo DS®
• Magna Doodle (Ohio Art)
• Perfection (Milton Bradley®)

Motor Planning – Motor planning allows us to plan, sequence and execute necessary actions to produce a finished product or motor response. A higher cognitive process, these games encouraging motor planning promote flexible thinking and problem solving:
• Bop It (Hasbro®)
• Bulls-eye Baseball (Hasbro)
• Fun Slides Carpet Skates (Simtec)
• Screwball Scramble (Tomy®)
• Dance Maker 2 Dance Machine (Moose Mountain)
• Little Big Planet for PSP® or PS3®
• Power Chutes (Rokenbok®)
• Rhythm Heaven for Nintendo DS®
• Marble Run with Motorized Elevator (Quercetti®)
• Speed Stacks Competition Cups Stack Pack (www.speedstacks.com/)

Language Development – This is the process by which children come to understand and use language to communicate. Encourage your child to ask for items, give/follow directions, or have your child repeat sounds, words or phrases from a model. These games address a variety of skills, from learning vocabulary to listening:
• Cranium WonderWorks Talking Picture Book (Hasbro)
• Dora Links Doll (Fisher Price®)
• LeapFrog Tag Reading System & Jr. Book Pal (LeapFrog®)
• Write & Learn Desk (VTech)

Organization – Organization may include sequencing activities, keeping track of responsibilities (chores), and time management skills – all of which foster independence.
• Learning Resources® Time Tracker Timer and Clock
• Melissa & Doug® Magnetic Responsibility Chart

Toys That Promote Cooperative Play
Known as “true social play,” cooperative play refers to play where children plan, assign roles and play together. It is goal-oriented, and children play in an organized manner toward a common end.

Sensory Exploration – These products help kids explore objects through activities that stimulate or appeal to one or more of the sensory systems (visual, auditory, touch, smell, movement). The following games encourage development of sensory discrimination and processing:
• What’s In Ned’s Head? (Fundex®)
• Gearation (Beyond Play®)
• Cranium Cadoo
• Texture Dominoes (Beyond Play)
• Sock’em Boppers Set or Sock’em Bop Buddy (Big Time Toys)

Fine Motor Skills & Finger Strength – Fine motor skills involve using our hands in precise, controlled ways for purposeful activity. These skills incorporate the ability to use both hands together, to manipulate small objects, and to use appropriate pressure and force while engaging in meaningful activities such as grooming, dressing, school tasks, and play:
• Gassy Gus game (Fundex®)
• Mancala
• Operation (Hasbro)
• Dino Xcavator (Uncle Milton)
• Kerplunk (Mattel®)

Visual Perceptual Skills – Visual perceptual skills help us to make sense of our visual world. Visual perception consists of the ability to recognize, recall, and discriminate the differences and similarities among what we see. These products promote skills essential for reading, writing, locating items in a busy environment, and understanding facial expressions:
• Perfection (Milton Bradley)
• Cranium Matching Madness
• Cranium Balloon Lagoon
• Splatster (Fisher Price)
• Pictionary Junior (Hasbro)
• Aftershock! (Learning Express®)
• Battleship (Hasbro)

Motor Planning – Motor planning allows us to plan, sequence and execute the necessary actions to produce a finished product or motor response. A higher cognitive process, games encouraging motor planning will promote flexible thinking and problem solving:
• Barrel of Monkeys
• Bop It (Hasbro)
• Cranium Hullabaloo
• Electronic Hot Potato Game –or– Elmo’s Hot Tomato Game
• Qwirkle (Mindware®)
• Cosmic Catch (Hasbro)
• Wii Fit (Nintendo)
• Gnip Gnop (Fundex)
• Jenga (Hasbro)

Language Development – The process by which children come to understand and use language to communicate. Encourage your child to describe items, give/follow directions, or have “think outside the box.” These games address a variety of skills, from turn-taking to perspective taking:
• Apple to Apples (Mattel)
• Bananagrams (Banagrams)
• Cranium Cadoo (Hasbro)
• Cranium Hullabaloo (Hasbro)
• Cranium Whoonu (Hasbro)
• Elmo’s Hot Tomato Game
• Guesstures (Hasbro)
• Imagine If (Buffalo Games)
• I Spy Seeing Doubles (Briarpatch)
• Last Word (Buffalo Games)
• Scattergories (Hasbro)
• VisualEyes (Buffalo Games)
• Zingo! (Think Fun)

Source: The League School of Greater Boston has educated children and young adults with autism spectrum disorder for more than 40 years. The school provides students from ages 3-22 with social, academic, behavioral and community life skills. For more information, visit the school’s Web site at www.leagueschool.com.