It's Christmas Eve. Many of you might still be shopping. Is there a child or adult with a disability on your list? Dianne McBrien, MD, pediatrician at the Center for Disabilities and Development with UI Children's Hospital, talks about ideas for buying for that special person:
Is buying a gift for a special needs child or adult different from buying a gift for anyone else in our lives?
It can be different if you have a child or adult with some special needs on your Christmas list. The things you may buy for other people, like video games or a Wii or DVDs, may not be appreciated by a person with special needs because they may have challenges that make it difficult to use that game or that gift. So there may be other things that they would appreciate more.
There are a lot of things to consider. I've got a list of things and maybe you could tell us why it's important to consider what an appropriate gift may be:
Personal preferences of the child
There are some children with special needs, including autism and Asperger's, and disabilities on the autism spectrum, who have strong sensory preferences. They may like toys that make a certain noise or they maybe scared of loud noises and it becomes important not to give toys that are noisy.
Some children are intimidated by bright lights and don't like the flashing lights of a video game. Some children have seizure disorders and those seizures are maybe made worse by flashing lights, shouldn't have video games. So there are all kinds of things to consider.
There are some children who can't move very much and something like a Wii may be difficult for them to use. There are children who can't move much but they can press a button so a simple video game where you press a button and get a very immediate response might be appropriate.
There are other things to consider. Maybe you're buying for a child who is eight years old but may have delays so he's working at a three- or four-year-old child's level. That's important because maybe that eight-year-old child would be happier with a toy for a three- or four-year-old child. There's a difference between the chronological age and the developmental age for children. When you're buying for a child with special needs, there are a lot of things to take into account.
What about adults that might be on the list?
For adults with disabilities, it becomes a bit more complicated. It depends on whether they have physical disabilities, mental or cognitive disabilities, or both. Some of the things apply for children apply for adults.
I find that, for adults, the gift of your time is always appropriate.
- Spend time with them
- Spell their caregivers
- Taking them out for a walk
- Going out to lunch
- Going out to a movie if that's something they appreciate, or maybe just time
- Going over to their home and talking with them
If you're in doubt about what to buy, I think your time, at this time or any time of year is helpful.
If someone is stumped for an idea of what to purchase, where can they go to get good information for their special needs person?
I like the online guide for differently-abled kids at ToysRUs. They have a great guide for kids of different ages. The other thing they do that is really wonderful is label the toys by what ability it stimulates in the child. If you are looking for a toy that stimulates visual abilities or spatial abilities, they will label the toy that way. For example, a doll house will be labeled “imagination” because it may stimulate the child to use her imagination by using her ability to pretend play. Toys are also labeled by the developmental age that is appropriate for them. |
