Increasing simple toy play in profoundly mentally handicapped children. II: Designing special toys

The purpose of this study was to increase simple toy play in profoundly mentally handicapped children by presenting them with specially designed toys. Twenty children (mean chronological age 14 years, mean mental age less than 1 year) were observed while playing with the special toys, which emitted stimuli (vibration, light, or sound) when appropriately operated. They were also observed with the toys when the stimuli were unavailable. There were large individual differences, but, in general, children interacted significantly more with the experimental toys than with the control toys and engaged in significantly less stereotyped behavior when the experimental toys were available. The implications for clinical and research work are discussed.

This research was supported by the National Society for Autistic Children and the Bethlem Royal Hospital Research Fund. Some of the results were reported at the B.P.S. Annual Conference, York, 1983. We are grateful to the children involved in the study, their parents, and the staff. We are also indebted to Mrs. E. Goodall for HBS schedule data, and to Dr. D. Hands and Mr. A. Smith for the multivariate analysis.