Jami's toys. (Toys).

Greetings from the Netherlands. Our son Jami is 18 months old. Due to a chromosome deletion he has vision and hearing impairment, low muscle tone, severely delayed gross motor skills, very delayed fine motor skills, hypotonia, absent thumbs (weak hands) and is developmentally delayed.

We came up with several toys that Jami can play with and also improve his skills. One is Jami's "little room." It was built by his grandfather. The side panels can be removed, leaving just the frame. We have a mirror on one side. Now we have a "funny mirror," which distorts images, from IKEA, on the opposite side. The top is clear, with holes so you can hang stuff.

In the little room, we have Jami's favorite toy. It has bells and mirrors and he just loves to jingle-jangle it. Since his hands are very small and he is missing his thumbs, we are now using this toy to teach him to grab different objects. The toy has a wooden ball underneath. Once he was used to that, we hung a big ring by Sassy (http://www.sassybaby.com) and he learned to fold his first finger (which has to grow into a thumb) around the ring. It is great because it has a lot of different textures on it and he is using two hands often to grab it. He is doing well with that toy too.

The little room is constantly changed to let him feel, hear, and see different toys. Some ideas for other objects: a ping-pong ball on a string from every hole, small bead strings, etc.

In the other picture you can see a few of his favorite toys. There seem to be more and more toys available now, that are great for children with different issues and we found that we don't have to adapt them. The black and white bear by Bestever (http://www.bestever.com [800] 767-3060) is great for visual stimulation. It is very easy to grab, feels interesting (has an interesting texture--when you brush it one way it is velvety, the other way rougher). The snake is a homemade toy with all kinds of things to touch on it, and some nice big rings to grab.

The PT tried to teach Jami how to hit two cups together but it was very hard for him to grab and hold them, so we took two caps from spray cans, made holes and pulled a string through. Much easier to hold and he loved it. The toy with the elastic and wood sticks and beads called Skwish (by Papa Geppeto [800] 667-5407). Also a great favorite because with his small hands it is easy to grab on to and it is interesting to play with.

Whoozit by Manhattan Toy Company (http://www.mtctoy.com [800] 541-1345) does not have to be adapted and it provides great visual and sensory stimulation. We use these toys to hang in the little room so he can play with them in a different way.