ATSU-ASHS students, faculty distribute toys and spread holiday cheer to children living with disabilities
Posted: December 12, 2022
This holiday season, A.T. Still University-Arizona School of Health Sciences’ (ATSU-ASHS) second-year Master of Science in Occupational Therapy (MSOT) and Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) students helped spread festive cheer to children with disabilities through an adapted-switch toy giveaway.
The Occupational Therapy (OT) department partnered with the Arizona Assistive Technology Access Program (AzTAP) for this project. AzTAP provides assistance for people living with disabilities and their families through training, educational programs, providing access to assistive technology, and more.
“A lot of the kids who use switch-adapted toys don’t have the fine motor control to be able to find the tiny switch on the toy’s arm, leg, or head, and then locate it and switch it. With switch-adapted toys, they just have to be able to reach the switch and hit it with just any body part. It could be the foot, their head, or their elbow,” said Katie Jones, MA, OTR/L, CLT-LANA, director of progression and retention and assistant professor.
“I’ve used switch-adapted toys in therapy before with my kids, and so I wanted the students to be able to have that skill going into practice, to see that need in a child and then be able to take a toy and make it to where any child could play with it,” she added.
On Nov. 17, Jones held two interactive labs where AzTAP members taught students how to switch adapt the toys. Over 30 toys were switch adapted, and students came out of the experience not only having learned a lot, but also having had fun.
“I mean, how often do you get to use a soldering iron to take a toy from what you purchased to something that any child can use and play with?” Jones said.
Two weeks later, the OT department partnered with Raising Special Kids to distribute the toys to children in the community. Raising Special Kids is a Phoenix-based nonprofit that provides support, training, information, and assistance for families of children with disabilities.
The students also helped teach each child how to use the toy and the children had the opportunity to visit with Santa before leaving.
Check out more photos from the event below!
