Bright rubber mats drape the floor and racks around the room are stacked with eye-catching toys. Sensitive to sound, touch and light, these toys develop motor skills, and children with multiple disabilities.
As part of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, on December 3, this new toy library was inaugurated at The Model School for Children with Multiple Disabilities, which functions on the campus of the National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD) in Muttukadu. Nachiket Rout, Director of NIEPMD, inaugurated the toy library.
Students do not have to wait till for the school to reopen next year to use the toy library. School authorities are allowing parents to pick up these special toys to complement online learning.
Currently, children attend online classes that combine 3D and 2D technology.
“It is a humble start and we plan to keep adding toys in the months to come. As of now, our plan is to issue toys, just like books, to children based on their level of functioning, learning objectives and their interest levels,” says B. Leelavathi, who is in-charge of the Model School for Children with Multiple Disabilities, adding that 130 children with multiple disabilities are currently enrolled with the school.
“The idea behind sending relevant toys home is also to instil in them a sense of ownership about them,” she says.
The special teachers at the school would demonstrate to parents how the toys should be used to meet each child’s learning target.
The toys can be returned after two weeks and they would be sanitised and reissued to another child.
NIEPMD also invites individuals and organisations who wish to donate toys of this kind to the library.
