Hasbro and The Autism Project Collaborate to Help Children with Disabilities

For a child with developmental disabilities, playing with certain toys may not come naturally, but Hasbro feels that this is no reason for them not to experience the joy that these toys can bring them. Hasbro Inc. has recently teamed up with The Autism Project to help create resources for children to learn and understand how to use their toys. The series titled Toybox Tools helps to encourage children with disabilities to still play with toys and enjoy playtime. The Autism Project is a group of parents and professionals that create instructional videos and tools for people with autism. The outcome of this partnership will be these same resources but specifically for children and with a focus on enjoying toys and playtime. 

Currently, Hasbro has tools for eight of their classic toys available for free online, giving parents and children with developmental disabilities the opportunity to better understand how to utilize these toys. The videos, specifically the series of Mr. Potato Head videos, introduce children to the toy, show how he can be used and how to assemble him in creative ways, and then show how he can be used to play with other children.

These videos are designed to help those children who may not intuitively understand how to play with these toys still seek the benefit of playtime like any other child. These videos also aim to help parents encourage playtime as well. With these supplemental learning tools about the toys, parents can interact with their child and the toy in addition to showing their child the videos, hopefully allowing children to have a more complete understanding of how the toy works and what they can do with it. 

The Autism Project is excited to be able to have a collection of these videos on such a valuable toy website. They hope to be able to reach out to even more children and families with this new platform of information, hoping to bridge the gap between those children with autism and those without. 

About the Author: Mary is a guest contributor from Global Lift Corp, an organization specializing in pool lifts for commercial and private pools and spas.