Progress Through Play: OT Toy Therapy Win
To most people, toys are a source of entertainment for children, allowing them to learn about the world, to express emotions, or role-play. In a healthcare setting however, toys can also be a therapeutic tool to help clinicians assess and improve motor and development skills and engage children with rehabilitation activities. Ryan Mitchell, Senior Paediatric Occupational Therapist working with children at the Soho Health Centre, contacted the charity to fund a selection of toys to help the team do just that.
“The toys will be used in the clinics for infants and young children with cerebral palsy and acquired brain injuries who need intensive rehabilitation following a stay in an acute hospital”, Ryan said. He felt that the team could be providing more specialist interventions if they had more toys as resources. Thanks to a generous donation from the DWF Foundation, BCHC Charity were able to provide £1,100 worth of new toys to the team.
The toys were specifically chosen by the team for the purpose of developing fine motor and bi-manual skills, and included games such as Connect 4 and Frustration, as well as puzzle blocks, construction toys and sensory lights. The toys elicit specific actions and motor learning to enable children to be independent in their daily activities such as self-care, participating in school-based activities and enjoying hobbies, sports and playing with friends. Ryan told us that “the toys allow the therapists to provide more specialist treatment sessions which will likely result in better outcomes for that child.”
Following the success of the initial batch of toys, a generous grant was received from Skipton Charitable Foundation, allowing BCHC Charity to provide a further £1,000 worth of toys to the service.