Toys With Benefits

My son, Hunter, just turned two but is still not much of a talker. After taking him for several tests, we were pleased to find that he is just a late bloomer and does not have any developmental problems. We have started speech therapy with an in-home speech pathologist once a week. She is wonderful and has a bag full of toys to help Hunter express himself better through simple commands verbally and with hand gestures. After two months of weekly visits, we hadn't gotten as far as I'd like. Hunter didn't really gravitate towards her discount store items. I had noticed his intense concentration, though, while playing with several toys from aMuse that I had gotten him. I asked the therapist to use these toys instead, and we have seen immediate improvement in his expressive skills.

Among the toys we have used are Quercetti's FantaColor Junior. The colorful disks are set aside in play. He must ask for "more" pieces and put them "in" their places. The wide selection of play foods help us to imitate "munch munch" and learn the words "eat" and "drink." Hunter's first real word, ball, came from playing and shaping modeling clay into balls. Alex's craft boxes provide great opportunities to ask for "more," learn colors, and ask for "help"...one of Hunter's weaknesses he probably inherited from me. The Melissa and Doug wooden puzzles have also helped us with the basic commands for "help," "more" and "all done."

While I bought these toys initially for the wonderful skills they build, we have found another priceless benefit to owning such unique and creative tools: keeping our active two-year-old busy mentally and physically.