Toys offer learning experience for Northwestern University engineering students and children with disabilities

CHICAGO (June 27, 2005) – Chicago-area children with autism, Down syndrome and other disabilities will have an opportunity to learn from educational toys because of a special collaboration with Northwestern University. The National Lekotek Center, a nonprofit organization that is the country’s central source on toys and play for children with special needs, teamed with first-year students from the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science to create specialized toys for children served at McGaw YMCA in Evanston .

“There is a great demand for toys for children with special needs,” says Diana Nielander, director of Lekotek, a division of Anixter Center . “Toys with multisensory appeal help children with special needs use all of their senses and retain information more easily at a later time. The children and families we serve will benefit from this partnership.” Lekotek, developed in Sweden in the early 1960s, opened its doors in Evanston in 1980.

One group of Northwestern students created a “Sensamat” for children with autism. The Sensamat consists of a large piece of soft Velcro and adjoining shapes featuring various textures for tactile stimulation. The students were responsible for creating the toy and testing it with children served at Lekotek.

“Toys tend to be expensive,” says Erin Cully, a first-year student from Kingston, Mass., who helped design the Sensamat, “so it’s nice we can give this to them for free. It’s good that they’ll have a new toy that will last and be useful.”

At a recent test session, 6-year-old Scott Tepperman, who has autism, felt the various textures of the Sensamat with his hands and feet. Engaging the senses is an important goal of therapeutic play for children with autism. Other projects include a redesigned toy farmhouse for children with cerebral palsy and an adapted version of the board game “Guess Who?” for children with Down syndrome. Lekotek and Northwestern have collaborated on several projects for eight years.

“Lekotek projects work well because there is a genuine need for these products,” says hillip Jacob, program coordinator at the McCormick School’s Institute for Design Engineering and Applications (IDEA). “Projects such as Sensory for All present students with real-world design challenges that differ from the rest of their engineering courses. Students are forced into the perspective of someone very different from themselves, such as a 10-year-old with autism; a lesson that undoubtedly will endure throughout their careers.”

For more information on the National Lekotek Center, please visit www.lekotek.org. For more on IDEA at Northwestern, visit www.idea.northwestern.edu/programs/edc.html.

The National Lekotek Center provides direct services, support and information to children with special needs and their families in resource and play centers that are found worldwide. Lekotek is a division of Anixter Center, a not-for-profit organization in Chicago that assists individuals with disabilities to live and work in the community. People served by Lekotek include children with a range of disabilities such as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, sight or hearing loss, developmental disabilities or chronic medical conditions, and their families. Lekotek, based in Chicago, Illinois, is the U.S. headquarters and the administrative and training center for the nationwide network of 36 Lekotek centers in nine states (California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia).

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The mission of the Lester and Rosalie Anixter Center is to assist people with disabilities to live and work successfully in the community. Anixter Center is a leading provider of high-quality vocational, residential and educational options, substance abuse prevention and treatment, and health care. Anixter Center is an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities to be full and equal members of the community.