Recreation and special needs can and do go together, when parents have the motivation and the know-how to adapt toys and games for their child. While it is not difficult to find recreation programs geared toward special needs children, finding ways to help them interact with their neighborhood and school friends is not always easy. Yet this type of interaction is crucial to their social development. Joyce Plaxen describes how parents can facilitate recreational activities for their special needs children in her book "Adapt My World."
Recreation and special needs are discussed in "Adapt My World", a manual for parents of children with disabilities. It provides instructions for simple modifications parents can make to help their differently-abled children overcome obstacles and navigate their landscape with ease. Although recreation can be a special challenge for a child with special needs, Plaxen provides plenty of ideas for adapting toys and games for children who might find the standard versions challenging. For instance, she describes adaptations that make it easy for children with disabilities to hold a hand of cards or keep their pieces on a game board. These adaptations allow special needs children to play with their friends with a minimum of assistance and help bridge the gap that often separates special needs children from their able-bodied peers.
Recreation and special needs is just one section of "Adapt My World." Other areas address adaptations that can be applied at home and at school. The one thing the sections have in common is that they all promote self-reliance for a group of special children.
J. Rose Plaxen began writing "Adapt My World" when she first realized that some strategically placed non-skid bathtub strips enabled her young daughter to sit up in her highchair with little assistance for the very first time. As the parent of a child with disabilities, Plaxen had been disappointed by the lack of resources geared toward raising a child with special needs. So she decided to do something about it. Thus was "Adapt My World: Homemade Adaptations for People with Disabilities" conceived.
"Our world is not accommodating of differently-abled individuals," said Plaxen. "It's up to each individual caretaker to make the child's world truly their own. This book contains common-sense modifications that have an enormous and immediate effect on improving the daily lives of these children."
"Adapt My World" is the first book to put together the myriad hints about how to adapt a "differently-abled" child's environment to his or her needs. They come from therapists, teachers, and experienced parents. The book is organized in "recipe book" format, with lists of ingredients, detailed instructions, and substitutions. There are photographs of the finished products, some of them even in use!
The adaptations described in "Adapt My World" are divided into sections on home, school, and play. Adaptations for the home include chapters on mealtime, bath, and bedroom modifications. The section on play includes chapters addressing modifications for both independent and interactive activities, some of which provide these special children with the rare opportunity to fit in with their friends. Finally, a section on academics includes accommodations developed by teachers and therapists to facilitate study and socialization. Although this book presents a variety of modifications for a number of settings, the common thread running throughout the book is that small changes can make life a lot less challenging for children with disabilities and their parents.
