2015 Special Needs Gift Guide

As the holidays are upon us, you or someone you love may be shopping for a gift for someone with a movement disability. For many, this can be an overwhelming prospect. What is an appropriate gift for a child? What about an adult?

Fortunately, there are a wide variety of online resources published specifically for those with a range of disabilities, including fine motor, gross motor, sensory and movement.

Gifts for Children

Toys “R” Us

Each year, Toys “R” Us publishes a Toy Guide for Differently-Abled Kids. Each toy is categorized by a skill in which the toy enhances and can be sorted by age range as well as gender and special need.

The guide is a collaborative effort between the retailer and the National Lekotek Center (http://www.lekotek.org/), an non-profit organization that provides services around therapeutic play for children with special needs.

You can view this year’s guide at http://www.toysrus.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=3261680.

Able Play

Another resource provided by the National Lekotek Center, Able Play (http://ableplay.org) provides research and reviews on toys for children of different abilities. The website organizes products by both the type of product — educational, pretend, outdoor, and arts and crafts are just a few of the categories listed — as well as developmental skills, including sensory and physical among others.

Fat Brain Toys

Fat Brain Toys (http://fatbraintoys.com) creates a comprehensive resource guide with products categorized by special need, which range from autism and blindness to physical and developmental delays. Unique to this site is that an adult (or older child) can create a gift registry to request specific gifts. Fat Brain also has physical stores in Kansas and Nebraska.

To explore the guide, visit https://www.fatbraintoys.com/special_needs/.

Gifts for Adults

Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation

Although its most recent gift guide is from 2014, the Reeve Foundation offers a large selection of gifts for all ages with paralysis.

The Home & Kitchen suggestions include Dining With Dignity Silverware (http://www.diningwithdignity.com/our-products/), designed for those with limited hand mobility.

Other suggestions include a food chopper and tube squeezer as well as a Keurig coffee maker.

The Helpful Living suggestions include Fiskars scissors (http://www2.fiskars.com/Sewing-Quilting/Products/Scissors-and-Sharpeners), which are designed again for those with limited dexterity, as well as uDrink (http://www.u-adapt.com/udrink.html), a product to assist in holding beverages to prevent spilling.

View the entire gift guide here

Words I Wheel By

Blogger Emily Ladau has begun compiling an extremely unique list of gifts on her website (http://wordsiwheelby.com) that are not only very appropriate for someone with a disability, they’re also all created by disability-owned small businesses. This year’s items include care package subscriptions, jewelry, artwork and ornaments.

Check out her 2015 guide here

Hopefully, these websites will give you inspiration as you finish your holiday shopping this month. And … we may be just a bit biased … but we also think TabletTable makes a great holiday gift! Happy holidays!