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Easterseals Disability and Community Services · The iHeart SoCal Show

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  Speaker 1: Well, Hello, Early married Christmas, Happy holidays. Lisa Fox here,
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  Speaker 1: this is our iHeart So Cal Show. And as we know,
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  Speaker 1: it's every parent's busiest time of year, and Easter Seals
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  Speaker 1: Disability Services has stepped up to support overwhelmed holiday shoppers
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  Speaker 1: with their brand new Accessible Toy Guide for the twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty five holiday season. That's right, not too late to
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  Speaker 1: grabb last minute toy, but finding accessible holiday gifts can
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  Speaker 1: be challenging, so Easter Seal has created a first of
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  Speaker 1: its kind resource guide designed to help families, educators, therapists,
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  Speaker 1: and retailers identify toys that are not only fun, but
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  Speaker 1: also inclusive and accessible, especially to kids on the spectrum.
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  Speaker 1: So the guide highlights some of the this year's best
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  Speaker 1: accessible toys and games for kids with disabilities and their families,
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  Speaker 1: encouraging play experiences that everyone can enjoy together. So on
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  Speaker 1: to tell us Moore is doctor Paula Pampa Craven. She's
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  Speaker 1: the Chief Clinical Officer Autism Services with Easter Seals Southern California. Hi,
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  Speaker 1: doctor Paula, Hi, how are you? Happy holidays? Early Merry Christmas,
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  Speaker 1: Happy holidays. Wait before we dive into the toy guide,
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  Speaker 1: you've been with these folks for a whole How long
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  Speaker 1: How many years have you been with Easter Seals Southern California.
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  Speaker 2: I have been with Easter Seals over thirty years in
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  Speaker 2: many capacities.
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  Speaker 1: And Easter Seals so great, right over one hundred years,
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  Speaker 1: this big national nonprofit helping so many with disabilities with
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  Speaker 1: incredible programs folks of all ages, all levels of disabilities,
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  Speaker 1: everything from early childhood support to therapy, employment training, adult
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  Speaker 1: day services, offering services all over the country. Incredible programs
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  Speaker 1: for anyone with the disability at any level. Easter Seals
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  Speaker 1: as whom you can turn to. Easter Sials Southern California.
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  Speaker 1: So touch on what you've done for them over the years,
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  Speaker 1: doctor Paula. And why now specializing in the autism services?
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  Speaker 1: REALM sure?
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  Speaker 2: So I have pretty much grew up with Easter Sills,
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  Speaker 2: and I have worked with many different populations and many
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  Speaker 2: services I've worked in. Our day service programs are adult
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  Speaker 2: living options, and about thirteen years ago, California passed a
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  Speaker 2: mandate that said that insurance companies had to pay for
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  Speaker 2: children with autism and adults to receive certain services that
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  Speaker 2: were medically necessary. And that's when I moved into that
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  Speaker 2: service line.
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  Speaker 1: Got it, Okay? And so this new Easter Seals Accessible
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  Speaker 1: Toy Guide is this designed specifically to kind of cater
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  Speaker 1: towards those on the spectrum, young people on the spectrum,
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  Speaker 1: people on the spectrum, or essentially anyone with a disability.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I would say that we focused on autism because
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  Speaker 2: you know, that's that's who we know, and those are
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  Speaker 2: the children and adults that we support, but it really
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  Speaker 2: can benefit this toy guide can benefit anybody who needs
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  Speaker 2: a little more accessibility, anybody with a disability.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, And so it's eessokel dot com slash toys is
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  Speaker 1: where folks can find the guide e s so Easter
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  Speaker 1: Seals sokel dot com, slash toys and talk about this list.
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  Speaker 1: I can imagine you've been pretty hands on with maybe
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  Speaker 1: helping put together this list, because this is your area
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  Speaker 1: of expertise.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. So we gathered a group of people from across
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  Speaker 2: the country, people who had experienced supporting individuals with autism
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  Speaker 2: and other disabilities. In Southern California, we included our speech
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  Speaker 2: and occupational therapist psychologists, and then we took it to
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  Speaker 2: the kids that we support and asked them and had
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  Speaker 2: them test out the toys as well to see what
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  Speaker 2: features that they were interested in, what they were looking for,
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  Speaker 2: how they reacted to the toys as well.
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  Speaker 1: This is a list of toys that are designed in
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  Speaker 1: a particular way that's appealing to someone on the spectrum
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  Speaker 1: in a variety of ways. Right, Like my notes here say,
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  Speaker 1: designed with a consideration for users with various disabilities including
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  Speaker 1: fine and gross motor coordination, sensory processing, sensitivities, cognitive skills,
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  Speaker 1: also blind, low vision, a deaf and heart of hearing,
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  Speaker 1: and just a whole use list of things that you
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  Speaker 1: took into consideration to put out this almost perfect list
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  Speaker 1: to try to make everybody happy and then have them
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  Speaker 1: love it.
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  Speaker 2: Sure, So we were looking for things like easy to
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  Speaker 2: use features, so whether the toy had a lot of
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  Speaker 2: texture to it, we had simple grips, had big buttons,
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  Speaker 2: were easy to use and to manipulate. We were also
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  Speaker 2: looking at ways that children would play with the toys.
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  Speaker 2: Did the toys light up, did they make sounds? Could
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  Speaker 2: they be used in different positions? We looked at were
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  Speaker 2: they able to use them to build both fine and
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  Speaker 2: gross motor skills? Was there an opportunity for social play?
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  Speaker 2: So things that they might want to use with other
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  Speaker 2: children or with their family members, other adults. So did
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  Speaker 2: it instill that sense of social play and creativity? Was
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  Speaker 2: the design flexible so could it be adapted for different
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  Speaker 2: access needs as well?
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  Speaker 1: I can imagine that would be kind of a fun
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  Speaker 1: day though, to watch the kids. You know, Okay, here's
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  Speaker 1: a whole bunch of toys. Now, figure out which ones
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  Speaker 1: you really like and maybe like a little less.
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  Speaker 2: So right, Yes, it was a great day and we
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  Speaker 2: had a lot of wows and you know, big smiles
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  Speaker 2: and a lot of fun sharing these new toys with
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  Speaker 2: the kids.
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  Speaker 1: And I can imagine too, doctor talk about we talked
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  Speaker 1: about being on the spectrum, and there's so many different
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  Speaker 1: ways a child on the spectrum may react to certain toys, right,
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  Speaker 1: like you said, lights and noise. So this new toy
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  Speaker 1: gud that you all put together there at Easter Sills
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  Speaker 1: is really kind of like a map as to how
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  Speaker 1: we can do it right right.
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  Speaker 2: And that's why it's so important to really look at
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  Speaker 2: the individual and what they might be interested in or
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  Speaker 2: what they might not be interested in. A lot of
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  Speaker 2: our kids have sensory issues that they that they contend with,
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  Speaker 2: or they have sensory needs that they want to seek out,
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  Speaker 2: and so there were toys on there like you know,
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  Speaker 2: silly putty that we call thinking putty that have these
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  Speaker 2: great little emojis in them. And so for our kids
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  Speaker 2: who sometimes have difficult a difficult time maybe identifying their
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  Speaker 2: feelings or the feelings of others, this was a great
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  Speaker 2: toy because I had a lot of texture, but then
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  Speaker 2: it had another way to communicate kind of how you
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  Speaker 2: were feeling. So there are a lot of toys like
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  Speaker 2: that where there were multiple ways to use the toy
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  Speaker 2: and multiple functionalities to the toy.
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  Speaker 1: Now, I do want to go through the list in
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  Speaker 1: just a second. Again, this is an Easter Sales Accessible
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  Speaker 1: toy guide for this year, and if you don't get
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  Speaker 1: it by Christmas, we still have time the toy. These
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  Speaker 1: toys are still ideal, especially for those on the spectrum.
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  Speaker 1: And that's a ES for Easter Seals Esso cal dot
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  Speaker 1: com slash toys for the complete guide, I want to
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  Speaker 1: go down and have you name a few of those,
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  Speaker 1: doctor Paula. But is there also other ways we can
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  Speaker 1: get back to Easter Seals through the holidays and maybe
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  Speaker 1: even donate toys or just make a monetary donation to
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  Speaker 1: show some love.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think through definitely through our child development services
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  Speaker 2: there would be that opportunity, and you could always go
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  Speaker 2: to our website. But also we really as you, as
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  Speaker 2: you said at the top of the introduction, we wanted
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  Speaker 2: families to feel less stress during the holiday season. So
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  Speaker 2: if we could provide this guy, it would possibly offer
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  Speaker 2: that to families, a little less stress, a little more
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  Speaker 2: opportunity to look at toys that were accessible to their
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  Speaker 2: own children and to maybe children that they were gifting too. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I got to tell you, doctor Paula. I
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  Speaker 1: recently met somebody at a concert event of ours. Their
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  Speaker 1: daughter has Down syndrome, and we had gotten this conversation.
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  Speaker 1: She said, you know, I wonder could I ever get
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  Speaker 1: tickets and bring my daughter to a concert. It was
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  Speaker 1: at Marongo anyways, we got a conversation about her wanting
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  Speaker 1: to bring her daughter, who's wheelchair bound, to a concert
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  Speaker 1: because she loves music so much. And I started talking
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  Speaker 1: to her about Easter Seals and I said, gosh, Easter
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  Speaker 1: Seals does so much for young people, well people of
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  Speaker 1: all ages with disabilities. But I just thought, what a
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  Speaker 1: great connection. You know, I think a lot of people. Still,
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  Speaker 1: I was shocked she hadn't heard of Easter Seals. I'm like, wait,
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  Speaker 1: that's my job on the radio is to spread the word.
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  Speaker 1: But talk about how much you love what Easter Sells
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  Speaker 1: does for folks with disabilities, because the families need the support,
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  Speaker 1: and whether it's a child or an older person, they
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  Speaker 1: need that. The big families support of Easter Seals. But
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  Speaker 1: because Easter Seals is so big, it's just such a healthy,
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  Speaker 1: important support system for people who have a family member
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  Speaker 1: or something that they love with a disability.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. Easter Sill is probably the largest service provider
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  Speaker 2: in Southern California for individuals with autism and other disabilities.
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  Speaker 2: And so for your friend who has a child who
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  Speaker 2: uses a wheelchair and who wants to access, you know,
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  Speaker 2: things in her community, that's something we work on daily,
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  Speaker 2: whether it's supporting the individual to meet their accessibility needs
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  Speaker 2: in the community, but also we do a lot of
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  Speaker 2: work with community partners to ensure that you know, their
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  Speaker 2: venues are accessible, that they're thinking about sensory needs of
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  Speaker 2: the individuals to who visit their concerts or their sporting events,
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  Speaker 2: or their community events, whatever it might be. To just
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  Speaker 2: make things a little bit easier on those who are
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  Speaker 2: visiting and also make the experience more enjoyable for everybody.
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  Speaker 1: Sounds so good. There's so many ways that Easter Seals
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  Speaker 1: supports people with disabilities and those that we love, people
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  Speaker 1: that we may know of. So we need to make
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  Speaker 1: sure that everyone spreads the word about Easter Seals and
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  Speaker 1: that support and the support system is waiting for them.
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  Speaker 1: And also this new accessible Toy Guide for the holiday season.
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  Speaker 1: And these are all toys that we can buy online.
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  Speaker 1: These are toys that we can pick up at the store. Right,
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  Speaker 1: everything on this toy guide.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, you can purchase everything online. And there's a lot
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  Speaker 2: more information at Easterseals dot com slash Southern Kel not
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  Speaker 2: just about the toy guide, but about the services and
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  Speaker 2: other ways that we can support.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, again, this is that Easter Seals Accessible Toy Guide
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  Speaker 1: for the holiday season and beyond, I mean, bring it
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  Speaker 1: on in until toy twenty six hopefully, right, you get
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  Speaker 1: some of these great toys. If you know someone on
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  Speaker 1: the spectrum, what a great way to make them and
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  Speaker 1: the family happy well into the new year. And then
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  Speaker 1: some so Easter Seals at a very specific list to
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  Speaker 1: attract those on the spectrum. And they put a whole
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  Speaker 1: bunch of folks in the room to play with a
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  Speaker 1: whole bunch of toys, and it was a bit of
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  Speaker 1: a you tell us what you love and what you
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  Speaker 1: don't like. You tell us the top toys. And they
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  Speaker 1: looked at things that had you know it, looked at
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  Speaker 1: toys that had easy to use features or multiple ways
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  Speaker 1: to play it, or that had movement practice right, toys
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  Speaker 1: that could build multiple skills at a time and be fun.
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  Speaker 1: Also that looks for toys that encourage social play, where
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  Speaker 1: a child playing with it wanted to invite others to
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  Speaker 1: play with them, the whole family. There's more things on here,
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  Speaker 1: but they put a lot of work into helping us,
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  Speaker 1: helping family members, helping friends, helping friends or friends to
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  Speaker 1: figure out exactly like the best toys to get someone
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  Speaker 1: on the spectrum this holiday season. I want to name
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  Speaker 1: some of the top twelve, doctor Paula.
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  Speaker 2: Sure. So we talked a little bit about the mixed
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  Speaker 2: emotions thinking Petty. There was also a great Mattel hot
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  Speaker 2: Will Monster Truck oh that was out there and have
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  Speaker 2: these giant giant wheels, and there was a lot of
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  Speaker 2: opportunities or cause and effect, so also some fine motor
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  Speaker 2: skill development opportunity there. It was a great example of
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  Speaker 2: sensory opportunity for kids. There was also this great Axi
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  Speaker 2: lotel which is this big pink salamander that was a
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  Speaker 2: stuffed animal. Had some great sensory opportunities. The color contrast
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  Speaker 2: was great for blinder low vision individuals. The bottom the
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  Speaker 2: feet had these little puppets features, so kids who maybe
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  Speaker 2: needed a little bit more both texture, but also if
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  Speaker 2: they had some anxiety or ADHD, this was a great
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  Speaker 2: way to help with that kind of that fidgety those
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  Speaker 2: fidget needs as well and sensory needs. Is also very
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  Speaker 2: toughly and comforting, a little bit weighted. And then there
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  Speaker 2: was another great one that I liked, which was a
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  Speaker 2: Lego shaped sorder puppy house. This was a one for
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  Speaker 2: maybe the younger kids. It helps with sensory opportunities. Again,
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  Speaker 2: kids who have low vision or we're blind could use
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  Speaker 2: it through touch and feel. It really helped with patients
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  Speaker 2: and problem solving. Great learning opportunities for visual facial reasoning,
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  Speaker 2: and great bindmotor coordination as well.
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  Speaker 1: What a thoughtful smart list you put together. And again
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  Speaker 1: you had all the kids tested, so you have actual
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  Speaker 1: endorsements of these very special top twelve suggested toys in
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  Speaker 1: your new Accessible Toy Guide for this year and well
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  Speaker 1: into twenty twenty six. To keep folks happy, keep them learning,
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  Speaker 1: keep them engaged, encourage all the things that we talked
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  Speaker 1: about with these toys. Get the full list of toys,
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  Speaker 1: the endorsed toys from all those young people who have
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  Speaker 1: played with them on the spectrum at ees for Easter Seals,
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  Speaker 1: eessokel dot com, slash Toys and remember, if you know
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  Speaker 1: someone or meet someone who has a disability, please make
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  Speaker 1: sure they know about Easter Seals. They're all about empowering
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  Speaker 1: people with disabilities to live full, independent lives through their
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  Speaker 1: essential services and programs, incredible programs. For over one hundred years,
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  Speaker 1: they've been offering this to a children, adults, and their families.
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  Speaker 1: They're all about enhancing quality of life and then of
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  Speaker 1: course access to healthcare, education, employment, whatever you need. They
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  Speaker 1: are your go to all the information for all things
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  Speaker 1: that Easter Seals offers those with disabilities. SoCal dot Easterseals
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  Speaker 1: dot com and doctor Paula Pampa Craven with Easter Seals.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you again so much for all that you do
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  Speaker 1: and the whole team over there does Easter Seals Southern California.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for all that you do for so many,
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  Speaker 1: and happy holidays
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you to all, and have a great
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  Speaker 2: holiday season.