A dinosaur roar is a common sound in Connie Mithcell’s classroom at Fort Sanders Educational Development Center, where she works with two extraordinary students, Dino and Aiden, who both require total care, are non-verbal, and have low vision.
Despite being medically fragile, Dino and Aiden share the same love for play as their peers — especially drums, sound toys, and roaring toy dinosaurs — their favorite.
To make this possible, Aiden and Dino’s toys are adapted to suit their abilities — typically equipped with large buttons, arms, or switches that allow them to activate the sounds, motion, and other multi-sensory experiences.
“Adaptive toys and musical instruments provide unique learners a better chance to experience the joys other children in traditional classrooms do,” Mitchell said. “Even if they can’t hold or grasp a drumstick, they can play the drums like other students with the push of a button.”
According to Special Education Supervisor Shelli Eberle, adaptive toys play a vital role in facilitating communication and learning for students like Dino and Aiden.
“Using highly-engaging, brightly-colored, noisy switch toys, allows us to offer a full sensory experience, regardless of a student’s skill or ability,” she said. “It’s a crucial element of their education.”
But, like any well-loved play thing, these adaptable toys sometimes break and have to be thrown in trash or put away until they can be fixed.
L&N STEM Academy math teacher Brooke Carter knew fixing broken toys was something her Physics, Mechanics, and Engineering School sophomores could do. It was a creative and challenging task perfectly suited for a class service project.
“Some kids learned new skills through this project, and others were able to practice things they had already learned in class,” Carter said.
During the evaluation process, students worked together to identify malfunctions and devise repair solutions.
“It was pretty obvious what was wrong with some of the toys,” said student Kenzie Self. “But for some, we had to test out their circuits and other functions. We even had to remove some of the fur on one toy so a broken arm could be soldered back on.”
“Normally when we make something, it gets taken apart to be used for something else,” reflected student William Bieber. “Repairing these toys felt like recycling – giving them a new life.”
“The whole giving-back aspect was really cool because it puts a bigger sense of meaning into it,” said L&N STEM student Vivienne Ratner. “It’s nice to do something for someone else and have fun doing it.”
This kind of hands-on learning is exactly what The 865 Academies are designed to provide. Thanks to a little creative problem-solving, Dino and Aiden’s dinosaurs weren’t the only things roaring back to life. When all was said and done, the students successfully repaired 10 toys to return to Fort Sanders EDC.
Both schools plan to continue their partnership, and expand it to help more schools across the district.