Because there are so many toys available in high street shops and specialist catalogues, parents need to take care when choosing to ensure they are not wasting their money. Remember that children need access to fun toys as well as therapeutic and educational toys.

However, parents can be creative in their use of household objects and scrap materials, as well as with bought toys, so that as many stimulating and fun activities can be achieved from each toy, by using them in various ways other than the purpose for which they were designed.

Toys from high street shops, markets, charity shops and jumble sales, can be just as useful as the very expensive toys available from specialist catalogues. However, care must always be taken to ensure a toy is safe for any child and supervision given in use, wherever it is purchased from. Toys are most useful if they provide a range of skills to be learnt by the child, over a period of time, as their abilities progress.

Children with severe learning disabilities and/or autistic features may sometimes engage in repetitive self stimulating movement activities e.g. rocking, jumping, hopping up and down, hitting themselves or bumping into people, spinning around etc. During these periods the child will be self absorbed and unable to participate in other activities or to learn from them and may injure themselves.

If the child is difficult to distract with another interesting activity, it may be possible to provide them with a more acceptable activity which gives the same sensory input they are seeking e.g. trampoline, rocking equipment, ballpool, swing etc. It may also be useful to get advice from a clinical psychologist to incorporate a behaviour modification programme.

Toys for development and play are unlikely to be provided by either by the health service or social services. A paediatric occupational therapist should be able to advise on suitable toys and activities to develop a child's cognitive, fine and gross motor and visual perceptual skills.

An occupational therapist may also know of local toy libraries or parent support groups where toys can be loaned to try out with a child before purchase, or for access to a wide range of toys, some of which may only be available from specialist suppliers.

You may also consider a visit to a Disabled Living Centre (DLC) (www.dlcc.co.uk). DLCs provide the opportunity to try out equipment and receive information on what may be most suitable.

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