Edx Education x World Autism Acceptance Week
In support of our early years’ autistic communities during World Autism Acceptance Week (27th March – 2nd April) and up until 30th April, 2023, Edx Education are offering 15% off their entire educational toy range at www.shopedx.co.uk, using the code TQA15.
Edx education’s award-winning toy ranges include a fantastic selection of sensory toys, which have been shown to be very helpful for children with autism.
According to the National Autistic Society, there are over 160,000 autistic children in the UK. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face an array of challenges depending on their diagnosis, which can include difficulty communicating, interacting and learning. Sensory integration is one of the most important skills for those with autism to learn because it helps them to better understand their environment and become more aware of their emotions.
Sensory toys can help with many aspects of autism:
- They can be helpful for emotional self-regulation, helping them to relax, focus and calm down to a particular scenario or event
- They can help decrease fear and discomfort, and enable children to play naturally
- They can improve communication and language skills as children discuss their play activity
- They are helpful for balancing sensory input and output
- They can help with social skills like planning, negotiating, and sharing
- They can help improve cognitive development, motor skills and physical capability
Fidget Cubes: These are colourful cubes that can be connected together to create different shapes. They are great for stimulating tactile sense, fine motor skills and creativity. They also provide a satisfying click sound that can calm anxiety and improve focus in autistic children.
The Translucent Linking Cubes have the added benefit of stimulating the sight sense as you shine a torch through the colourful cubes to create different light patterns on surfaces.
Eco Friendly Tactile Shells: These are shells made from discarded rice husks and stems. They come in three different sizes, with a smooth underside and six different textured tops making them ideal for sensory play activities.
They can be used with playdough and are a wonderful toy for exploring touch sensations and sorting activities.
Language skills can also be improved as children describe the tactile feel of the textures, as they dip into the cloth bag and try and match the different shells according to sizes and textures. There’s also colourful Translucent Shells for lightbox and play dough activities too!
Whizzy Dizzy: This is a spinning toy that has a sturdy swivelling platform for children to sit on as they use the central rotating steering wheel to spin themselves around, either slow and steady, or fast for maximum excitement. The spinning sensation can help autistic children with vestibular sense issues, while helping improve hand-eye coordination and gross motor skills, and strengthen core, hand and arm muscles as children manoeuvre the moving platform.
Parents and educators can explore the full range of sensory toys and get lots of free advice on play activities for children with autism at www.shopedx.co.uk.
