Am I Age Appropriate?

Much of my caseload is comprised of developmentally disabled, blind and low-vision adults. They live in group homes and residential facilities. I have observed a disturbing trend regarding the activities provided for this population.

In the effort to encourage these individuals to engage in activities considered to be "age-appropriate", many of the past-time activities that this population found to be fun and interesting has been taken away from them as they are not activities in which adults normally engage.

Recently, I was working at a facility on the day of a birthday celebration. An employee made a comment that staff was no longer permitted to decorate with balloons as adults do not play with balloons.

I was astounded. In my professional experience, balloons are useful for visual and tactile stimulation. In my personal experience, they change everyday surroundings into a festive and happy place. They are joyful, weightless blobs of color that I can swirl around a room and stick in people’s hair.

The implications of this "age appropriate" guideline, however, are far more damaging, in my opinion. It means excluding the use of objects that are stimulating and useful to acquiring new, and potentially transferable, skills.

Many children’s toys play simple, well-known tunes, put objects and colors into motion and make animal sounds. They inspire my students to make the effort to push buttons, turn knobs and pull handles.

Many, many of my students are so severely involved that they cannot, or do not, respond to even the most basic infant toys. I have discovered that, with some initial instruction, they are able to squeeze the soft doggie toys and shake cat toys with bells.

These toys are made with a variety of textures, shapes and sizes. They are pleasing to the touch and easy to operate. The resulting squeaks and ringing appear to be well-received. I often have to pry the object out of their hands at the end of a lesson.

I am quite certain that dog and cat toys are not even considered "human appropriate", much less age-appropriate. Needless to say, I don’t exactly flaunt my teaching methods to others.

With these activities, however, comes improved hand-eye coordination, small muscle development and improved visual tracking skills. Many of my students begin to seek out these activities on their own and learn how to entertain themselves, by themselves.

Moreover, these are activities that may provide the first taste of success, on which self-esteem is built. I have used these activities as leverage to mold behaviors, as rewards for cooperation. My students will often use the toys to calm themselves. I use them as steps to the next, more complicated, skill.

I interpret the term "age-appropriate" to mean activities which individuals of a certain age would normally perform. An adult goes to work and earns sufficient money to support a household, children and pets.

He or she would engage in the social activities of their choice, pay bills on a regular basis, including writing checks. They decide how much to save, set up IRA’s and money markets, if desired. They go to the store of their choice to make the purchase of their choice.

My blind students in residential group homes perform a few of these tasks. Many have radios, cassette players and televisions, but little else. The areas are basically void of color and activities...easy to clean.

In my mind, I fill the rooms with Fisher Price.

Direct comments about this article to kathyz@mindspring.com.