Toy-Lending Library for Children with Developmental Delays

St. Louis ARC developed a new program, Capable Kids and Families, designed to promote early intervention by providing children (ages 0-6) and families with developmentally appropriate toys and therapeutic equipment free of charge. This program allows parents to meet the needs of their children at home by borrowing toys that may be otherwise inaccessible, and then returning them for another family to use.

The Capable Kids and Families’ catalog contains more than 1,700 toys and pieces of equipment to choose from and once a month, a staff member visits each family’s home to observe the children with the toys and provide suggestions for the parents about when it would be helpful to swap toys so that the child can move forward in his or her therapy. While some of these toys are specialized, others can be found at Toys “Я” Us®. The toys and equipment can be kept indefinitely until they are no longer useful for the children’s development.

The St. Louis ARC, a nonprofit agency that supports people with developmental delays launched this program in December 2009 to help parents check out educational and therapeutic toys and equipment that may be otherwise too costly for them. With enough state funding to support 50 local families, a waitlist has started for families waiting to join the program. Eligible families must live in St. Louis and have a child younger than 7 with a delay in their physical, speech, sensory, or intellectual development.

For more information about the Equipment Lending Program, please contact Jean Darnell, the Director of Capable Kids and Families at jean.darnell [at] thecommunitypartnership [dot] org or by phone at 573-368-2849.

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