Borrow-a-toy scheme going well

Press, 14 June 1978, Page 19

Borrow-a-toy scheme going well

By

MARGARET BUTLER

It is six months since the Toy Library for the Handicapped opened in Christurch and the voluntary staff are pleased with the reception it is receiving. Set up to lend toys to the handicapped which are advantageous to their development and stimulation, the library has about 60 children on its files and two or three more are joining each week. They may have any form of handicap: physical. intellectual, sensory, social, or emotional. The children range in age from a baby of nineweeks who can be entertained with a simple rattle, to a 16-year-old who thoroughly enjoys the music the staff turn on for each of his visits. .Most of the children are pre-school age.

The staff believe that the library, which is in a classroom on the Gloucester Street side of the Christchurch East School, is developing normally, in line with the way the other New Zealand toy libraries progressed as news of them spread by word of mouth. There are three toy libraries in Wellington, and one each at Waikato Hospital, Hawke’s Bay, Palmerston North, and Auckland. Another is being developed in Dunedin, and o.ie is being considered in InvercargiU. At present the Christchurch toy library opens from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each Tuesday, and the supervisor (Mrs Helen Bascand) believes it is because of these limiting lours that most of the

children attending are preschool age. “We must look at the hours next to see how we can better cater for school-age children.” The library’s warm and friendly atmosphere is a credit to the many voluntary staff. Colourful pictures decorate the walls, mobiles hang from the ceiling, and a special dis-

play corner is being developed to attract and interest children. During the 18 months the toy library was being planned, and until only recently, the voluntary staff worked under and were answerable to the Christchurch Co-ordinating Council for the Handicapped.

However, at a recent public meeting, the staff, believing the time had come for the library to stand independently, set up an eight-member interim committee charged w th preparing an acceptable ccn'-ritution m readiness for the library becoming an incorporated society, as well as running

its financial and policy matters.

The starf are grateful to the co-ordinating council for seeing the library to fruition, says the interim committee chairman (Miss Binda Goldsbrough). When it opened last November, the library carried about 350 toys, but with

further purchases and gifts this has grown to about 560. Some toys are being made by staff to meet various needs, says Miss Goldsbrough. The library is particularly keen to get more “reward” toys, she says, which provide some sensory stimulus for the very young or severely handicapped child. These may be toys which play a tune or have an opening lid when the child touches or squeezes them. Miss Goldsbrough says that the staff particularly like the Fisher-Price range of toys, which are imported from the United States. They are very original, well made, and most give some sensory reward. The

toys are hard to find in Christchurch, and because of import duties are very expensive. The simplest toy in this range might cost between $lO and $l2, and one of the most expensive about $5O. Children may borrow three toys at a time, and keep them for an average of four weeks with the right of renewal. A charge of 10c is made for each toy borrowed. Children are referred to the library by a referal agent, such as a doctor, who must set out in a letter information about the child and any special recommendations. Miss Goldsbrough says that many of these referal agents have commented on how much the children and their parents enjoy

visiting the library. The fact that so many children come back so regularly shows that the library is fulfilling an important need, Mrs Bascand adds.

The staff are kept busy cataloguing new toys and cleaning, disinfecting, and checking parts of those that have been returned. Miss Goldsbrough says that toys are being returned “in pretty good order.” If a toy is lost or damaged, an initial deposit of 40c is forfeited.

Toys which are bought by the library in cardboard boxes are transferred into sturdy wooden boxes and trays. These are made by a volunteer, and would cost hundreds of

dollars if they had to be bought. Everything is done to eliminate any possibility of damage to toys which could cause embarrassment for parents. The toy library had started in Christchurch in quite a sophisticated way with a toy classification system and rules for borrowing, says Miss Goldsbrough. They could be started in more modest ways according to the needs of a district. Miss Goldsbrough would like, eventually, to see toy libraries develop separately for normal children. Toys are expensive and constructive activities very important, she says. Toys might be borrowed in the same way as library books.