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Early childhood center, State Fair Community College students build switch‑adapted toys for Loftus students
Summary
State Fair Community College occupational therapy students partnered with the Loftus Early Childhood Center to make switch‑adapted toys for children with significant needs. Staff and a parent described the project’s individualized design and its immediate benefits for participating children.
A collaboration between the Loftus Early Childhood Center and State Fair Community College’s occupational therapy assistant program was presented to the Sedalia R‑II board on March 3, highlighting student-made switch‑adapted toys that enable play for children with significant motor needs.
Caitlin Milberg, an occupational therapy instructor at State Fair, described the project and said she and 44 OTA students worked with Loftus staff to design and build off‑the‑shelf toys adapted with simple switches so children could engage in play and social interaction. “My overall goal was to create switch adaptive toys for children of all sorts of needs, making play possible,” Milberg said on the record.
Student Ashley Schultz described working one‑on‑one with the Anderson family and how quickly children engaged with the devices. Sonya Merchant, the district occupational therapist at Loftus, told the board the toys help with social‑emotional engagement, cause‑and‑effect learning and can transfer to communication device use.
Parent Annie Anderson said the toys opened a new avenue for children who are largely non‑communicative. The presenters said approximately 14 individualized toys were created; each required only a light eight‑millimeter press on the switch and performed different functions tailored to each child’s interests.
Why it matters: adaptive toys can expand opportunities for play, interaction and early intervention for children with significant needs. The project also offered practical field experience for community college students and strengthened a home‑district partnership.
Next steps: the district and State Fair said the partnership may continue; the board thanked presenters and administrators for facilitating the collaboration.
