We love it when kids – all kids, any kids – have fun with Toca Boca toys. However, sometimes we hear stories about our apps being an actual help to kids with various difficulties – autism, learning disabilities etc. We don’t develop our apps specifically for these children, but it’s always extra heartwarming to hear about them enjoying our apps, finding help developing new skills and discovering their own creativity. This is one letter we received the other day, from Rachel Kremen in New Jersey:

I just wanted to send you an email to let you know how wonderful your apps have been for my three-year-old autistic son, Riley. Riley is the kind of autistic child who naturally has an incredible memory for facts: he could fully read at 18 months, now knows the shape and location of every country on earth, all the flags, bones in the body, etc.

Despite all this, he could not play. He did not understand the idea of a toy – any toy without obvious educational value. If you handed him a train, he would bang it or put it in his mouth, even at age two. If you handed him a doll, same thing.

Initially, we bought him apps that were academically oriented (such as geography and math quiz games), because he enjoyed them. But what we really wanted was for him to learn how to play like other children and be creative. No matter how we tried to show him how to play, he did not understand anything that did not involve the same answer every time. So, for example, he could not understand how to play with trains, answer a question about his favorite animal, pretend to feed a doll, or color.

Your apps gave him an environment that was just the right mix of open yet predictable play, so that he could explore the sorts of things other little boys and girls love. And because there is no real language in your apps, it gives us a chance to talk about what is going on, instead of him simply memorizing the lines characters say.

Best of all, he has transferred these play skills to the real world! During his play therapy, he now enjoys pretending to buy and cook food, pretending to paint his dolls’ hair and, most recently, play with a train set. He can tell us all about who is getting on and off the train, what his favorite hair color is, and what he likes to cook.

I realize you aren’t specifically making apps for the autism community, so I thought you might not even realize the kind of positive impact you have in this regard.
We look forward to many new Toca Boca apps in the future and wish your company all the best.

Sincerely,

Rachel Kremen
Highland Park, New Jersey
http://www.rachelkremen.com

Thanks for sharing, Rachel!