Junior's Favorite Adapted Toys/Items

With Christmas coming up quickly I have had several people ask me for suggestions for items for older kids.  Things that are more "age appropriate" yet things they can use independently or at least somewhat independently.  These items are of course things I have found that work for Junior and each child is different.

Something that Junior has been using for years and allows him access to many items is his PowerLink.  Though pricey to buy one new I found one recently on Ebay for just $20 that works great.  His first one was provided by the school district because he is on home instruction.
With the power link Junior can use his switch to turn on the Christmas tree lights, a tape player, radio, sewing machine, mixer, etc.  It allows him to be part of so many activities that he otherwise would be unable to participate in.  One of his favorite activities is using his switch with the powerlink to turn on the sewing machine and help me sew.

With the PowerLink in mind this disco light was a huge hit when he got it last year.  Plugged into the powerlink it becomes switch accessible.  He also likes this version of the disco lights which he calls his space ship lights.

This Butterfly in a jar is motion and sound activated but we added a battery interrupter so Junior could use his switch to activate it.    This Blog Posthttp://heidis-place.blogspot.com/2014/05/monday-fun.html has pictures and a video of Junior using his switch to activate his butterfly.

Junior has a view master(the link is to the type view master he has but it is not adapted) that shows the pictures up on the wall.  This item was purchased switch adapted several years ago and I have not attempted to adapt one myself.  We had put it away because all the sets of reels we had were for much younger kids but recently we discovered sets for older kids.  This is now back on our shelf and he is getting new sets of reels for Christmas(Spider-man,Star Wars, Despicable Me, and Shrek).

Last year he received a gift card from Adaptive Tech Solutions and they have some great "big kid" adapted items and also have reasonable prices.  Junior used his card to get the bubble lamp which he loves.

A couple years ago he got the Discovery Kids Volcano and just today I found a Discovery Kids Arctic Lamp on clearance at a local store. Both of these I was able to add a battery interrupter to so they are now switch accessible.  With the Arctic Lamp the battery interrupter needs to be placed on the middle battery and then leave out the battery next to it for it to work.

One of Junior's all time favorite switch adapted toys is his nerf dart gun.  Here is a link to a blog post on how to adapt the nerf gun.

Another all time favorite is his adapted water gun. Here is a blog post about that adaptions.

Junior also enjoys games with one of his favorites being memory.  Many memory games look very babyish so we were very excited to find him a super hero version that looks big kid. Here is a link showing how Junior's plays memory and how we adapt the memory cards so he can play. 

 If your child likes games then the adapted game spinner is a great item to have.  We use it for many games and Junior loves it.  Here is a blog post sharing about the spinner.  The link also shows how we adapted another of his favorite games Sorry.

For his birthday this year Junior received an inflatable senory bin which has been a big hit.  He has a big sensory table which he dearly loves but he is not always feeling up to sitting in his chair to play at it. This small version is perfect for those times when he wants to play but is not feeling great.


Last Christmas I made Junior a sensory tray which can sit on his wheelchair tray. I also made a mini version which he can take along when we go out.  It fits perfectly in the basket under his chair when not in use and is great to keep him distracted while at doctors appointments.

His giant toy bar is something Junior has been using for many years but it can be changed according to age and need.  For many years now it has been his personal planetarium and he gets upset if I even mention changing it to another theme.

We can't leave out his ipad of course.  It is a huge favorite and gets used many times a day.  He uses it for communication(proloquo2go is his communication app) but also for school activities and for entertainment.  He recently got the Storybots apps which he is really enjoying.  He requests to read the stories or watch their videos daily.  A great Christmas gift though he got them a bit early.
Here he is listening to some storybot stories via the apple box so it is on the tv screen.  Yes that is Junior you see staring in his stories. 

I will be adding a few more things later but need to pause for now.