John Anthony was about 2 1/2 months when we were told that he was developmentally delayed. He had missed his first milestone of holding his own head up and soon he missed his milestone for rolling over. We didn't know what to do help him but soon I found that our post had Early Intervention Programs. We enrolled him as soon as we could and the sessions began. John wasn't very active yet but was still put to work. The first few therapies didn't really seem like if anything was being done but he was still too small for them to work on. The only thing that really stimulated John at the time was when our dog Goofy would bark or run around. Goofy become John's protector, where ever John was at Goofy was at too. At night time Goofy would sleep under the crib and during the day when John was on the bassinet Goofy would be right under. Whenever I would lay down with John on the bed Goofy would be John's foot stool. So we had found the first thing that would spark John's curiosity.
Once we moved back to CA and after John was discharged from the hospital the real work began for John. I got in touch with our local regional center and after a few evaluations they determined that he did qualify for their program. They assigned a teacher to come once a week to our home to work with him. John didn't care much for his teacher for the first couple of month. He would ignore her or play possum until he left. I then decided to turn our 2nd living room into a playroom for him. I spent 2 weeks painting a Jungle Theme mural on the walls to grab his attention and I filled it up with all of his toys. Right away he loved to play on the slide. He couldn't hold his head up or sit down alone so I would hold him by his wait and slide him down, he thought it was hilarious. So I began a routine with him, everyday we would play in his playroom and try new toys. He has one of the Step 2 rollercoaster and although it is not for his age group I gave it a try since he wouldn't be using it alone and he loved it. The next time I tried his Baby Einstein extrasaucer and he hated it. Although it was brightly colored and full of toys he didn't want anything to do with it. So I tried one of those door bouncers that was full of colorful toys too and he hated it too. I soon came to realize that he didn't want to play with baby toys or be treated like a baby. He wanted to play rough and with toys that were exciting.
John has been luck enough to have a wide variety of toys to choose from and play with what he likes. Considering the fact that he has toys from different brand I have to say that the toys he liked the best have been the vTech toys and Scout the puppy from Leapfrog. Doctors in Germany told me he wouldn't know what it was like to play with a toy until he was a couple of years old but when it came to the toys he liked, he knew exactly how to use them.
During his last hospitilization a nurse let me borrow a stationary bouncer since we couldn't find anything else to keep him entertained at 0300. At first he wasn't too sure about what to think of this new toy but within a couple of minutes he was jumping aay and clapping. He would jump up and down and side to side on the bouncer. We bought him one as a Christmas gift and everyday he gets excited when I put him in it. He jumps up and down as much as he can taking small breaks in between. He stomps his little feet on the ground and we just hear little stomps on the ground.
A child can have hundreds of toys and it will not matter if you don't find a toy that stimulates him and grabs his attention. We have bought every learning aide and educational toy we could find but the ones we thought would help him the least have been the best ones. I personally like the vTech and Leapfrog toys since they are educational and all of the bright colors and sounds grab his attention.
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