IMAGINETS Toy/Software Analysis Janice Jackson CEPD6160 February 15, 2010
The early years of a child s life are very important for his or her health and development. Healthy development means that children of all abilities, including those with special health care needs, are able to grow up where their social, emotional and educational needs are met. Having a safe and loving home and spending time with family playing, singing, reading, and talking are very important ("Facts about child," 2013) The quote above was taken from the Centers for Disease Control web site, Facts about Child Development. In child development, play is important as it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social and emotional well being of children. So, when it comes to play, what toys are appropriate for children between the ages of 3-5 who have different developmental abilities and challenges? For this toy/software analysis, I have identified one toy to evaluate for three target groups between the ages of 3-5 years. The three groups include: Group 1) children who are on target in meeting their developmental milestones with no known disabilities Group 2)children with severe hearing loss who received early intervention, and Group 3) children with autism spectrum disorders. Group 1 According to Piaget s stages of cognitive development, children who are on target meeting their developmental milestones, between the ages of 3-5, are in the preoperations stage. They think in terms of symbols or mental representations, as reflected in their language processing. Socially, according to PAGE 1
Erikson s stages, they engage in pretend play, are exploring their independence and emerging roles through make believe and self-initiative tasks. They are able to show emotions both physically and verbally. These emotions can include, anger, happiness, or sadness. At this age, they are also able to show empathy. However, this age group cognitive development ranges from them being unable to think from others perspectives and not problem solve very well. Socially, you will see frustration or guilt if parents or teachers expectations are too high and emotionally they are only concerned with self. Their emphasis in on avoiding punishments and gaining rewards. Group 2 The cognitive development of children with hearing loss is a little tricky. Many factors must be considered. Hearing loss can affect a child s ability to develop communication, language, and social skills. According to the Centers for Disease Control, The sooner children with hearing loss start getting services, the more likely they are to reach their full potential. Although children with hearing loss experience significant delays in language development, other cognitive development are closely matched to Piaget s preoperations stage and to Erikson s stages of psychosocial development of hearing children of this same age group. Children in this age group think in terms of symbols, they pretend play and have conceptual development skills. They have also been found to have super normal visual skills. Socially, they explore their independence through make believe but can feel isolated, alone and without friends and unhappy in school if there is not early intervention to their developmental skills. PAGE 2
Group 3 The third group is children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Every individual on the autism spectrum has problems to some degree with social skills, empathy, communication, and flexible behavior (Help Guide.org, 2012). So, with the age group of 3-5 year olds, the children may have some issues with Erikson s stages of psychosocial development initiative vs. guilt. Children with ASD do not reach some of the milestones in the preoperations or the earlier sensorimotor stage of Piaget s stages of cognitive development. They do not pretend play, make eye contact, or engage in everyday social interactions. Emotionally, they do not readily seek to share their enjoyment of toys or activities by pointing or showing things to others. They are easily distracted and have trouble focusing on an activity for more than five minutes. However, children with ASD often have great interest in numbers, symbols, or science topics. Children with autism tend to learn more visually or by touch. Connecting puzzle pieces provides a satisfying tactile sensation, and children enjoy the bright colors that come into picture as the puzzle progresses. An effective learning environment for these children should be a room filled with manipulative, hands-on objects and materials that can be stacked, counted, sorted, and compiled (Paris &Cunningham, 1996). Toy/Software At this link, you can see a short video of the toy Imaginets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eagxsn3hen4 PAGE 3
Imaginets recommended for ages 3-8 but this analysis is focused on children 3-5 years of age. Imaginet is a magnetic puzzle toy that has 42 magnetic color shapes and a case that carries the shapes. The game comes with 25 two-sided design cards that the child can use to replicate the image from the card by putting the colorful shapes together on the magnetic board. The magnetic board is also a dry-erase board that allows the child to draw and design to his/her imagination. It encourages independent thinking and problem solving. The shapes have design challenges for children and they can build what they see on the matching cards that come with the game of they can use their imagination to build whatever they please. The developers tout Imaginets as a game that, encourages children to think, but also to explore and discover the way shapes can be combined to form intricate designs. According to the developers, Using Imaginets will improve your child's fine motor and visual thinking skills while also developing their skills in problem-solving, counting, sorting, categorizing, spatial relationships, and matching colors, shapes, and sizes. The toy is easy to transfer as the game board folds up with all shapes inside. Evaluation When evaluating these groups of children playing with Imaginets, I would use an informal assessment. I would observed them playing with the game to see how well they play alone. I would ask questions about how they are enjoying the toy or what they are making, and ask if I could play along with them to see how PAGE 4
well they engage in make believe, team play and sharing. Based on my observation, I will be able to tell if the toy is right for the age, and developmental stage. Group 1 Imaginets is appropriate for 3-5 year old children. It meets Piaget s preoperations stage of cognitive development as it allows children to pretend play. As seen in some of the images, children have created horses, flowers and bikes (see figure 1 &2). Imaginets allows the child to use the shapes as symbols. One person who reviewed this toy was a speech language pathologist that used Imaginets with preschool children between the ages of (3-5). She said it has all kinds of language inspiring (and concept building) shapes, colors, designs and possibilities. With Imaginets, children are also able to demonstrate social development through make believe. With their shapes, they can create stories, princesses, or whatever fantasy they choose to engage in. Through their social/emotional development children can work cooperative with each. Through their emotional development at this age they are able to show happiness or pride at what they design with the shapes and they can also show frustration like some of the parent who review the toy said their children did when the color of the cards didn t match the color of the shapes. The toy also meets the attributes of effective learning environments because the children can use play as an opportunity for learning and self-expression. PAGE 5
Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 1 can be a car, or a person relaxing on a lawn chair. Figure 2 could be a giraffe, a horse or a jokey riding a horse in the derby. Group 2 Imaginets is a great toy for developing deaf children s social, cognitive, and motor skills. Much like hearing children, deaf children who have receive early intervention are capable of meeting most cognitive stages of a normal developing 3-5 year old children except in language development. A deaf child in this age group engages in imaginary play and uses symbols and signs as is appropriate for the preoperations stage. Because deaf children are visual oriented, the color shapes and cards are perfect for visual spatial relations. A deaf child may have difficulties playing with another child who does not sign or cannot communicated with him/her because of delayed social and emotional development. In an online blog called, Diary of a Deaf Mum (http://deafmumdiary.com/welcome/) the Mum posted pictures of one of her deaf boys, age three, during imaginary play. The toy he s playing with is Imaginets. PAGE 6
A NEW TOY called Imaginets. It s giraffe, C says. PAGE 7
The toy has magnets in different shapes and colours. This allows more creativity in making an imaginary animal or object. I love it when C shows me his own created object. He has shown me his big house, a big round circle, and many more. :) This toy is encouraging physical and cognitive engagement with C, which meets the attributes of an effective learning environment. Group 3 Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders have significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. According to the website Raising Children Network, Playing with others can be particularly challenging for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Since these children are visual learners, Imaginets is an excellent toy for parents to help their children learn how to play. For example, parents can sit with their child and copy what the child does with the Imaginet shapes. Then the parent can put a shape on the board and say, your turn. This copying also helps in what Piaget calls conventional communications. The child is relying on words that have meaning. So by doing as the parents ask, the child is showing he understands what is being asked of him. Some ASD children are highly intelligent and may advance to the concrete operational stage early. Because they are visual learners, they may have an ability called decentration. They may be able to sort the shapes by colors or tell what comes next in both shape and color sequences. One of the emotional development delays in ASD children is that they do not readily seek to share their enjoyment of toys or activities by pointing or PAGE 8
showing things to others. Imaginets would be a good toy for them because it can be played alone. As individuals mature emotionally, they learn how to read others and social situations more effectively. However, not all individuals reach this level of emotional maturity or display the same degree of emotional intelligences (Alexander, 2012). ASD children rarely reach the stage where they read social situation effectively. The fact is, ASD children tend to look and listen less to people in their environment and fail to respond to other people. Imaginets would allow them to play with the magnetic shapes alone and use them any way they wish with no set expectations of another child. The reviews on Imaginets overwhelmingly outweigh the negative reviews on this toy. In fact, the negative reviews were far a few between and mainly focused on missing game pieces and discolored cards. In my opinion, Imaginets, is an appropriate toy for all three groups because it encourages independent thinking, problem solving, and it encourages children to explore and discover. It also allows a child to play along and this is beneficial to ASD children who prefer solitude. The developers specifically created this game to improve fine motor skills, visual thinking skills and develop problem-solving skills. Each group would benefit greatly from these skills. PAGE 9