I designed and
sewed up the
prototype (in the picture to the left above) for this after trying to
work with a
5th grade boy who had Downs
Syndrome.
He had a hard time
with his pants buttons and zipper, and would come out of the bathroom
with them undone to get help. At the same time, he rejected practicing
on a doll or stuffed snake as "baby stuff," and was NOT interested in
practicing on clothing - "boring!!!" He did like to use the
wiggle pen and a few other fine motor toys, so after about 10 hours
struggling with a sewing maching (not my forte), I made up one of
these. I put the favored toy inside, closed up all the fasteners, and
gave it to him. It worked! He willingly worked at opening them all,
accepted my help to learn how, played with the toy he found inside, and
then closed them all back up at the end of the session, "for next
time."
I then started using this with children with severe language
weaknesses, such as children with autism
and/or moderate cognitive
disabilities.
Instead of trying to get across that if they practiced buttoning and
unbuttoning x number of times, then I would give them a reward, using
the Fasten-ator was a much more natural cause-and-effect activity. They
saw the desired item or icon go into the box, saw the buttons and/or
zipper and/or snaps and/or
clips and/or
laces get
done up (modeling!), and understood that to get the toy those fasteners
needed to get un-done!
Some of the other OT's I worked with asked if they could get one too. I
wasn't eager to spend another 10 hours sewing again, so -- long story
short -- Abilitations was interested and started having them
manufactured to sell.
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