TAP Message Resonates After Graduation Too

The Toy Adaptation Program is thankful for all of our previous interns who helped to provide toys for children with special needs throughout the years. One such intern, Emily Curtiss, is continuing this work despite graduating from OSU and leaving TAP in 2019. This holiday season, she adapted toys and donated them to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in lieu of being able to assist at our annual Toys for All Tots event. You can read a local 10TV news story about her efforts here! Thanks for all that you’ve done and continue to do, Emily!

TAP At Home and Well Wishes

We hope that everyone is staying safe and healthy in these difficult times. Because of the ongoing pandemic, all of the Toy Adaptation Program’s events for the spring semester were cancelled or postponed. However, if you are still interested in learning how to adapt a toy, we have created an instructional page on our website for that exact purpose. The “At-Home Adapting” page provides information about adaptable toys, necessary materials, and step-by-step adapting instructions. Please feel free to check it out if you have the time and reach out to us with any questions you may have.

TAP Works with SLP-GO at OSU

The Speech-Language Pathology Graduate Organization (SLP-GO) at Ohio State participated in a TAP workshop on February 13th. As students and workers in the field of speech-language pathology, they understood the need for adapted toys and were excited to learn to do it themselves. Together, they adapted 4 toys!

Bridgeway Academy Visits TAP

On November 15th, 9 Bridgeway Academy therapists and teachers came to OSU for a workshop with TAP. Bridgeway Academy is a local school for children with special needs. Together they adapted 6 toys that will be integrated into their school programs. Another 9 toys will be adapted by the TAP interns and donated to Bridgeway Academy in the next couple months.

TAP Hosts AEP Employees and Engineering Students

On October 1st, TAP held a workshop with 20 AEP employees and OSU engineering students. The group was able to network with each other and adapt 18 toys in the process. Thanks to AEP for their constant support and to all those who participated!

Olentangy Local School District and TAP

TAP held a workshop with 30 teachers, speech language pathologists, and occupational therapists from the Olentangy Local School District on September 16th as part of their Staff Professional Development Day. Over 25 toys were adapted and added to the district’s toy libraries!

TAP Had a Busy Summer

We have not posted in a while so this post will serve as a summary of our activity throughout the summer. On May 13th, TAP held a workshop with new collaborators from AEP, the CHARGE employee group. The TAP interns attended the SciAccess conference on June 29th to learn about incorporating accessibility into the sciences. The Office of Diversity, Outreach, and Inclusion and TAP hosted a day camp at OSU for rising high school juniors and seniors called TAP Into Engineering. One camp was held on June 28th and one on July 11th with a total of about 50 students participating. On July 26th, the College of Engineering hosted its annual Grandparent’s Day event for alumni and their grandchildren. A toy adaptation workshop was one of the activities they could do together. Thanks to all of these organizations for making it a summer full of learning about toy adaptation!