Leicester Mercury

Help ensure 500 disabled children get a festive gift

Charity plea to put smiles on faces this christmas

- By CHRIS JONES chris.jones@reachplc.com @chrisjones­sport menphys.org.uk/themenphys­christmasl­ist

A CHARITY wants to give 500 presents to disabled children this christmas – and hopes you can help pay for them.

Menphys provides specialist services to children and young adults with additional needs and disabiliti­es.

Many have spent months in isolation. the county charity said it aims to put smiles back on the faces of people who have endured so much hardship.

A spokesman said: “children with disabiliti­es are just that – children. And they want to play.

“So the best toys for a child with a disability are those that encourage that exploratio­n through play.

“their toys don’t have to be fancy or special learning toys. they simply need to be toys that the child enjoys and that are developmen­tally appropriat­e. Our team has selected a wide range of age and disability-appropriat­e gifts we would like to send.”

they include Lego, “a multisenso­ry, open-ended experience”, so the building projects can be tailored to any young person’s unique needs, such as blindness, deafness, mobility impairment, autism, or ADhD.

Arts and crafts for young people with motor disabiliti­es can help them express themselves creatively, build confidence and aid in strengthen­ing fine and gross motor skills, Menphys said.

For a young person with autism, sensory processing disorder or auditory processing disorder, noise “can be brutal but it can be very stimulatin­g”.

toys suitable for music therapy work across a broad spectrum of need from exploring and expressing thoughts and feelings to developing concentrat­ion and co-ordination.

Menphys said it was looking to buy everything from jigsaws to jack-in-a-boxes, Funko Pops to Fidget toys, bath toys to Barbie dolls.

A donation of £15 or more will pay for a gift and its distributi­on. Each recipient will receive a note saying the gift is on its way and who sponsored it.

the donor will receive an e-mail telling them the type of gift and age range of the person it is going to.

For more details, visit:

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