Display Models as Toys
The other day I was out walking around Best Buy with my son. After I looked at everything I needed, we made our way over toward the section with mobile phones. I waited to go there until the end, because phones are one of his fixations. Since we weren’t on any sort of schedule, I let him stim with them and touch each and every display model. At Best Buy, they have a working model that is strapped up on the counter and a non-working display model that is attached with a retractable cord.
Eventually we came across a phone that had fallen off of the cord. I flagged down the guy working in that section to let him know. Then I was struck by an idea. I asked him what they do with the display models when they’re no longer selling that model and he told me that they just throw them away! I asked and they had one that he gave to my son. He was just simply thrilled.
This turned out to be great for him. He loses interest in ‘toy’ cellphones pretty quickly and prefers to play with real phones that we’re no longer using. I’m always wary of them because there are buttons that come off, screens that can break, batteries that I don’t always remove, and so on. The display model works perfectly for this. It’s made to look exactly like the real cellphone, move like it, and feel like it.
I wonder if there’s any benefit in organizing a way to relieve Best Buy and other stores of their display models when they’re finished with them. For that matter, I wonder what other type of display models are suitable for toys? Any ideas?
July 20th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Hi. First time visitor to Autism Plays and I will be coming back for sure. My 2.5 yo has just been diagnosed with High Functioning Autism and we are discovering a whole new world with her.
She gets stuck on music and during a nightmare attempt at grocery shopping recently I gave her my mobile phone and set it to play some MP3s. That worked amazingly well. She sat with the phone up to her ear listening to the tunes and didn’t car how long the shopping took. When we got home I dug out hubbys old Nokia which is one of their heavy duty models (less likely to break) and have set that up as her toy MP3 player. I prefer it to a proper MP3 player as the phone can play the music without need for headphones/ear buds which I dislike using with small children.
July 20th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
That is an excellent idea Marita! I never thought of using my cell phone as an mp3 player. I totally agree that using ear buds with small kids is kind of unnerving. We do have a set of head phones that my son uses. He does the Listening Program with his OT. It works so well for him. But these head phones are made for children and they cover their whole ear. We still supervise him while he does his listening. Do you have an OT yet? It is so hard to get everything started in the beginning. It took us about 6 months. Great idea thanks so much for sharing!
November 4th, 2008 at 9:21 am
My 9yr old son does not like to play with toys, except felt sets, and only if we are sitting together and playing. He likes Transformers, but for display, not play.