Abstract

The Use of Educational Toys by Parents of Children with Intellectual Disabilities

Sri Sumijati & Rustina Untari

Children with intellectual disabilities understand and learn things in relatively slower pace compared to their peer, so they need stimulation from various ways and means in order to develop optimally. Educational toys (ET) are the best learning tools for children with intellectual disabilities. Parents as a natural educator for children have an important role in their children early stimulation. The problem is, have said parents already used ET to stimulate their children’s development? Twenty six parents of children with intellectual disabilities were answering that in this study. Result showed that there were four categories regarding ET use by the parents, which were 1) parents who aware and consistently using ET to stimulate their children’s development, 2) parents who seldom using ET for various reasons, 3) parents who didn’t actually aware of ET but using it, and 4) parents who never used ET at all.