Nursery World - A unique child: Disability Dolls

Well-meaning early years settings may provide dolls like disabled children for the sake of inclusive practice, but it could end up doing more harm than good, as Mary Evans hears from the experts.

Disability dolls are of limited value in early years settings if practitioners are not trained to introduce them to the children appropriately, according to leading experts.

Research has found that children with little experience of disability do not understand the toys. They will, for example, use toy crutches as guns and hearing aids as headphones.

The advent of Down's syndrome dolls from America has prompted a debate about the appropriateness and effectiveness of disability dolls. Manufacturers argue that it can boost the self-esteem of a Down's child to be given a doll that shares his or her facial features. The counter-argument is that children with disabilities, including Down's syndrome, tend to see themselves as like everyone else, and these toys only serve to emphasise the difference.

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