Achievement Products: Resources for Children with Special Needs – Inviting special stories about children with special needs

For over 30 years, Achievement Products has been proud to provide top quality therapy, special needs and special education products across a broad range of physical, cognitive and developmental areas particularly for young children in their early and preschool years. From standers and walkers, to positioning, seating, therapy balls, assessments, oral and fine motor products, therapists, teachers and parents have looked to Achievement Products for the broadest selection of items to help the youngest special children in their care. Our products are available from our catalog, request one by calling 1-800-373-4699, or on our website at http://www.achievement-products.com/.

I am Julie Fraser and as the buyer for Achievement Products I am always excited when I find new products to help all children realize their full potential. When reviewing new items I love to visualize how they will help children become stronger, more capable, self confident and independent. While the features of any one product offer benefits for a general good, it is the individual stories of success or change that imbue the products in our line with the greatest benefit of all, a child becoming the best that he or she can be.

I also love that many times, the product innovators for these items are therapists or parents themselves, filling a need for their own clients and children. The unique products that often find their way into the market from these sources are frequently remarkable for their simplicity and a marvel for their benefit delivery. Last year one of the items I presented to our sales team was such an item, the Handi-Writer. To look at it, it is simply a charm hanging from a soft wrist band, but when I demonstrated how a pen or pencil slips into a small loop, and how when the charm is held in the palm the hand automatically assumes the correct “tripod” writing position, this simple and easy to miss small item had the room chorusing, “I need one for myself!” I’ll never forget the reaction of one of my fellow buyers, “I thought my new storage caddy for art supplies was so ingenious when the real innovation is here! Who would have thought of such a clever and useful tool!?” A pediatric occupational therapist is who and her product has been strengthening and improving the writing grasp of children across a broad age range since it was introduced. I strive to have every page of our catalog filled with such items!

As we launch our 2009 line of products that includes over 200 new items, it is our sincerest wish that you share with us, and the greater Achievement Products community, your child’s success story. Are there unexpected benefits derived from a product intended for one use but valuable for another? We already have stories we will share in the coming weeks about some of our new products, how Brain Noodles, a wonderful tactile perceptual motor product, kept a high energy child with autism engrossed for an evening, or how we are beginning to learn, and want to learn more, about the benefits of yoga for children with special needs. And of course we invite your product ideas and needs, we want Achievement Products to be the best it can be for you too. We invite you to join us frequently to learn and share how the children in our lives are progressing, learning and achieving to their highest level!