50 Best Toys for Nonverbal Autism and Developmental Delays (expert shares their top picks!)

I used to dread shopping for Kevin’s birthday and Christmas. I went through a phase where I loathed walking through the baby/toddler department of a store, looking for toys for my son who is neither a baby nor a toddler. But I got over it.

Now, having this blog for almost 15 years, parents often ask me, “What are the best toys for developmental delays? What sensory toys do you recommend for nonverbal kids?”

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This list was put together by one of my son’s team members, a former special education teacher and now a BCBA. I have a separate list of adult sensory toys.

So I asked my son’s BCBA. I asked what she felt are some of the best toys for kids with special needs such as nonverbal autism, intellectual disabilities or developmental delays. She just started spouting off suggestions. Thankfully she was willing to turn it into a blog post.

Step 1: Always ask them first! Pointing to a picture, enjoying a particular tv show…all of these things can give you clues if the child is non-speaking or non-verbal

Gifts for Children with Autism or Developmental Delays

This list is geared towards younger children with developmental delays (and you’re trying to increase skills to close the gap) or older children who have a limited skill set compared to their age-peers (yes, what we used to call “low functioning“). I would suggest not reading too much into age ranges or what gender a toy says.

At the end of the day, who cares if an 8-year-old boy plays with dolls? There is so much to be learned in the process. Your kids are hard at work building and acquiring skills as they learn about the world.

Now that I have 3 children of my own, I have a real appreciation for the thought, energy and hard earned dollars that go into buying toys. With this perspective, I have made a point of talking to all of the families I work with about holiday shopping.

Best Puzzles for Autistic Toddlers

With this puzzle, children with autism and other developmental delays can work on:

• fine motor skills
• matching skills
• simple task to complete

Foam Puzzles

Foam puzzles are great for:

• fine motor skills because of the little bit of extra effort that foam affords you
• give you something to talk about because some of the animals are identifiable (a few are hard to make out) which gives you more possibilities in the way of purpose and function

Pop Beads for Sensory and Fine Motor

Pop beads are a great toy for:

• fine motor skills
• putting together and taking apart
• can incorporate skills that involve colors and shapes
• reasonably priced, durable and usually in a decent container

Lacing Beads and Cards

Beads and Cards are for fine motor skills and sequencing.

Beads for stringing/lacing are also great for fine motor needs. When selecting your beads for lacing, I would suggest that you think “function” and “multi-purpose”. When you select your beads for stringing, pick ones that can be used in different ways. You can use beads for:

• sorting by color, shape, item, etc.
• some beads have pictures on them or beads that are small objects
• the child can request or identify beads by attribute, item, etc.

Toys for Non Speaking Kids

“Real Life Toys” are toys that mimic every day life.

Using real-life versions of toys is a great way to:

• promote communication
• identification skills
• pretend play skills or life skills

Also, adding items to toys/activities you may already have such as kitchen items or baby doll items can make them educational.

• With kitchen items and baby dolls, there are a lot of functional imitation skills you can work on (with real-life objects, doing real life things), on top of the pretend play skills you are developing and the ID skills you are building with these toys.
• There is a lot of vocabulary that is functional and important to be used with these toys.
• You are now exposing and talking about everyday items and the actions that go with these toys with your child.
• Add some more food or a tea set to that kitchen.
• Consider getting your child’s baby doll a stroller, crib or highchair.

When you are adding food to that kitchen, keep an eye out for items such as the following:

Each of these can be found on Amazon at decent prices. They are great for pretend play in the kitchen, but they will allow practice with:

• fine motor skills
• communication
• cognitive skills
• colors
• shapes
• real life items
• matching and physically putting things together
• used as a tabletop activity for more intense teaching
• skill acquisition

Games for Taking Turns and Socialization

When it comes to games, you should pick a focus. Do you want your child to:

• be involved with their siblings in some way
• learn/practice turn taking
• improve cognitive skills

If you ask yourself what you want out of a game, it may help you make a better choice when selecting games. Games like Honey Bee Tree and Crocodile Dentist are great for turn taking and require minimal skills to participate.

The Memory Game is good for:

• cognitive and communication skills
• can be used outside the context of a game
• have your child match pictures as a tabletop activity
• to be done independently, or if your child is not currently able to match a picture to picture, you can use the Memory cards to work on this important matching skill

Light Up/Interactive Toys

Great For: kids with autism or vision impairments.

This Fisher Price pig is a favorite for a number of clients of mine. The great thing about this pig is he is entertaining on his own. For a child who has minimal to no play skills, this is the kind of toy that is great to start with.

Works on:

• fine motor purpose by putting the coins in
• color identification
• math skills, “put two coins in”