TTUHSC Interprofessional Toy Fair and Expo

What is the Interprofessional Toy Fair & Expo

In the United States, about one in six, or about 15%, of children have one or more developmental delays and/or disabilities. Developmental delays and disabilities are a group of conditions due to an impairment in physical, learning, language, or behavior areas. Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) services help infants and toddlers with delays and disabilities learn many key skills and catch up in their development. Lubbock ECI provides health care services that focus on helping eligible infants and toddlers learn the basic and brand-new skills that typically develop during the first three years of life.

Each October, the Office of Interprofessional Education at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) hosts the Interprofessional Toy Fair and Expo for children age birth-to-3, who receive early intervention services for developmental delays and disabilities through Lubbock ECI. During the event, interprofessional teams of TTUHSC students from audiology, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology educate families on the safe use of toys to increase physical, cognitive, communicative, social/emotional, and self-help skills. Families who participate in therapeutic toy demonstrations are provided educational materials about the safe use of toys to foster development. Families also receive a student-developed flip-book about all demonstrated toys. At the end of the event, each child is given an early literacy board book and a therapeutic toy appropriate to his or her developmental delay or disability to take home.

Community engagement as building blocks for interprofessional education

Interprofessional practice and education (IPE) is a powerful tool to establish linkages between the education system, the health care delivery system, and the community. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), IPE is a necessary step in preparing a “collaborative practice-ready” health care workforce that is better prepared to respond to individual and community health needs. The purpose of the Interprofessional Toy Fair and Expo is to utilize a community and service-learning event for families with children who have developmental delays or disabilities to train collaborative practice skills in teams of health professions students.

Each year, more than 250 students and 35 faculty preceptors from audiology, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology participate in this event. Interprofessional practice and education is targeted in the following ways:

Roles and Responsibilities: Interprofessional teams of 8-10 students work together to learn from, with, and about each other when planning the event, as well as developing the flip-book and other educational materials for the families.

Team/Teamwork and Interprofessional Communication: During the facilitated brief and debrief before and after the event, IPE concepts, strategies, and tools related to teamwork, interprofessional communication, and collaboration are reviewed, discussed, and reflected upon.

Values/Ethics for Interprofessional Practice: Interprofessional teams of students embrace the cultural diversity and individual differences that characterize children with developmental delays or disabilities, their families, and the interprofessional team.