WAYNE, N.J., Sept. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Toys "R" Us is proud to announce the release of the 12th edition of the company's Toy Guide for Differently-Abled Kids. Available free of charge in Toys "R" Us locations nationwide, the guide is designed to make gift giving easy, convenient and fun for family and friends of children with disabilities. Each toy featured in the guide is available at all 676 Toys "R" Us stores and on the Internet at http://www.toysrus.com/differentlyabled. Toys "R" Us worked in partnership with the National Lekotek Center in selecting the wide variety of toys and games included in this year's Toy Guide for Differently-Abled Kids. The National Lekotek Center is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to making the world of play accessible to children with all types of disabilities. "With play as a fundamental way to gain the essential skills for a successful future, this resource catalog helps ensure that children with special needs are playing with the best and coolest toys that keep them learning," said Diana Nielander, the Executive Director at Lekotek, a division of Anixter Center. "For over 11 years, the Toys "R" Us Guide has provided families of children with special needs with a great way to help sift through the thousands of products on store shelves. The guide helps parents find just the right products for their children and Lekotek is pleased to play such an important role again this year in its development." All of the toys in the guide have been extensively evaluated and specifically chosen by the National Lekotek Center for promoting the development of children with physical and cognitive disabilities. The toys are assigned symbols that indicate the skills they help to enhance. These skills include Auditory: hearing and listening; Language: speaking, reading, and writing; Visual: seeing and perceiving; Tactile: skin awareness of touch and texture; Gross Motor: large muscle movement; Fine Motor: grasping and hand-eye coordination; Social Skills: relationships and interaction; Self Esteem: self-respect and personal satisfaction; Creativity: imagination, arts, and music; and Thinking: color matching, counting, and cause and effect. On the first page of the catalogue is an easy-to-use Toy Selection Guide, designed to assist gift givers in choosing gifts that are appropriate and well-suited for each child's individual needs and abilities. Right above the name of each toy are special symbols or icons that let gift givers know how that particular toy will promote the child's development and learning skills. Depending on a child's abilities, parents, family and friends can select toys that are fun and develop or enhance the specific skills appropriate for their child. For instance, there are toys featured in the Guide that can reinforce visual and language skills while refining gross motor coordination. There are toys particularly accessible to children with limited mobility. Many of the toys featured in the Guide promote thinking and give children opportunities to have fun while developing speaking and listening skills. About Toys "R" Us Toys"R"Us is one of the leading specialty toy retailers in the world. It sells merchandise through more than 1,500 stores, including 676 toy Stores in the U.S. and 623 international toy stores, including licensed and franchise stores as well as through its Internet sites at http://www.toysrus.com/, http://www.imaginarium.com/ and http://www.sportsrus.com/. Babies"R"Us is the largest baby product specialty store chain in the world and a leader in the juvenile industry, and sells merchandise through 221 stores in the U.S. as well as on the Internet at http://www.babiesrus.com/. DATASOURCE: Toys "R" Us CONTACT: Susan McLaughlin, Toys "R" Us, Inc., +1-973-617-5900, Web site: http://www.toysrus.com/differentlyabled http://www.toysrus.com/ http://www.imaginarium.com/ http://www.sportsrus.com/ http://www.babiesrus.com/

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