Detroit, MI February 19, 2014: Laura Hathaway is part of a growing number of intelligent moms who are creating products and services to improve the world in which we live. Fueled by her passion for the education and safety of children with special needs, Laura created Warner’s Corner Toys. Her vision is that her web store will become the premiere store for the whole special needs and learning challenged community. Her mission is to assemble such a diverse toy and resource collection that she can match each child with the perfect toy to meet their needs. In addition she wishes to make it affordable for every family.
Laura has WarnersCornerToys.com up and running and is happy with her current progress. However, she needs to expand. In order to do so, this week she will launch a Ms. Genuity crowdfunding campaign. Ms.Genuity is a new crowdfunding company that focuses on mom-invented products. Mary Ann O’Neil, CEO for Ms. Genuity, noted that, “speaking with Laura about her passion for Warner’s Corner Toys is contagious! She has put every bit of her heart and soul into helping children with special needs “become.”
Since opening Warner’s Corner Toys, Laura notes that the prevalence of autism, for example, increased from 1 in 110, to 1 in 88 with 1 in 54 being boys. According to the CDC’s 2013 study, the incidence rate of Down syndrome has increased from 1 in 733 births to 1 in 691. The numbers of children being diagnosed with learning disabilities also continues to climb. Resources, however, are not keeping pace with this growing need. Families, educators and therapists the world over are on a mission to find affordable, safe, and effective tools. It is Laura Hathaway’s hope that Warner’s Corner Toys will be their answer.
Laura believes strongly that a child engaged in play is a child engaged in learning. That belief inspired the creation of Warner’s Corner Toys. The toys selected for the web store have been carefully chosen to appeal to children with special needs worldwide. They fuel kids’ creativity and help them develop gross and fine motor skills. The toys teach everyday living skills through role play. They promote the social and communication skills necessary to build rewarding relationships. Perhaps most importantly, the toys encourage successful problem solving which gives children the confidence to be independent.
In her journey to create Warner’s Corner Toys, Laura has partnered with the Autism Association of Michigan’s trainer, the police officers that created Find ’em Scent Kits, the non-profit Project Life Saver and other safety organizations to present an autism awareness training in the Detroit area. With advice from both police officers and firefighters, she is designing special needs awareness alerts to help First Responders know when they are entering a home where an individual on the autism spectrum, for example, lives or if they are in a vehicle that has been stopped. They will then be able to act accordingly and everyone will be safer. These alerts will include reflective window clings, magnets, stickers, and velcro/hanging signs that indicate “Autism Alert”, “Special Needs Alert”, etc. and “Individual May Not Respond to Verbal Commands.”
Visit Laura’s project page about Warner’s Corner Toys on www.MsGenuity.com and consider contributing to her efforts to help children with special needs.
If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Laura Hathaway, please call (248) 629-9430 or e-mail Laura@WarnersCornerToys.com.
