Greenwood teen wins highest Girl Scout award with sensory toys project

Over and over again, sensory issues proved to be a struggle.

Growing up, Caroline Marot saw her little brother struggle to process sensory information he was receiving. She watched her parents’ frustration in trying to make sure he had the right tools to help him. 

The Greenwood Community High School senior vowed to make a change and started looking for ways to help people with special needs.

"I’ve always wanted to take that and make a change," she said.

Over the course of about a year and a half, Marot designed and developed multiple toys designed for children with sensory issues, including a textured egg, a water bottle with colorful glitter and oil, a weighted lap or neck tube, therapeutic putty, tennis balls with faces and beaded key chains.

She has also hosted classes where parents of special needs children could learn how to make the sensory toys themselves. Each toy was donated to a developmental preschool class at Westwood Elementary School.

Parents worldwide can watch how to make each of the toys on You Tube, where she posted instructional videos for each of the toys.

All of her efforts to help children with special needs has earned her the Gold Award, the top award in Girl Scouts.

She finished the project last fall, but will receive the award at the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana’s Girls of Distinction ceremony in June.

Marot has been interested in helping people with special needs for most of her life. She thought she might be a special education teacher, but she has vowed to care for her brother as an adult. So she decided to use her final Girl Scout project as a way to help children who have gone through similar circumstances as her brother, she said.

"I realized I wanted to have more of an impact on my community," Marot said.

She approached Elaine Keomanizong, a special education preschool teacher who received the toys, who encouraged her to look up ideas on how to make toys that help children with sensory issues. Toys Marot made are in Keomanizong’s classroom for her students.

Sensory toys are designed to help children with special needs recognize their senses through different outside influences, Keomanizong said

Those specially made toys can cost $10 apiece if they are bought from a manufacturer. Some of the items can cost much more, she said.

And parents of special needs students do not always realize exactly what their child may need to help some of their sensory issues, Keomanizong said.

"A lot of parents do not understand what sensory needs kids need to do," she said. "They will jump at the opportunity to do anything to help their child."

The special toys are incredibly important in the classroom to help students with sensory issues. For example, if a child is fidgety or bouncy, teachers can place a weighted tube on their lap to help the student know it is time to calm down and concentrate, Keomanizong said.

"(Sensory toys) are a great fidget to get them to focus," Keomanizong said. "The kids love them, they are bright, colorful and easy for them to hold."

Keomanizong encouraged Marot to research online what sensory tools might be easiest for her to replicate. Marot received a $400 grant from the Johnson County Community Foundation for her project and also received money from a private donor to finance the work.

Marot spent the money on supplies and started working on the toys, buildings dozens for students at the preschool. Throughout the project, she learned how to budget money and how to work technology that would allow her to post her videos online, she said.

"I also learned how big of a change one person can make," Marot said.