The students at Oakridge School in Springville will have a host of new tools to learn with this year, thanks to a local family reunion.

More than $200 worth of toys were donated over the summer to the school for severely disabled children. Richard Kay, principal of the school, said the toys came courtesy of the Burnett family, which does a service project every year in association with the family reunion. The family had money left over from their initial project this year cleaning a park, so they decided to help the school.

"They got a list of what we'd like for our students, and they went shopping," Kay said.

Lisa Pierson said she and her family decided to donate toys to the school because she has a disabled son and she knows people who have disabled children attending the school.

"We're just aware of them and the needs they have," she said.

Pierson said her family has been doing different service projects every year for more than a decade. Humanitarian kits and blankets have been made some years, and she said the children in the family love to participate and know it is always part of the reunion.

"It helps them to be aware of different needs in the community and around the world," she said.

Jason Shelley, a speech and language pathologist for Nebo School District who works with Oakridge, said the donations make a big difference to the school. The 15 to 20 different toys donated are not just play items, they are learning tools, he said.

Shelley said teachers at the school will use the toys to help the students communicate, as 90 percent of the children are non-verbal. When the Burnett family asked to help, Shelley compiled a list of toys that help facilitate communication, toys he called "cause and effect." Most of the toys have some sort of action required, such as shaking or pressing a button. It is hard for many of the students to understand cause and effect, including using communication to get what they want.

"The toys are a means to an end," he said. "They're a teaching tool."

The school uses the toys to demonstrate to the children what the actions can make the toy do. Pictures are also taken of the toys so that students can learn that pointing to a picture can help them ask for a toy.

"What's fun is when you demonstrate to a student how something works and then you hand-over-hand teach them and then they do it on their own," he said.

Some favorite toys for the students are "Tickle Me Elmo" dolls, bubbles and microphones with speakers attached. Many of the school's toys had been getting old and worn, but Shelley said community members often do not know what they can do to help such a specialized school.

"This is one of the first few times that this has just been dropped in our laps," he said. "It's a real treat."