Francisco Santiago, the center’s director, and pedagogical therapist Virginia Barragán, shed light on their utilization of the Qinera-exclusive Multisensory Room to enhance well-being, foster communication, and uplift spirits.

Guiding the Senses

Rett Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder primarily affecting girls, presents challenges in neurological development. It can lead to regression in cognitive development, speech difficulties, and verbal communication obstacles, alongside symptoms such as progressive motor loss. While there may be no cure, treatments and therapies can significantly improve the quality of life for these individuals.

Multisensory rooms provide an ideal setting for supportive therapies, aiding girls and women in their speech, cognition, and social interaction challenges.

“Thanks to the room, we achieve more meaningful therapies, with improved visual focus, calming returns, and enhanced concentration on breathing, among other benefits facilitated by the room.” – Francisco Santiago, director of the Cromo Somos centre and founder of the Mi Princesa Rett Foundation.

Therapeutic benefits of the multisensory room

Well-being and proprioception

The multisensory room offers a wide array of sensory stimuli to help girls and women develop and promote their senses. Thanks to the Qinera SHX System, all elements in the room can be activated simultaneously, creating an immersive experience controllable by therapists through a tablet.

With this technology, tailored sessions can be designed to promote, for example:

• Visual focus: achieved through the bubble tube for concentration and attention
• Relaxation and proprioception via to the water bed
• Body awareness and hand movement through fibre optics

The room includes a wealth of audiovisual content designed for therapy, such as projecting a parachute drop, narrating a story, exploring the world and glaciers, or experiencing fireworks. In such instances, the vibration of the chair or the vibroacoustic bed allows users to feel the force of the explosions within their own bodies. Another element enhancing proprioception is the fibre optics strands, which, when placed on the body, enable individuals to experience and ‘touch’ the changing lights and colors.

Return to calm

Elements such as the vibroacoustic chair, synchronized with the room’s lighting elements, facilitate relaxation and a return to calm. With Qinera technology, a serene environment, such as a forest of trees, can be projected on the screen, while the chair vibrates in rhythm with the audiovisual content on the wall. Simultaneously, other elements in the room (tube, fiber, etc.) take on a soft green hue, with soothing music creating a calming atmosphere. These sensory activities help reduce anxiety and stress, providing a peaceful and secure space for users.

“With the elements incorporated by Qinera, our therapies have become much more meaningful. We obtain benefits that would be impossible without this room.” – Virginia Barragán.

Cognitive stimulation and participation

Interacting with the various elements encourages active participation and aids in the development of cognitive and motor skills. Sensing the changing light and colors of the fiber optic strands while on the waterbed or engaging with the illuminated elements via the LED UV Spotlight projector helps activate and enhance concentration.

“The room allows us to offer experiences that individuals couldn’t attain in their daily lives alone.” – Virginia Barragán.

We can create fireworks, with strong vibrations and loud sounds—the chair vibrates, and so do they. The same applies to soap bubbles: they emerge when ‘it’s raining,’ and individuals get wet when they burst, experiencing the sensation firsthand.

A specialized tean for sensory stimulation

The success of the multisensory room at Cromo Somos is largely attributed to the specialized team of therapists and professionals working there. These experts have experience in tailoring room activities to the individual needs of each person.

With the multisensory room, users receive information through their senses. Virginia affirms that ‘being able to communicate with someone who lacks spoken language allows you to understand their preferences, communicate, learn, and engage in leisure activities using a computer.’

How can we stimulate all the senses within a room? Through different sessions, users experience the world through their senses, accessing daily life experiences. At Cromo Somos, they achieve more meaningful therapies, improving visual focus, calming returns, and enhancing concentration on breathing, among other benefits promoted by the room.

“We are a reference point; other organizations visit us to see what we have and attempt to replicate it. We’re at the top when it comes to tool'” -Francisco Santiago.

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If you want to learn more about the benefits of Multisensory Environments or see how you could adapt it to your space, therapeutic goals, and users, you can send an email to hello@qinera.com.

L'entrada Promoting well-being and communication in neurodevelopmental disorders ha aparegut primer a The Multisensory Blog.

One day, while organizing what would be my new classroom, I found a brochure from Qinera (formerly BJ Adaptaciones). Sometimes things appear at the right moment, and that brochure appeared to address my concerns. In this article, I am going to tell you how we got the funding to create our multi-sensory room and the first steps we have undertaken.

How we obtained our sensory room

I contacted them for advice, and soon I received a call from Bibiana Escribano, an occupational therapist and my special angel, who appeared to guide me. She proposed creating a sensory classroom project, guaranteeing that she would be by my side to support me at all times.

“Bibiana Escribano accompanied me throughout the process and created a personalized room project, adapted to our needs and those of our students.” -Maria Jesús

Not only did she create a personalized project without any commitment or cost, but she also informed me about the deadlines for various public tenders so that I could register and seek funding for the multisensory classroom project that Qinera had designed for our students: tailored and meeting our therapeutic needs.

In November 2021, the Andalusian Regional Ministry published the ‘Impulsa-Inclusión’ program, and thanks to the European Social Fund, we received financial support to follow inclusive guidelines. Thanks to this contribution, we were able to have our customized multisensory room and started with our sensory workshop project. In less than six months from the first contact, our concerns were addressed, and we obtained an incredible working tool.

Promoting participation

The main purpose of sensory workshops is to improve the quality of life for children, working on sensations and perception, as they are fundamental human capacities. The goal is to enhance the assimilation of sensory information offered to them, optimizing their relationship with the environment and their learning. In an environment with controlled stimuli, sensations are explored, discovered, and enjoyed by students through their freedom to explore. Thanks to this project, we have been able to design inclusive activities:

Theatres for early childhood and primary education

The sensory theaters we have carried out so far have been related to the themes of different projects implemented at the school, such as “Save the Earth: Marine Life and Forests” and “The Chef and the Cook.”

For the development of these workshops, diverse materials were used, including a LED UV spotlight and UV materials. The students enjoyed storytelling related to the themes while discovering different sensations through their senses (smell, touch, sight, etc.).

In this video, you can see the workshop of the “Save the Earth” project, which included the participation of Alicia Bululú, a local actress who transported the students through the universe and, in turn, went down to the seabed, highlighting the importance of recycling for the care of this ecosystem.

A theme that the students had worked on a lot in the previous term, which, thanks to the sensory theatre and the staging of the universe and the seabed through the black light, constituted a unique experience, adapted to the needs of the students.

Participation in the centre’s various events

To celebrate Halloween, a series of workshops related to the theme were organized. Since our school has a sensory room where highly motivating activities can take place, we utilized it for one of the workshops called “Terrifying Masks.”

The students had to decorate a mask with fluorescent paint and then enter the sensory classroom and project them with the ultraviolet black light; they could also paint their arms and hands.

Natural Science class (Skeleton)

The 4th-grade students learned about the bones of the hand by painting their own hands with fluorescent paint. They also studied the skeletal system in a foreign language (English), creating a fluorescent skeleton. This experience is something they will never forget.

Individual Therapies

Every day, we go to the sensory room to work with students from the specific classroom. Depending on each student’s characteristics and needs, we prioritize sensory stimulation (auditory, visual, and tactile) for them. Through the localization of different visual and auditory stimuli, we work on attention, visual contact, eye tracking, and more.

In these individual sessions, we use materials such as the bubble tube, among others. Thanks to the tablet and Luminea App, we can create cause-and-effect activities. The student touches the tablet screen and is able to select a color (either by their own choice or following instructions), and the tube changes to that specific color. For example, we can say “touch the banana” or “press the yellow,” and the bubble tube turns yellow.

We also use this element to work on vocabulary, comprehension of instructions, and any content related to the theme we are working on in the classroom. Thanks to this resource, we have been able to capture the attention of our students and regulate their behaviour in certain moments, achieving unimaginable accomplishments.

Continuing to grow

In this initial phase, the room has a bubble tube and a fiber optic, as well as UV light elements and materials, along with a massage kit. As the needs grow, and as long as we secure funding, we are confident that our room will expand to continue providing a safe environment for our students.

This article has been written by members of the teaching team at CEIP Miguel de Cervantes in Lora del Río (Seville) and reviewed by Qinera’s marketing team.

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If you want to learn more about the benefits of Multisensory Environments or see how you could adapt it to your space, therapeutic goals, and users, you can send an email to hello@qinera.com.

L'entrada One year immersed in the sensory world ha aparegut primer a The Multisensory Blog.

Although at CEIP Federico García Lorca in Arganda del Rey (Madrid) we have been running the project for two years, it would be fair to say that we are in the early stages of setting up the room; it is being equipped and completed little by little, adding new materials as we go along.

Our objective is to carry out different types of activities based on the needs of the student while taking care of their sensory profile. Therefore, the materials and their functionality change depending on the students we are working with.

“There is nothing in the intellect that has not previously passed through the senses” (Guirao, 1980, p. 15).

All the contents we work with in the classroom constitute the first element upon which any type of learning is built, and at the same time, a valid strategy for working with students with special educational needs. In this way, we achieve greater attention and greater participation, as they learn through games and interactive activities involving movements that are tailored to them.

The multisensory project

In our classroom, there are two distinct areas as we are currently focusing on two main aspects: motor skills and executive functions. In terms of bodily and  psychomotor development, we are working on sensory-motor pleasure, vestibular stimulation, movement, body schema, and more. Regarding cognitive-executive skills and aspects, we are focusing on exploration capacity, orientation response, attention, perception, spatial orientation, memory, and psycho-affective states.

Working with a student with different linguistic abilities will lead us to achieve prerequisites for cognitive growth, as cognitive and linguistic growth are interdependent. This means that the development of cognitive skills will influence the acquisition of linguistic skills, and vice versa.

Anticipation and Time Management

In addition to these activities, which you can see in the photos, we carry out a series of routines that help us with anticipation, facilitating time management and spatial distribution with our students. In each and every session in the multisensory classroom, we follow the same order:

1. Anticipation: entry and exit routine: When we reach the classroom door, we place the pictogram on its corresponding panel, where the rules and steps that we need to follow are also displayed: take off our shoes, place them on the shoe rack, sit down, wait, and listen for the teacher’s instructions.
2. Development of the session:Before starting each activity, we explain (with visual support if necessary) what we are going to do. Every time we transition to a new activity, we return to the bench to listen to the new instructions.
3. Return to calm and close the session:We always end the session with a calming activity (relaxing video or music, yoga, etc.). Finally, we put on our shoes, remove the pictogram from the panel, and the session is concluded.

Without an objective, there is no therapeutic intervention.

As some of our students have similar needs to each other, we aim to achieve some overall objectives through our work in the `Chameleon´ Classroom.

COGNITIVE SKILLS

• Increase attention and concentration time. For these objectives, we use activities with UV light focus or bubble tubes. These elements are controlled by the SHX system, which allows changing colors and regulating the intensity of lighting based on the activity and ambient sound.
• Improve executive functions in students through sensory stimulation.
• Enhance visual tracking skills, promoting eye fixation, visual tracking, and visual contrasts. The bubble tube has become a great ally for these types of activities, as it allows creating infinite environments and situations using colors, vibration, reflections, and floating objects.
• Plan, act, and evaluate their actions when faced with a problem.
• Promote experimentation and exploration, which can be achieved with elements like the fiber optic. The contact with the fiber optic helps us perceive different parts of our body.
• Develop abstract thinking, expanding their world and internal limits.

LANGUAGE

• Increase the communication ability of the students. This is made possible through the use of switches or tablets, which allow the professionals to prepare and control the session, while students feel more autonomous by controlling the room and engage in cause-effect activities, make choices, communicate, learn, or pursue leisure activities.
• Elicit a response (smiles, laughter, vocalizations, relaxation of muscle tone) after exposure to different stimuli.
• Promote communicative interaction by presenting sound stimuli that change in intensity and volume.

MOTOR SKILLS

• Develop eye-hand and eye-foot coordination. For these activities, in addition to the tablet, we use textured balls of various sizes.
• Promote proper postural control in each child to achieve their physical well-being, using resources such as weighted blankets.

SOCIO-EMOTIONAL

• Increase self-security and self-confidence.
• Learn to relax and have self-control.
• Participate in leisure and have moments of well-being.
• Explore, feel, and perceive the sensations and perceptions obtained from one’s own body and the surroundings. For this, we use weighted blankets or swings.
• Establish socio-emotional channels with the people in that environment.

In general, our intervention is not focused solely on stimulating the senses, but rather on using sensory stimulation as a means and not an end. It serves as a bridge that allows us to approach the child and communicate with them, restoring, to the best of our abilities, the socio-emotional foundations that enable communication.

Transversally, the entire program aims to provide satisfying and enjoyable experiences that reinforce exploratory behavior, autonomy, and creative capacity. In this way, we foster a solid foundation for healthy self-esteem.

WHO ARE WE?

We are CEIP Federico García Lorca in Arganda del Rey (Madrid) and we have been sharing experiences with our students since 1979. An important date for us was 2009, when we became part of the network of preferred centers for students with special educational needs derived from Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Every year, we welcome students with special educational needs at our school, not only related to autism but also with other diagnoses.

Due to the neurodiversity of our students, we realized that it was necessary to expand the resources of the school to meet these needs. We also strive to innovate and improve our contribution and foster inclusion and participation in what we do.

This article has been written by members of the teaching team at CEIP Federico García Lorca in Arganda del Rey and reviewed by the marketing team at Qinera.

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If you want to learn more about the benefits of Multisensory Environments or see how you could adapt it to your space, therapeutic goals, and users, you can send an email to hello@qinera.com.

L'entrada Building together: The power of a multi-sensory classroom in a public school. ha aparegut primer a The Multisensory Blog.

“Basal” is an open and broad concept, where anyone with any limitations in perception, communication and movement has a place. This does not only include severely affected people, but also all those who need support and orientation related to their body, the environment and in the proposed activity. With “basal,” no prerequisites are necessary:

• it doesn’t matter if the person is a child, or an adult woman or man.
• their age (infant, adult, elderly), IQ, perceptual disturbances, pathologies…are irrelevant

In short, we are not held back by their limitations, because no prerequisites are needed.

Implementing the concept

What is important is how we look at and listen to that person, how we consider what they need, how we support and accompany them, so that they are as oriented and connected as possible, in the present moment, in the task they are undertaking, in the here and now.

Fundamentally, Basal Stimulation helps us to structure any activity related to everyday life (a shower, a meal, a physical change of posture or movement, a moment of leisure…) or any therapeutic activity, from a global point of view, and without fragmenting the person.

Through this new perspective, we must be able to see, for example:

• what the user’s movements or micro-movements are like, in order to be able to support and/or offer others who help them participate or access the activity
• how he/she expresses him/herself, so that we can communicate
• what their perceptual pathways are, in order to try to help them perceive    information better
• if he/she understands the activity or what is happening with his/her body so that, if that is not the case, we can see what we have to change or structure and offer the task differently. This way, he/she can understand the activity and be as oriented as possible

Therefore, the way we accompany the individual will be based on the person’s needs, keeping in mind his/her capabilities. We all have capabilities, whether it be something we can do and/or offer.

It is very important to observe, listen and modify our approach towards the person we are accompanying. Active listening and working with the body are the backbones of this concept. When we approach things from the Basale Stimulation® perspective, we can learn to structure any activity to support and accompany the person, as well as to improve and complement our approach, thereby turning any activity into stimulation and development opportunities for the person.

Basale Stimulation® encourages us to make important changes in the way we approach individuals, such that they become the center of our intervention and we build from there.

Basal stimulation training

Last weekend, Raquel Soriano led the introductory training course in Basel Stimulation in Barcelona. Raquel is an advocate of ADLs (activities of daily living) and tries to convey the importance of accompanying the individual from this unique perspective, while offering him/her meaningful, every day opportunities for development. She compliments this approach with her work in multisensory rooms.

“I am a Basale Stimulation® trainer and I work in a stimulation room on a daily basis, two words that for the most ardent defenders of the concept may seem to be antonyms. In fact, at the beginning of my training, I thought this way, as well” – Raquel Soriano, trainer, therapist, special education teacher and AAC specialist.

Accompaniment as a concept

To accompany someone using this concept in a multisensory room, is not about stimulation in the literal sense. We actually go far beyond stimulation. For this reason, it is impossible to have a “recipe book of basic activities”. If each person is unique and special, each person expresses themselves, moves, perceives, understands, communicates, relates and experiences things in a different way. And thus, will need different support. We cannot apply standardized activities.

“I can advocate for the sensory rooms because I work with people on a daily basis using these spaces. In reality, Basale Stimulation® can be applied anywhere in which the experience can be turned into a meaningful one. So what becomes important is not the place but the experience we are building with the person inside the space” – Raquel Soriano

Therefore, we will always have to start from the individuality of each person (needs, capabilities, sensory profile…) in order to start planning and structuring flexible offers/activities adapted to each one of them. We do this first by observing and listening. It is important to analyze and reflect, in order to know how to approach the individual.

Before we start, we will probably have to ask ourselves: What does the person really need? What does he/she perceive? What can the person and I do together within the room? How does he/she interact with me or with the elements of the room?  What guidance does he/she need to understand the activity? How can he/she participate and be the protagonist? Can I structure the activity differently so that it makes more sense for him/her? 

“I don’t start by switching on everything in the sensory room. My accompaniment begins with an embodied approach, seeking an encounter with the person and their bodily orientation, then only we would move on to an experience of exchange and listening, in any corner of the room”. – Raquel Soriano

If you want to know more about Basal Stimulation and how to apply it, we encourage you to reach out to Raquel Soriano Rico.

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If you want to learn more about the benefits of Multisensory Environments or see how you could adapt it to your space, therapeutic goals, and users, you can send an email to hello@qinera.com.

L'entrada Basal Stimulation and multisensory rooms ha aparegut primer a The Multisensory Blog.

The Sant Jordi Project

This project started on Sant Jordi’s Day (23rd April 2022) with the sale of 50 Magic Bags (including literature and a lot of magic). The sale of these bags allowed us to build a small initial budget to start with.

Our main objective was to create a sensory stimulation classroom in an early childhood education space for infants between 0 and 6 years old. We strongly believe that at this age children should have the opportunity to discover the world around them through their senses, and that is precisely what a multisensory classroom like the one we have created allows us to do: stimulate the senses of the little ones and give them the tools and resources so that they can explore the world around them through these senses.

“‘Universo Educación’ is what we refer to as the educational and socio-educational world. The projects we undertake are always linked to the educational and/or socio-educational environment, whether with groups of children or adults in nursery schools, primary or secondary schools, residences…” – Anna, Maestras Solidarias.

Creating a complete multisensory classroom from zero, with resources and materials to stimulate each and every one of the senses, was not an easy task. We had to research carefully, choosing materials that were really interesting for the sensory development of the youngest children. And then we did extensive research to find collaborators who could provide those materials at no cost.

Experimenting with lighting and darkness

From the very beginning it was clear to us that there had to be a space to be able to play with light and darkness, as lighting is an important learning resource at an early age. It allows children to develop their curiosity, promote imagination and encourage their capacity for wonder. The Qinera cube-cave fascinated us from the very first moment and we did not hesitate to contact them, as we were sure that it would be a success…

… and we were right. It is a fantastic den, because it not only allows you to experiment with light and darkness, play with shadows and reflections, but also to create a magical and cozy atmosphere that can be used as a refuge, a calming space, a reading corner… Moreover, several children can comfortably sit in it at the same time, and they have a great time going in and out and playing with the coloured lights. It’s a great environment for role play, science investigations and creative play with UV light, among other activities we can’t wait to try.

The project is now a reality

After months of work, on the 3rd of December 2022, we inaugurated the multisensory classroom, and we are very pleased with the result. It has become a very beautiful and welcoming classroom, full of quality sensory materials, where we are sure that young and old alike will be able to enjoy themselves and learn at the same time. As Dr. David Bueno, a well-known expert in educational neuroscience, invites us to reflect, “the only thing that can be learnt is that which tells you something, that which attracts your attention and generates emotion”. And that is what we have been building moment by moment: a magical space in which to feel, be moved and learn, now and in the future.

Free Project Design

If you want to learn more about the benefits of Multisensory Environments or see how you could adapt it to your space, therapeutic goals, and users, you can send an email to hello@qinera.com.

L'entrada An early childhood sensory stimulation classroom ha aparegut primer a The Multisensory Blog.