These sensory environments, equipped with advanced technology, offer an immersive and interactive sensory experience. With the correct therapeutic approach, they can have very positive impacts on the quality of life of elderly or dependent people, contributing to improving their health, autonomy, and mood.

The importance of sensory stimulation in elderly or dependent people

As we age and become more dependent, challenges to our health and well-being can arise. These include the decline in physical, cognitive, and sensory abilities, as well as loss of autonomy or lack of motivation. These challenges can affect the quality of life, mood, motor skills, and social abilities.

Sensory stimulation is a therapeutic leisure and well-being tool that aims to regulate the senses (sight, hearing, touch, proprioception) to improve the physical, emotional, and cognitive well-being of individuals.

These rooms allow for the activation, calming, or stimulation of the senses in a controlled environment where stimuli are adjustable by the therapist and controllable by the user. Thus, the elderly interact within a space filled with lights, images, sounds, and videos projected on the wall, experiencing various immersive experiences without leaving the room.

For example, they can be transported to a paradisiacal beach with just the press of a button, feeling the wind on their face and the vibration of the waves, or recall daily life concepts.

Benefits of sensory stimulation for the Elderly

• Cognitive rehabilitation: Sensory stimulation activates neural connections, promoting attention, memory, and thinking. This can help maintain and improve cognitive functions.
• Improvement of agnosias: The stimulation of the senses helps improve agnosias, aiding the elderly in their ability to interpret or recognize what they see or hear.
• Mood enhancement: Sensory stimulation can be pleasurable and relaxing, helping to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. These positive sensory experiences can improve mood and promote emotional well-being.
• Reduction of disruptive behaviors and apathy: It has been shown that the proper use of these resources provides experiences that help users reduce disruptive behaviors and apathy, which can accelerate deterioration.
• Promotion of social interaction: Shared sensory experiences in a stimulating environment can foster social interaction and communication, creating opportunities for emotional connection and social participation.

The role of new technologies in sensory stimulation

New technologies have revolutionized the way sensory stimulation can be provided to the elderly or dependent individuals. Qinera’s rooms with proprietary technology include elements like Proximity, a small platform where placing any object will project it on the wall accompanied by sounds, music, and lights as configured.

For example, we can place a toy elephant on the Proximity, and it will be projected on the wall while we hear it through the room’s speakers. All the lights in the room turn yellowish (representing the savannah), and the fan activates to make us feel there. We can choose any item, such as a fruit, and use it to remember old recipes or the person’s favorite dish.

These advanced technologies allow for greater flexibility and variety in sensory experiences, as they are fully customizable, adapting to each person’s preferences and needs. We can work on autobiographical memory and recognition by incorporating photographs of family members or old videos. We can also recall daily activities, object names, work on short-term memory, episodic memory, etc.

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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 Using technology for well-being: Multisensory rooms for the elderly ha aparegut primer a The Multisensory Blog.

This is the only physical space of its kind in the region, and Aiala herself shares everything they have learned over these years, their experiences, and their journey, which we are confident will be of interest to many professionals and families. Bibiana Escribano, an occupational therapist and advisor at Qinera, joins her in this interview.

Why a multisensory room at the school?

(Bibiana Escribano) Aiala, thank you so much for this interview. We find your experience and journey very valuable. Could you tell us what inspired you to seek sensory tools and adopt this ‘sensory’ perspective?

(Aiala Grajirena) In the 2020-2021 school year, a student with special educational needs enrolled at our school. It was a significant challenge for us because up until that point, we hadn’t had any students with those characteristics, and therefore, we weren’t prepared to support them. The counselor who was with us at that time immediately contacted the Andrés Muñoz Public School for Special Education in Pamplona.

It was during the COVID times, returning to school after being at home, and it wasn’t easy to arrange an in-person visit. However, we were finally able to visit them, and I remember they treated us with great kindness. That visit made us realize that what we needed in our school was a multisensory room.

(B) And how was the process of creating and financing the project?

(A) We sought help from the Department of Education and CREENA, but the response was that we had to manage with the annual budget allocated to each school. Therefore, seeing that it wasn’t going to be easy, I decided to submit two projects to secure financial support: one to La Caixa and another to the Social Services of the local Mancomunidad. Meanwhile, I started training with Qinera, which has always been a significant support in this project.

“Seeking funding is a bittersweet process: extra work, prioritizing and setting goals, finding time that we often don’t have. But once it’s granted and completed, it’s a great satisfaction.” – Aiala

To our surprise, both projects were accepted, and thus we were able to start setting up the room. With the funds received, we were able to purchase the bubble tube, fiber optics, and vibroacoustic waterbed. It was a very special moment, something unimaginable but we were achieving it. Gradually, we shaped the room to what it is today.

Achieving funding: a bittersweet process

(A) This process has been bittersweet. Presenting these projects involves extra work, setting priorities and goals, requesting quotes, preparing the project… and once it’s granted and completed, a report must be submitted. As I mentioned, it’s extra work, but seeing the results at the end brings great satisfaction. I must also say that from the very beginning, I have received a lot of help and support from the school’s management team, the teaching staff, the APYMA Erreka… I have felt very supported and I am very grateful for all the support received.

Incorporating technology into our multisensory room

(B) We all have used homemade materials. In fact, many can be good, but what does multisensory technology contribute? What has it brought to you or what leap have you been able to make with technology?

(A) Initially, it wasn’t easy. With insufficient funding, we started by creating homemade sensory materials, using a lot of imagination, and, truthfully, very beautiful things can be made, but multisensory technology is another world. Sensory technology is much more striking, attractive… and this helps you connect much more with the student.

“Multisensory technology helps you connect much more with the students.” – Aiala

(B) What benefits do you think these tools have brought you?

(A) It has brought us many benefits that we wouldn’t have achieved working in regular classrooms or with homemade materials. When you enter the room, you immediately disconnect from the world. The feeling of tranquility these rooms provide is incredible; you connect with another world full of sensations, and these sensations are what make us live, feel, learn…

(B) I love vibroacoustics, and I think they are a very important resource for connection. What do you think? Have you seen benefits in users using the pool or the water bed?

(A) Yes, it’s a very powerful resource. At the moment, we have two vibroacoustic elements in the room: the waterbed and the ball pool. They are both very valuable because they achieve two very important objectives: activation and relaxation. In the time I have been working in the room, I have seen both reactions, but what I mostly seek with the vibroacoustic bed is relaxation for the student, and with the pool, their activation.

For activation, we use very powerful music with heavy bass, strong rhythms, whereas for relaxation, we use softer songs, with fewer bass and less pronounced rhythms. Usually, the vibroacoustic bed is what our students seek the most because they feel very comfortable in it; sometimes they have even fallen asleep. Imagine the situation: the water is warm, there’s calm music playing, gentle movement is generated… If I had to choose, I would choose the relaxation and well-being that the vibroacoustic bed provides.

(B) On the other hand, we are very concerned that children, regardless of their limitations, can directly interact with the physical environment around them. In the end, it’s a way to play and start controlling the environment. How do you make use of the different forms of interaction within the room?

(A) I have only been working in these rooms for three years, so I feel like I still have many things to learn, to experience… But I could talk about two different cases in terms of ‘control’ within the room.

So far, I have worked with a student who had significant limitations, so I took control of the entire session: setting objectives, working on them, and filling out the record sheet at the end of the session to try to identify his likes, desires, and needs…

However, this school year, I’m working with a student with different needs. In sessions, I have two main objectives: on one hand, to promote his relaxation and on the other, to propose different activities and help him focus on them. He asks for and really needs vestibular stimulation, as this greatly helps him relax (using the hammock, seeking balance with the large ball…) and he has a strong fixation on new technologies, although I haven’t used the tablet or button with him yet.

In summary, considering the characteristics of the student,  different work is done in these sessions. It’s very beautiful because many times, it’s them who tell you what they want, what they need…

(B) Can you share a magical or special moment that has happened in the room with a user?

(A) If I had to choose a magical or special moment, it would be the expressions of joy, curiosity, and excitement they showed the first few times they entered the room. For them, it was magical to move from a classroom with noise, movement, and light to another space where silence, warmth, tranquility prevail… Children are usually very expressive, and seeing that smile appear on their faces is very magical and special. Moreover, what’s beautiful is that even now, knowing the room, that smile still remains.

Thanks to Aiala and the CPEIP San Miguel team for their participation in this article💜.

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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 From imagination to reality: the creation of a multisensory room at CPEIP San Miguel ha aparegut primer a The Multisensory Blog.

At CEIP Lloma Llarga (Spain), we have been working with multisensory classrooms since the 2016-17 school year. Initially, our classroom was completely ‘low cost’: we created our immersive environments with materials made by ourselves and had very few devices to assist us in the task, just a few light tables, a sound system, and aroma diffusers. But let’s start from the beginning…

Integrating all our senses into the teaching-learning process

In our center, we have a philosophy: there is nothing in the mind that has not previously passed through the senses. The phrase is very good, but it’s not ours. It’s something Aristotle said over two thousand years ago. And he’s not wrong! If we analyze it, we realize that traditional teaching primarily uses two senses: sight and hearing. However, we have other senses that we are not taking advantage of: taste, touch, smell, proprioception, vestibular… Why not integrate them into the teaching-learning process as well?

These reflections led us to investigate more on the subject, to train ourselves in sensory pedagogies and active pedagogies. And so we discovered that, for example, the sense of smell is the most powerful in evoking memories from the past. If we integrate it into learning, we can make it easier to remember content if we have linked it to a specific aroma. And this works with the rest of the senses too. And the more senses we relate to the learning in question, the more meaningful the experience will be and the easier it will be to internalize and remember. In this way, we improve cognitive accessibility to the content for all students, favoring each one to rely on their sensory preferences.

With these premises, we began to work in the multisensory classroom. And we extended it to all students in the center because, seeing that it worked with students with educational needs, we knew it would also work with typically developing students. And the truth is that it does work.

We create immersive environments for all students

At first, it wasn’t easy. It was about creating immersive environments where students could live and experience the content we were working on. In early childhood education, we were working on the seasons of the year, which meant changing the classroom for each season (adapting materials, colors, smells…). This involved a huge effort, not only in terms of organization but also in creating all the necessary materials to carry it out. And then we found the solution in Qinera.

With the incorporation and installation of their technology in our new multisensory classroom, the possibilities multiplied. The ability to change environments with just one click helps us to work on many more things within our classroom. In the multisensory classroom, we can work from stories in early childhood education to curriculum content in primary education. We have conducted science sessions, spelling reviews, English sessions… The possibilities are endless.

The first step is to think about what we want to work on based on the needs we may have in the center. From there, and always following the Multisensory Storytelling methodology, the session is shaped.” – Yolanda, teacher at the center

In our classroom, journalists are graduating!

This year, we are working on an “Escape Room” where we review curricular content that is important for the students. The theme of the project is based on the center’s innovation project, which revolves around the media.

The objective of the Escape Room is to obtain a journalist diploma that will allow them to participate in other activities within the innovation project. The Escape Room consists of six challenges (adapted to each educational level), which are divided into three parts: print media, radio, and television.

Working on grammar and metaphonological skills

The written press tests serve us to work on grammar, metaphonological skills, and spelling.

1. As an introductory element to the activity, we use a teleprinter (we explain what it is and that it serves to receive messages).
2. Information arrives at our teleprinter altered, and the students have to fix it. This information may arrive with spelling mistakes, with words joined together… And the correct answer is found on the screen.
3. Thanks to the SHX system, we see the six options on the screen. Using the 6-button remote or Button 6, they choose the option they believe is correct, and that’s when the magic begins. Only the correct option activates a device in the room (for example, the bubble tube). The others don’t, although they do activate a music that lets us know we haven’t guessed correctly.

The next test is the newspaper layout. Our newspaper is inclusive and also works with pictograms. We carry this out on the light table, and we activate its color when we finish laying out the newspaper. Depending on the level of the students we are working with, the difficulty of the layout varies.

Auditory sequential memory and concentration

In the radio block, we work on tactile stimulation and concentration, as well as auditory sequential memory. We host a radio contest where they have to guess which song is playing. This activates the vibrating pouf… but it doesn’t end there.

• Once they’ve identified the song, the real “contest” begins. They have to count how many times certain words in the song are repeated (depending on the level, there may be more or fewer proposals), so that by the end of the song, they have the number of times each word is repeated.
• When we combine these numbers, a code is formed that they have to find on the screen and select with Button 6 the correct option. Again, if they find the key, a device will be activated in another color.

The next radio activity is description. We relate this activity to the radio by explaining that good radio announcers have to be able to describe things very well, since radio is a medium where we can only listen, we can’t see what they’re telling us. They become announcers and must describe an object inside a box (stereognosis box). This way, they work on oral expression and description. Additionally, they must perform this activity in a foreign language in higher grades (they review vocabulary in English). Each object they correctly identify is an option to uncover which box hides the color code.

Creativity and Mathematics

Once we finish the activities in the radio block, we move on to the television block. The first activity is related to mathematics.

• Under the pretext that we don’t have all the audience data for this week, we present mathematical problems that lead us to find this audience data. Depending on the level, calculations range from simple subtraction to combinations of much more complicated operations in the case of 5th and 6th graders.
• Again, we have six options on the screen, and they must find the cell where the correct result is to get the next color of the code.

The last activity of the Escape room closes the television block. Here we take the opportunity to work on oral expression, executive functions, planning, creativity, etc. and on a sensory level, we work on taste and smell. We have a chocolate fondue (which gives the classroom an olfactory ambiance) and we show them various pieces of fruit and wooden skewers. We explain that they are scriptwriters for a cooking program, and with these elements, they must think about what recipe they will develop for the program that week.

The most common thing is that they make a fruit skewer dipped in chocolate, but we reward originality, presentation, and even the name they give to the recipe. With the elaboration of the recipe, they obtain the last color code of the escape room.

If you remember, each activity has been triggering a device that lit up in a different color each time. They have to remember the code of the six colors to reproduce them on the Button 6. If they enter it correctly, a video is activated congratulating them for reaching the end and for overcoming the challenge. At the end of the session, they are awarded a diploma certifying that they are now professional journalists (remember that this was the objective of the Escape room).

An extremely positive experience for both students and teachers

This is just one example of everything we can do in a multisensory classroom. Our experience has been very positive, as all the curriculum content we work on in the classroom is experienced with great intensity and emotion, which makes them work without realizing they are working. This motivation helps them overcome their difficulties without being aware of their effort, as they see it as a game. And for a child, playing is the most natural thing to do. What better way to learn than through play?

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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 Is it a good idea to have a multisensory classroom in a regular school? ha aparegut primer a The Multisensory Blog.

RdgKompagne is the Dutch reseller for Qinera interactive technology and was extensively involved in designing the room. This sensory room marks a first for the Netherlands: such multisensory rooms haven’t been implemented in care homes for people with dementia before. Eager to hear about the initial experiences, our partner sat down with Wilma Post, the driving force behind the realization of this inspiring multisensory room.

“In a traditional sensory room, users passively undergo the activities. In a room with Qinera technology, it is the users who take over, using different controllers to operate the devices, sounds, projections, and effects in the room.” – RdgKompagne team

The importance of interactivity in a multisensory space to enhance enjoyment of life

Wilma is a member of the management team and coordinator of “Team Leefplezier”. This intriguing team name is unique to the Vivium Zorggroep. Leefplezier essentially means “Enjoyment of Life”. According to Wilma, Vivium pays a lot of attention to ensuring their residents experience enjoyment throughout the stages of dementia. Vivium even employs two staff members dedicated specifically to raising funds for this purpose.

“We try to closely observe what people need to enhance their enjoyment of life.” – Wilma

Wilma enthusiastically talks about the new SHX multisensory room: “At my previous workplace, I already had ideas about using moving images, sound and light. I had a projector installed there, and I could play music, but there was no possibility to combine the two. Back then I already imagined that if I was ever given a second chance to design a similar room, I would try and find a system that would be able to connect all the elements. So that you could give all your attention to the resident without having to worry about the technical stuff. The SHX system is exactly what I already had in mind all those years ago.“

Giving control back to people with dementia

According to Wilma, the main difference with a traditional sensory room is that people can influence their environment themselves, but they’re also being challenged. This makes them come out of their shell. When people find that they’re able to control the bubble tube with a big button all by themselves, they’re truly in wonder about that, and no longer concerned with the limitations of their dementia. They’re once again, just for a short while, back in control of things. In a traditional sensory room, users are only passively experiencing all the activities.

For Wilma, this was the main consideration for pushing for an SHX multisensory room. She explains: “If you suffer from dementia, many aspects of life are decided for you, and you’re largely dependent on caregivers. Your world becomes very small. While part of what defines being human is that you can think and act out of your own free will. If that becomes difficult, but you’re still able to act and also able to recognize the result of those actions, then that’s a very precious experience. You can truly connect with someone by actually doing something together, not by letting someone passively experience activities. That’s why it’s more difficult to establish a connection with someone in a traditional sensory room.”

Wilma’s team wants to give back a certain level of control to people in the SHX multisensory room. They do this, for example, by letting them influence the colors of the bubble tube or by letting them start a video. But also by enabling them to influence the experience itself. Wilma continues: “We want to give people the opportunity to relive their own memories, for instance by using their personal pictures of a trip to Paris in a slideshow, while serving them some French cheese. I believe that if you hand over as much control over the interpretation of the experience as possible, you not only activate people, but you also enable their inner feelings to resurface. Obviously taking into account what people are still capable of themselves. That’s what we aim for with our team; helping people to experience the sparkle of life, even if it’s for a brief moment. Having to live in a care home and suffering from dementia isn’t easy, despite the fact that everybody tries to make life as enjoyable as possible. In this multisensory room, people are able to briefly return to their memories, go back in time, and bring back feelings from long ago”.

“We try to give people back their dignity by offering them a multisensory experience and bring their strength back to the surface.”

A valuable asset for all stages of dementia

Wilma enthusiastically explains what she has in mind with the Qinera’s interactive room stating that recently, we visited a riding school with a resident who worked with horses all of her life. She suffers from later-stage dementia and hardly ever speaks anymore. She blossomed while interacting with the horses, and her vibrant personality resurfaced. We took pictures of her at the riding school, and I created a slideshow with these which she can enjoy with her family in the multisensory room. Thanks to the SXH system, we can create a fully immersive experience for her with soft colors, beautiful music, and we will also give her a photo album. With projects like these, we try to establish a connection between the experience inside the multisensory room and the outside world. It enables us to give people back their dignity and bring their strength back to the surface.

Wilma expects that this interactive sensory room will prove to be a valuable asset for all stages of dementia. Ranging from people who are still very active and get together in the room enjoying a beer and a snack, to people who are no longer able to get out of bed, or even people who are in the terminal phase. Wilma’s team would also like to work together with the spiritual caregivers on creating religious activities for the room. She is currently shooting some footage for this purpose. Even people who are in the terminal phase should eventually be able to spend their last hours enjoying the sound of the sea or images of falling snowflakes.

“It’s enormously important to be able to decide for yourself how you want to leave this life.”

The future of multisensory spaces in the center 

The Qinera sensory room in this care home was made possible thanks to funding from a foundation called Stichting Vrienden van De Stichtse Hof (Friends of De Stichtse Hof Foundation). Wilma explains that it took quite some persuasion before they approved the financing for the project. A system like this has never been used for people with dementia in the Netherlands. Immersive multisensory rooms are commonly used for people with cognitive disabilities, and she was convinced that people with dementia would experience the same benefits. It took some creativity, but eventually we were able to convince everyone this was the best system to invest in, and not something more traditional. Now that the SHX system has been installed, everyone is very enthusiastic about the possibilities it offers.

“We have lots of plans for the multisensory room. Everyone is very positive and colleagues come up with their own ideas.”

Wilma has lots of plans for the multisensory room and expressed her desire to incorporate the use of the room into the care file of their residents. She emphasized the importance of family involvement in suggesting activities, such as providing pictures of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Additionally, Wilma proposed offering vouchers for tailored activities, such as for family celebrations. Looking ahead, she outlined the team’s intention to prioritize individualized goals for residents, such as facilitating connections for those in the later stages of dementia, providing relaxation, and fostering creative pursuits.

The team noted the overwhelmingly positive reactions from colleagues, highlighting how visitors to the room are immediately inspired to engage in various activities and generate their own ideas. As people continuously explore new possibilities, they naturally begin to combine different elements. For instance, they are currently developing a plan to collect old LPs, intending to integrate them with a sensor on the Proximity switch to enable users to initiate a multisensory musical experience featuring both audio and visual elements of the artist.

The multisensory room has been beautifully decorated. In addition to the interactive elements, the room is equipped with colorful cushions, soothing musical instruments, and scented materials. Together, these materials are used to create an immersive multisensory experience. Wilma says that depending on the activity,: “Depending on the activity, we can add other materials as well, such as sand or shells to enhance the feeling of a visit to the beach. We still have a wish list and the Stichting Vrienden van De Stichtse Hof has already indicated they want to contribute to that. Members of the foundation had the opportunity to experience the multisensory room for themselves at the festive inauguration. As a result, they understand very well how broad the applications can be. One of them described it as ‘the entire world is open to you’. Another member suggested applying for funding for a nice camera, so that we can show our residents self-made videos.”

Wilma would like to transform the entire Stichtse Hof into an immersive multisensory environment. She is convinced that ii is what their residents need.

“There’s no need to offer people activities they can’t participate in, this only confronts them with all the things they can no longer do. But in your mind you can do anything, even when you’re old and in bed. When you close your eyes, you can still jump those hurdles. And that’s what counts, because that’s what gives people joy.” – Wilma

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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 First sensory room for elderly opens in Dutch Care home ha aparegut primer a The Multisensory Blog.

The struggle to integrate the sensations that are perceived, those provided by the senses, can lead to difficulties in learning, playing, interacting with other children, carrying out daily activities…

Javier has autistic spectrum disorder. He is not a very receptive child and has little responsiveness. For him, it is essential to know the environment and to know in which specific space the activities are carried out. With Javier we work with proprioceptive activities, adapted to his needs, for which we use the different elements of the multisensory classroom.

Enhancing proprioception in the sensory classroom

CEIP Alto Ebro is an ordinary school where there is a special education classroom. Seeking the greatest possible integration of special education students, breaks are taken together with the rest of the students in the school. Sometimes, however, as in Javier’s case, the small sensory stimulation room we have in the special classroom is used during the break.

Javier suffers from hyperreactivity to sensory stimuli and responds adversely to high-pitched and loud sounds. He is also visually fascinated by lights or spinning objects. Contexts with stimulus overload (lots of lights, loud sounds, people moving fast, crowds…) are a challenge for him. Break time upsets him and, for this reason, we arrange sessions in the sensory classroom for him.

“Proprioception is the sense that lets us perceive the location, movement, and action of parts of the body”.

Our aim when working with Javier is to stimulate him. Each child is unique, just as their needs. And Javier likes to know where the activities will take place and what materials will be used. For this reason, before the activities, we create moments for Javier to interact with the materials in the stimulation classroom, so that he gets to know them, knows what they do and can interact with them. It is essential for him to be familiar with the environment.

“Back to calm” in the sensory classroom

To achieve calm and relaxation after this overstimulation, we schedule an individualised session in the sensory stimulation room at our school. Our aim is to create a sense of safety, help Javier to integrate his sensations and achieve physical and mental relaxation.

Overloading him with stimuli is not advisable, so we start the session with relaxing music, at a low volume. After a few minutes, we add some activity to the bubble tube, with a steady and continuous vibration. We change the colour of the column (within a palette of cold colours, since they are relaxing) in a slow sequence, which is varied by Javier himself thanks to the button panel (button 6). We act as his guide, directing his hand, as he lacks the intention to do it independently.

After a few minutes, we leave the blue light fixed on the bubble tube and add a gentle vibration to the armchair or rocking chair in which he is sitting. If we don’t have a vibro-acoustic chair, we can transform the foam furniture we have thanks to the Qinera converter element.

Sometimes, we also work with fibre optics before introducing vibration, as a tactile and proprioceptive element, always seeking calm and relaxation, with cold colours (blue, green, violet…).

“We are constantly observing his reactions, since he doesn’t react to the same stimuli in the same way every day. That’s why we integrate them one by one, individually, observing his response”. Verónica Herrero Prieto (Therapeutic Pedagogy at the Special Education Classroom)

Looking for a little more relaxation, we work with the weighted blanket, as it is a great proprioceptive stimulus that helps him to regulate himself. Progressively, we vary its location on Javier (on the shoulders, shoulder girdle, pelvic girdle…). By providing deep pressure, we are giving him a tactile and proprioceptive stimulus, thus working on sensory difficulties. It is a pressure that is exerted on different areas and which provides a sensation similar to being held or firmly caressed. The aim of this activity is to enhance the feeling of calm and reduce anxiety.

Depending on his responses and reactions, we sometimes continue to work on proprioception with the different rollers, balls and proprioceptive elements that we have, always starting with deep pressure on a part of his body, which we gradually reduce throughout the session, concluding with the brushes with which we carry out much more superficial proprioceptive work.

“Proprioceptive work helps us to improve aspects such as posture, balance, muscle tone, gravitational security and coordination. All of this has a positive impact on Javier’s ability to self-regulate and organise his movement”. Alicia López Marcos (Physiotherapist)

There are no magic solutions for working with students with this type of disorder. At the school, we work to incorporate resources and materials that benefit our students in some way.

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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 Sensory strategies for children with ASD ha aparegut primer a The Multisensory Blog.