Sara Cohen School

Sensory Room

Our Sensory Room is full of equipment to promote sensory integration. It is common for people with Autism to have sensory processing disorder, which can lead to aggression, behaviour problems, and self-harm.

It is found that sensory rooms can be therapeutic and reduce distress by 50% and self-harm by 75%. Sensory Rooms are beneficial to people with Autism as it provides sensory satisfaction, move focus from negative routines (self-harm), and reduce anxiety. Some specific sensory equipment can help with vocalization, gross motor skills, colour recognition and tracking.

‘Sensory Profile 2’ is a standardised test that helps understand sensory needs of clients, it determines if a client avoids or seeks sensations and what type of sensations.

Sensory Room

Musical Hopscotch Pad

Musical Hopscotch Pad offers visual and auditory feedback. Autistic children do not understand cause and effect which is why consequences are difficult to understand, the hopscotch pad is the best equipment to show what cause and effect is. It is also helpful for colour recognition. It is also very useful for visually impaired or completely blind clients. The musical pad can be used on game settings or free play.

Sensory Room

Wall Mounted Tactile Panel

Wall Mounted Tactile Panel has multiple textures and fabrics on it. This promotes tactile stimulation and has many textures to help with this. It also helps with encouraging grasp. Very useful for visually impaired or completely blind clients.

Sensory Room

LED Sensory Projector

LED Sensory Projector for visual stimulation on the wall or ceiling. Comes with different effects wheels in a box on the shelf.

Sensory Room

UV Light and Stars Light

UV Light and Stars Light provide visual sensation. The UV light comes with stickers that glow up when turned on, this will also make clothing glow which provides extra visual stimulation.

Sensory Room

Bubble Tubes

Bubble Tubes provide sensory feedback and stimulates the visual system. The colour changing aspects also assist in colour recognition and visual perception. It sits in front of mirrors to enhance the bubble tube effect. It can be used for visually impaired clients as it is very bright.

Sensory Room

Colour Changing Fibre Optic Lighting

Colour Changing Fibre Optic Lighting and curtain is for calming and relaxing but also for exciting visual stimulation. It can be very good for anxiety and sleep disorders. It can also be used for visually impaired clients as it is very bright.

Sensory Room

Sound and Light Panel

Sound and Light Panel includes a microphone and a light panel, which is voice-activated. The panel lights up to match the pitch and volume of the voice. This encourages users to be more vocal which can be great for students that need encouragement to talk. It can also be used for visually impaired students as it is bright.

Sensory Room

Additional Equipment

Extra visuals are provided for clients that understand better through visuals. These include sensory room equipment such as the bubble tube. This can be used to ask what activity they would like. These are found in a box on the top shelf. Cars and tracks that glow in the UV light can also be found on the top shelf for use if the student is interested in toys such as cars.

Sensory Room

FAQ

Sensory rooms are specially created environments created to provide an immersive sensory experience. For children on the autism spectrum, sensory rooms are designed to have a calming effect that reduces anxiety and improves focus.

A sensory room—a therapeutic space with a variety of equipment that provides students with special needs with personalized sensory input—helps these children calm and focus themselves so they can be better prepared for learning and interacting with others.

Sensory play helps children to develop their senses, encourages problemsolving and can build nerve connections in the brain. This is a great benefit of a sensory room as it engages different areas of the brain, helping children absorb and retain more information.

Sensory lights are a key element of any sensory room or multi-sensory environment and can be used alongside other sensory equipment to encourage relaxation and promote intellectual activity. Benefits of a multisensory environment include: Helping development of thoughts, intelligence, and social skills.