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| Old Bexley ASD Unit
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| Type of Challenge | Sponsorship and involvement |
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| Organisation Statement | |
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| Description of Challenge | Old Bexley ASD Provision
The Sensory Room – a multi-sensory learning environment.
We are a small special Provision for Autism in a large mainstream primary school, with a strong commitment towards inclusive education, aiming to employ a high level of expertise and good practice so that the children with Autism in our care receive what they deserve – equal access to education.
Many children with Autism have particular difficulties in using and expanding their imagination. This often hinders their language development and their progress and enjoyment in subjects such as English, Geography, History and Art, for example.
Additionally, it is common for many children with Autism to experience Sensory Dysfunction; where information coming from the senses to the brain is not processed in an ordered fashion. This means that children may become over sensitive to certain stimuli such as noise, or colour, or passively under-responsive to their surroundings. Equally they may be affected by an inability to understand where their body is in space or have difficulty in maintaining their balance when in certain positions. These difficulties often lead to anxiety, and children require opportunities to become calm.
We are delighted to have had a room newly built specifically to create a multi-sensory learning environment. The room will have three distinct aims in its use:
1) To create simulated imaginary environments such as a rain forest, a planet in space, an ice palace, under the sea, the Blitz, the Great Fire of London, a desert island, Antarctica etc to enable children to better engage in their learning by stimulating their inactive or under-developed imagination. We envisage the use of light, sound, aroma, wind, temperature, video projection and artefacts.
2) To provide a place where a Sensory Integration ‘diet’ can be made available, with access to specialist equipment that will stimulate and/or calm the senses. We would hope to use mirrors, tactile surfaces, fibre-optic lights, a bubble tube, an infinity tube, voice reactive toys, tactile toys, music, equipment that glows under ultra-violet light, sound effects, cushions and soft furniture, weights and equipment for stretching and balancing, glow in the dark face paint, neon gloves and socks.
3) To encourage the important traditional learning of reading, writing and maths by teaching in a rewarding classroom, where letters and sounds ‘come alive’ in UV light, addition and subtraction are more attractive and fun when they glow in the dark, and writing looks ‘cool’ when in fluorescent colours. We would need UV toys letters and numbers, boards and pens, paints, torches, puppets, and luminous card and paper and clocks and tape.
It makes sense to invest in the latest educational technology for this important educational aid.
We need to raise at least £15,000 to provide the necessary equipment.
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| When required | March 2009 - March 2010
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| Venue | Old Bexley ASD Unit. |
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| No. of people required | Not applicable. |
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| If you are interested in this challenge then please contact the B2C support team directly. |
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