All posts by Guest Blogger

The Sensory Space – An Essential In Your Classroom

Sensory

Guest blog from The Manimo Team

The school and classroom provide a wealth of sensory information. Whether or not your students have special needs, processing sensory information can be a real challenge and also impact their behavior (e.g. difficulty paying attention, sitting still, working cooperatively with others, etc.).

Sensory processing difficulties arise when the brain can’t sort, organize, analyze, or integrate sensory messages. It’s like a “traffic jam” in the brain, with a few snippets of sensory information “stuck in circulation”. When this happens, certain parts of the brain don’t receive the sensory information they need to do their job. (1)

Providing a sensory space helps students to calm down and is a way to avoid disorganization. It’s a simple solution for improving social-emotional behaviors and beneficial for cognitive development.

What Is A Sensory Corner?
A sensory corner is a designated area inside your classroom that is dedicated to supporting the sensory development of all students. It allows the child to take refuge there completely independently. Their withdrawal into this space helps them regulate their emotions and energy level in order to be more available to learn and interact with others.

A sensory space stimulates the primary senses; sight, hearing, smell, touch, vestibular and proprioception without creating overload because the senses are chosen on a voluntary basis.

The Benefits Of A Sensory Corner
These very precious moments, lasting at least 15 minutes, improve mood management by taking care of one’s emotions, increasing the feeling of security, and help reduce agitation and apathy (lack of energy). No wonder they allow for the improvement in attention and quality of concentration.

Regulating our senses is important in maintaining our mental and physical well-being and self-esteem. The sensory space allows for wonderful one-on-ones or supports a moment of guided learning, if the space is sufficient to accommodate the adult and child.

How To Design A Classroom Sensory Space

  • It must be welcoming, comfortable and a defined space. The area has boundaries and is large enough to accommodate at least one seat (armchair, cushion, carpet, etc.).
  • Make sure the child will be isolated from ambient noise or the hallway.
  • Make sure you can adjust the light intensity or filter it. Some children will seek intense light while others will benefit from dim lighting.
  • Try to find a corner of the class where the student can have some privacy, out of sight of their peers. To enclose this space, you could use a curtain or furniture such as a bookcase or shelf.
  • Ideally, provide storage for the items or equipment that your corner will offer. The space should not be overloaded with things.

The objective is to be able to immerse yourself in a “cocoon-bubble” atmosphere in order to experience better sensory stimulation and enjoy all the benefits.

The effectiveness of a sensory corner has nothing to do with your allocated budget. It’s therefore not necessary to invest in expensive and sophisticated equipment.

What equipment should you provide in your sensory corner?
Your sensory corner can evolve over time and according to the needs of your students. Here are some suggested items that can stimulate the senses.

Touch
– Manipulative tools such as stress balls, fidgets
– Tray with play dough
– Vibrating cushion
– Massage accessory
– Homemade sheet/board with different textures on it (sandpaper, fur, silk, feathers, etc.)

Hearing
–Noise cancelling headphones
-Earphones and radio
–Rain stick

Smell
– An accessory or cushion that you can put a few drops of essential oils on (ex: lavender)
– Scented putty
– Small cotton sachet (for the bottom of a drawer) with different smells

Sight
– Lamp (Lava type, scintillating, plasma, fiber optic, etc.)
– Mini flashlight, mini battery-operated candle
– Light tube
– Hourglass or sensory tube
– Homemade glitter bottle

Vestibular (balance and movement)
– Disc or balance board
– Air cushion
– Surfboard

Proprioception
– Weighted animals
– Ghost
– Resistance Band
– Bean bag
– Sensory peapod

You could display or make available inspirational thoughts, relaxing music, pictures to color, breathing strategies, a timer to give the child perspective about time.

And the most important…
Once your sensory space has been established, take the time to show it to your students and teach how to use it, when, and why so that they understand the purpose of this space.

It’s also important to display the tools and resources available in the space. Don’t hesitate, for example, to demonstrate breathing techniques in a large group so that they know how to repeat them when alone.

Having a space like this is a great way to implement social-emotional learning strategies in your classroom.

And now, play on!

The manimo team

About manimo
For 20 years, manimo has comforted thousands of children at home and school. manimo’s range of weighted animals are all equally attractive. It’ll be a must have in your sensory space to stimulate your student’s proprioception and touch senses.

Discover manimo weighted animals

1 Sensory Spaces in School 2021.  National Council for Special Education, NCSE – Sensory Spaces in Schools

What’s In Your Therapy Bag?

Activities

by Laurie Gombash PT, M.Ed

Are you looking for activities that are portable, fun and that can help your kiddos improve their skills? In this post, pediatric physical therapist, Laurie Gombash PT, M.Ed. shares her three therapy bag  “must haves”!

  1. Body Awareness Fun Deck

The Body Awareness Fun Deck contains 56 cards that feature OTis the OT gorilla in different poses. These cards work on body scheme, spatial awareness, and visual perceptual skills. There are 5 levels of difficulty. Laurie’s Pro Tip: Use these cards at the beginning of the school year to get an idea of how students are doing since the last time they were seen!

  1. Upper Body and Core Strength Fun Deck

The Upper Body and Core Strength Fun Deck contains 52, double sided cards. The fronts have pictures of different upper body activities and the backs have a description of the activity. 

  1. Move Your Body Fun Deck

The Move Your Body Fun Deck contains 58 cards featuring a variety of movement activities.  These cards help improve children’s strength, their balance, their coordination, and their motor planning.

The Fun Deck cards are a great option when doing push-in services, check out these activity ideas. 

Pick, Demonstrate, & Imitate

  1. The therapist or teacher fans out a set of cards from the desired Fun Deck.
  2. Students take turns choosing a card and then placing themselves in the position depicted on the card.
  3. All of the other students imitate the student.

Choice Boards

  1. Secure a desired number of Fun Deck cards to a board (for example cardboard or a portable whiteboard).
  2. Children take turns pointing to the card to make a choice.
  3. The child who made the choice is the leader, leading other students in the movement activity.

Pro Tip: Pointing to make a choice is a great time to work on finger isolation!

The Fun Deck cards are a must have for your therapy tool bag!  They come in a small, sturdy tin making them very portable. They are great for push in therapy sessions and can be used with children of all abilities. In addition, Fun Deck cards can be used across a variety of disciplines including occupational and physical therapists! How will you use Fun Deck cards in your therapy practice?

Fine Motor Tools for Academic Instruction

Fine Motor

by Moira P. Bushell OTD, MEd, OTR/L

With academic demands increasing in the school setting, student’s free time is decreasing and teachers try to create activities and stations for children to practice specific academic skills during class time. Occupational therapy practitioners have an expertise in creating innovative interventions that combine fine motor development activities with academic skill development.

Here is a list of some simple fine motor activity ideas that can be used to support academic learning within the classroom environment. If you get creative you can come up with several  ways to mix and match items to multiply the possibilities. Remember to share with your teachers. 

1. Letter Names
  • Playdoh letter formation
  • Cryptograms
  • Wikki Stix
  • Stickers
  • Hole punching letters
  • Matching on cards using clothespins
2. Spelling
  • Letter tiles to match words
  • Alphabet Stamps
  • Letter beads on pipe cleaners
  • Stacking Legos, Blocks, Unifix cubes with letters on it to make words
  • Catching and spelling letters
  • Velcro letters
3. Number Recognition
  • Using tongs to count items and match to a number
  • Dice games
  • Using a sand tray to write numbers
  • Puzzles
  • Searching for items in rice bin and match to number cards
4. Addition
  • Making math equations with beads on pipe cleaners
  • Creating a 10 frame out of egg carton
  • Stacking blocks to create patterns
  • Putting counters into slotted containers

BONUS!

Adapting many of these to remote learning is pretty easy.  You can even host a scavenger hunt for the students to search their house to gather materials to create kits

The options for integrating fine motor activities into academic instruction creatively is limitless. I’m hoping i’ve listed a new one here for you to try with your students.