Carlton opens sensory room for special needs students

“For our students, maybe when they’re experiencing a gentle swing in the leaf chair, it is kind of sending messages throughout their sensory system to say … ‘I’m feeling not as tense,’ ‘I’m feeling not as stressed,’ ‘I’m feeling not as anxious.’ So, I guess really it’s just how our senses work together,” said Lee-Anne Hood, a special education teacher with the Independent Futures program.

In the room, the students are able to find a sensory experience that helps them find a sense of calm. When they reach that calm, the teachers would then bring them into the classroom environment to take part in activities that involve doing, telling and seeing. It essentially helps get them ready to learn.

One or two students at a time from the program will be scheduled to use the room over the course of the week, Hood said.

It’s not the first multisensory room in Prince Albert – there are a handful of others, including one at Ecole Vickers Public School. Carlton’s room started with a few pieces of equipment, and the leaf chair was one of the first pieces.

Hood said that, as a team, staff knew they wanted to expand the Snoezelen experience. She said they knew that plan was something they’d need to approach organizations in the community for financial help with.

They made a presentation to the Optimists, who then made the $10,000 donation.

Kathy Glasgow, vice-president of the club, said they’ve helped with rooms like this one previously. The first was the Snoezelen room at Vickers.

“Our firm belief is always to assist where we can in the betterment of the youth in our area,” she said. “When they did the presentation up at Carlton, and requested assistance [with] the much-needed equipment, we decided it was a great place to invest, because if we invest in our community and in our children and in our youth, it betters everyone.”

Kilmer created what Hood called a “wish list” of equipment, which included all of the pieces needed to complete the room. The school division stepped in to help purchase those items.

The Independent Futures program itself is fairly new at Carlton, according to Hood. It is staffed by three full-time teachers, 12 full-time educational assistants and one part-time educational assistant. They work with students aged 13 to 21.

“Our philosophy is everyone can learn and so, we are doing our best to provide programming based on our students’ individual needs to eventually help them in their transition at the end of their school career into the community,” Hood said.

A few students have already experienced the sensory room, as their visits have helped with the staff’s training in the Snoezelen Multisensory environment. Hood said the students’ reactions have been overwhelmingly positive.

“We have students who are verbal and are already requesting to use the Snoezelen room. For those students who are limited verbal or non-verbal, when they have had the opportunity to be surrounded by this environment, we can tell by their body language, their own personal vocalizations that it’s been an experience that’s very positive, welcoming, it’s one that they search for and hope to continue to have the opportunity [to use].”

As a couple of students trickled in to test the new Snoezelen room, the lights dimmed so they could use the fibre-optic lights. Hood said she’s excited and proud to finally have the staff’s vision come to be.

“And that we can feel very positive and go home at the end of the day knowing that we have done the best that we possibly can here in the walls [of] Independent Futures to provide all of our students with a happy, safe environment that they look forward to returning to.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames

by Thia James

Carlton opens sensory room for special needs students

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