I am a sensory engagement and inclusion specialist, in my work at The Sensory Projects I look at how inexpensive resources can be used as sensory tools for inclusion and explore how understanding sensory processing can help us to better support those in our care. I deliver training nationally and internationally and can often be heard saying that I wish there was an easy way to distinguish between sensory and SENSORY. People are generally aware that engaging the senses when learning is useful, but there’s a big difference between putting out a box load of toys that were all marked ‘sensory’ in the catalogue and creating a SENSORY banquet for exploration.
In this series of articles I’m going to talk about the difference between sensory and SENSORY across different sensory systems and about the impact of sensory engagement work on people of all neurotypes who experience ability and disability.
In my previous article (which you can view online if the magazine has already become part of a paper mache masterpiece) I talked about how to create really engaging and inviting visual experiences. In this article we are going to be thinking about how we can use our understanding of the visual landscape and different people’s experience of that to support those in our care.
Decluttering For Sensory Ease
Do you remember in my first article I said that seeing takes up a lot of energy in the brain? If we were comparing the senses in the way we compare the electricity consumption of various bits of kitchen equipment to judge their energy efficiency we would find sight to be a high burner. In order to make the effort of seeing less exhausting many brains have an adaption whereby when they are in places they have been before they do not bother with seeing everything afresh, but instead fill in the background from what they remember from last time.
When I was a little girl my best friend and I spent a long time fashioning a cardboard theatre for my little sister, she had seen one marketed on TV and wasn’t going to get it for Christmas, but I was determined I would build her one just as good. We made scenery – this took AGES, colouring in with felt tip pen, we did one green one and one blue one and left it at that. Then we make little people, and tables and chairs and things like that.
When my sister played with it, all the adventures she created on stage happened either against the green backdrop or the blue, although we carried on making new characters we never made a new piece of scenery, it was just too much work! I’m sure you’ve already gathered the analogy I am building to. If you have the kind of brain that can just patch in what you saw last time, then it’s like dropping in those pieces of green and blue coloured card, it’s easy done. If you do not have that capacity then every time you see the room you have to render the scenery as well as the people and the things. It is utterly exhausting!
Now we just coloured straight blue and straight green, one each, and we were reasonably neat. If we had had to put in trees, waves, pots on a shelf, mugs, bags, coats, etc it would have been A LOT MORE WORK.
Declutter:
The first way we can help people to see is to declutter the visual environment, for those who are having to redraw it in their brain every time this will bring relief and for everyone else it’s a boost.
Crafting Sensory-Friendly Backdrops
Next we can think about backdrops, when you are holding something up to look at what is behind that item? Are you sat in front of a window so that the item appears as a dark outline, are you sat in front of a brightly coloured display so that the item is one thing among many? Are you stood (I don’t know why I always had you sitting before) with the sun behind you so that people have to squint? An ideal backdrop would be a dark colour and matt. I recommend taking a peek at the resources provided by Gwyn at Positive Eye for guidance of visual accessibility. https://positiveeye.co.uk/
Skill Development Through Play
Instagram is full of ideas for fun visual activities – cardboard pictures with apertures cut out are a favourite of mine, and my little boys enjoy choosing from a selection of cardboard paint swatches and then charging about in a landscape to see if they can find something that colour matches with the swatch they chose.
When you’re picking activities you might want to consider sight skills, such as looking at something close up, or something far away, watching something go from one side to another (this is known as tracking and is really useful for keeping an eye on the canopies at a party and also for reading which requires you to do as you are doing now and track along a line).
Seeing is a mix of these skills and more – think about combining them: take the cardboard aperture of a person out into the garden to see what plant will form the fabric of their dress today and then gaze up at the clouds to see where they might live (you’re combining close up looking with looking far away, it’s like an eye work out!)
Rest And Accessibility
Finally rest: get some shut eye, it’s good for everyone. And also be aware that some people may be working harder than others, people who need glasses but do not have them yet suffer from eye strain, get headaches and generally have to work a lot harder to see. If you are someone who does not talk it is often harder for people to notice you need glasses.
SeeAbility.org will tell you that many autistic people and people with learning disabilities need glasses but do not have them. Often times people think sight tests will be inaccessible because someone is young, or they cannot understand, or they do not know what letters are, but SeeAbility have a range of resources to help. And don’t forget yourself too – when was your last trip to the opticians?
In my next article I’m going to be looking at touch, as a small letter sensory experience and a capital letter SENSORY experience so get ready to get all touchy feelie!
Read more from this series here:
Sensory Engagement: Transform Visual Learning Into An Engaging Experience
