Sensory Rooms- Do they work?

There was little evidence to support or deny this until the early 1990's. During which the following research was conducted supporting the developement of sensory rooms;-

• Hepworth (1992) found that students in a school run by the National Institute for the Blind showed improvements in their functioning when exposed to a white room. She made the following observations;

1) Sensory rooms provided a calming environment- staff of the school found the room useful to calm down students in the evening.

2) Sensory rooms enabled direct use of sensory input in that some pupils diagnosied as 'totally blind' responded visually to a rope light and mirror ball.

3) Sensory rooms facilitate increased communication and relationships. Hepworth found some key workers felt it was easier to communicate with a student in the room and two members of staff reported an increase in students communication.

Hepworth reports that fibre optics was the most used piece of equipment, followed by bubble tubes.

• The Journal of Intellectual Disability Research (1997) found that rooms full of textures, sounds and smells could relax people with severe and profound intellectual disability. The equipment was also found to reduce aggression.
• The White Top Research Unit (1999)at the University of Dundee Scotland, found that multi-sensory rooms can benefit a wide range of clients, including those with special needs, autism, disabilities, and mental health issues, as well as the elderly. They stated that sensory rooms were not a quick fix, rather repeated exposure to sensory "experiences" can help to ground and generate responses from those who otherwise have trouble responding in a home, clinical or school setting. They found that the effects of a session in a multi sensory room can last from a few minutes to a few days, and lengthen with ongoing use. http://www.dundee.ac.uk/wtru/

Useful Books:

http://www.amazon.com/Sensory-Perceptual-Issues-Asperger-Syndrome/dp/1843101661

This book attempts to define the role of sensory perceptual problems in autism identified by autistic individuals themselves. Written by the mother of an autistic son, it gives information to parents to enable them to initiate relevant strategies and environmental changes to faciliate more effective learning.