People living with sight loss, hearing loss or other sensory disorders can find the outside world stressful, confusing and hostile at times. Our sensory room provides a space where anyone from a baby with sight loss, a child on the autism spectrum or an adult with a learning difficulty can experience calm and tranquility.
The atmosphere created by our different light boxes, and the wide range of tactile toys, beanbags and flooring means that the people who come to use it feel relaxed and safe in the intimate environment. Our expert facilitators use gentle background music, demonstrate the equipment where necessary and make sure that everyone feels comfortable.
For parents, this space is often seen as a life saver, where they can comfortably sit back and watch their child relax, engage in play with others where they normally would resist such interaction, or focus totally on an activity that enchants them. For our adult participants, its health benefits include reduction in blood pressure, improved hand-to-eye coordination and often just good fun. In our active sensory sessions we use large silks to catch balloons and soft balls, hold giant games of soft skittles and sometimes sing along to the music. Stimulating all five senses in this way is healing and therapeutic in so many ways and yet there are very few spaces like this where people with sensory loss can just be themselves for a period and emerge feeling happier and stronger.
We are building a new Living and Learning Zone on land that we own in York and within this Zone we are going to create a bespoke Sensory Room. This will have underfloor heating, a specially adapted lighting and sound system, a portable induction loop, a projector and black-out blinds so that the room feels like a cocoon and the lights have the maximum effect. This will be available to families and individuals from all across York and beyond. Ryedale Families already make use of our pop-up sensory room and we expect to attract other groups once the room is permanently installed.