Sensory Rooms: Your Top Questions Answered

What Is A Sensory Room Used For?

A sensory room is used to help individuals, particularly SEN children and adults, develop and engage their senses.

An individual will enjoy a unique sensory experience whilst exploring the room, which is usually equipped with various lights, colours, sensory soft play objects, colours and an array of aromas and textures. A sensory room can be used as a form of therapy for children and adults who have difficulty communicating and interacting with others.

What Is A Sensory Room In Schools?

Sensory rooms are almost always found in SEN schools and are now being introduced in others school. A sensory room in a school is a safe space that is specifically designed to meet the sensory needs of students.
In schools, sensory rooms are particularly beneficial to students who struggle with sensory overload. A sensory room provides a calming, relaxed environment where students of all ages and abilities can learn and thrive.

What Are The Benefits Of A Sensory Room?

Sensory rooms have so many amazing benefits!

• Sensory stimulation and development – Of course, one of the main benefits of a sensory room is that it enables an individual to explore their senses. It also provides an opportunity for each person to learn how to process a sensory experience. This can positively impact an individual’s ability to interact with the world as they learn and grow.
• Calming effects – Sensory rooms are also great for soothing children and adults who are usually distressed by sensory experiences. Sensory rooms usually feature a variety of soothing items which enable individuals to take charge of their emotions.
• Develop fine and gross motor skills – Within a sensory room, an individual can improve their muscle movement, balance and spatial awareness. Some of the sensory equipment often encourages bouncing, jumping and balancing.
• Improve focus and tackle behaviour problems – Children and adults with development disorders such as autism and ADHA often find it difficult to focus or engage in an activity for a prolonged period. Sensory rooms help their individuals become aware of their surroundings and encourage concentration.
  Socialising and interacting with others – As well as creating a safe space for individuals to be alone, sensory rooms are also great for enabling children and adults to interact with each other. In SEN schools, children are often encouraged to move and play together within a sensory environment. This improves social skills and communication skills.

What Is A Multi-Sensory Environment?

A multi-sensory environment is simply another name for a sensory room. It is an immersive and educational environment where sensory stimulation can be controlled to suit the needs and requirements of the child or adults.

What Colour Should A Sensory Room Be?

The colour of a sensory room depends on the intended use of the space. However, sensory rooms tend to be more effective if the walls are white. This way, various colours, lights and images can be reflected clearly against the walls. Find more tips for designing a sensory room here.

What Should Be In A Sensory Room?

Sensory rooms should have equipment that stimulates as many of the senses as possible. Particularly touch, sight, hearing and smell. There should be a combination of lights in various colours.

There sound be various sounds including music as well as ever-changing visuals such as projected images. A sensory room should also include soft play items such as crash mats, wedges and rolls. There should be bean bags and other soft furnishings.

Other equipment within a sensory room incudes tunnels, balancing tools, such as stepping stones and an activity table with sand or water etc.

Does Sensory Play Help Autism?

Sensory play helps all individuals. As children, it teaches us how to process the world around us. But yes, sensory play is particularly helpful for children and adults with autism as well as other disorders such as ADHD and Down Syndrome. For children with autism, sensory play helps them to calm down, take control of their emotions and develops their senses.

What Is Sensory Equipment?

Sensory equipment is anything that may encourage an individual to engage one of their five senses. For example, this could be a musical instrument, a soft play object, a tunnel, or a fibre optic sensory light.

Get In Touch

If you have any more questions relating to sensory rooms, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Here at iHUS, we design and provide specialist sensory room solutions for schools, offering a choice of modular design options. Each sensory room is constructed off-site, then transported to the school and expertly installed with all the specified equipment.

So, once we have installed the sensory room, it is ready to be enjoyed straight away!

It is a streamlined, cost-effective solution for providing the ultimate safe space in your school.