3 ideas for the Cowley Owl Fireworks Lab!
Here are three tailored ideas for using the Cowley Owl Fireworks Lab app in special education! 1. Visual Engagement:…
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iPad/iPhone/Android Apps: Part 1 – Cause & effect sensory light box
iPad/iPhone and Android apps in special education September 2024 – Richard Hirstwood Apps have been around for a long time…
Is your classroom sensory-ready for the new term?
The new term is here, and it’s time to start thinking about creating an environment that will best support…
Take one – make festive five!
This blog offers ideas to help you make the most of resources that you have, or can easily acquire,…
Flying Tiger – great sensory resources available now!
Fancy a visit to Flying Tiger? You should! There’s a great selection of cheap and cheerful sensory resources in…
Take one – make five: Self-care!
Usually this blog offers ideas to help you make the most of resources you have or can easily acquire…
So, iPads work with Autism…?
We really need hard evidence to support importing new teaching technologies into the classroom. The trouble is, there is little…
What are our sensory skills?
To offer more explicit multi sensory learning experiences, we first need to examine how the learner receives and processes sensory…
New term – new classroom!
Are you ready to return to the classroom for a great start to Autumn 2023? Here are our top tips…
Sensory Engagement – Part 2
Sensory Engagement – the role of portable sensory environments The development of our sensory systems is essential to explore and…
Sensory Engagement – Part 1
Sensory Engagement – the role of the multisensory room What is the role of the senses in our lives? From…
Visual tracking
Visual tracking Everybody talks about visual tracking with some of our PMLD learners, is but what does it really mean?…
Why is multisensory learning important? Part 2
Why is multisensory learning important? Part 2 What is the role of the senses in our lives? From conception to…
Take one – make five! Pillowcase
This blog offers ideas to help you make the most of resources that you have, or can easily acquire, to…
Why is multisensory learning important? Part 1
Why is multisensory learning important? Part 1 What is the role of the senses in our lives? From conception to…
10 tips for returning to the classroom after Christmas!
Are you ready to head back into the classroom for a great start to 2023? Here are our ten top…
End of term? Get ready and protect yourself!
We are fast approaching December, the final month in a very long half-term and of course, the last month in…
Top ten sensory Christmas presents
Many people will show you how to make fabulous sensory things on the cheap, but sometimes we need that real…
The senses and outdoor teaching areas part 3
The Senses and Outdoor Teaching Areas In the final blog in this series, we consider the use of sound…
Coloured lighting
We all know that colour can affect our lives quite profoundly. Coloured lighting is being used more and more in…
The senses and outdoor teaching areas part 2
The Senses and Outdoor Teaching Areas Following on from our previous blog, we now offer some more ideas that…
Take one – make five! Sticks
This blog offers ideas to help you make the most of resources that you have, or can easily acquire, to…
The senses and outdoor teaching areas part 1
The Senses and Outdoor Teaching Areas When creating sensory outdoor teaching spaces, it is worth remembering the many sensations we…
Take one – make five! Cups and mugs
This blog offers ideas to help you make the most of resources that you have, or can easily acquire, in…
Take one – make five! Water
Take one – make five! This blog offers ideas to help you make the most of resources that you have,…
Sensory outdoor spaces
Sensory Outdoor spaces The ‘multisensory environment’ whether indoors or outdoors, is a place where we can increase or decrease a…
Take one – make five! Mint
Take one – make five! This blog offers ideas to help you make the most of resources that you have,…
Bubble Tubes – Go on, give it a hug!
A tall column of water hosting a myriad of colour changing bubbles, a visually captivating effect with sound, vibration and…
Does your multisensory room follow the AAA principles?
The most successful sensory room designs are those based on the needs of the learners who use the space. Here’s…
Let’s Make a Plan! (For Sensory Differences in Autism)
In the 1970s Carl Delacato (in his work as an educator with children who had all kinds of difficulties) had…
Sensory Learning Journeys
Steve Briggs, a previous Principal of Beaumont College, Lancaster was an inspiration to many, including myself. I listened to him…
Fibre Optics – Touching is important
“Trailing strands of cascading colour” is a very romantic way to describe fibre optics, but the effect is visually stunning.…
Pairing and Sharing
Speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN) run through the autism spectrum from one ‘end’ to the other. They are like…
The role of the iPad/tablet Coordinator
In order to ensure that technical equipment is being used well and kept in good working order, it may be…
Visual distractions
When trying to get learners with autism or a visual loss to really focus on you or the activity, it’s…
Ultraviolet light – Glow-worms Rule
Ultraviolet light or UV light is the most effective way to make fluorescent or white objects glow. How bright will…
Think of a number
If I said to you that I was going to construct a studio in your school, centre or home, what…
Flo’s New apps list for October
Flo Longhorn has done it again and it’s fabulous here is her latest apps list dated September 2021 Read on……
Stay up to date!
Communication Passports – Part 2 (Resources) A communication passport is mainly aimed at non-verbal PMLD learners, but it could…
It’s personal!
Communication Passports – Part 1 Communication is a basic need. Without it, life has less meaning. With most of our PMLD…
Autism aware
Autism Baselines There are so many tick lists out there, they are all over the internet. Many of these sheets…
Can you see what I see?
Vision For Doing Although the name suggests that this is a visual assessment, it is so much more. If you…
Soft padding – Bounce on it?
Soft matting and wall padding have been a feature of many rooms for a number of years. The addition of…
Won’t Play or Can’t Play? by Chris Barson
Learning to look at things from the child’s point of view is going to help us to get play and…
Sensory vibrations
Sound or hearing stimulation is as important as visual stimulation. Creating vibrations with music can have a big effect on…
Effects Projectors – Look at that!
This is a fun way to project colourful images onto walls, ceilings and floors, even umbrellas. Although it could be…
How far can you push it?
Switching systems will enable the student to turn electrical appliances on and off via switches, which are designed to accommodate…
What did you say?
Hearing is one of the most important senses we have. People without the ability to hear often say that they…
Relaxology, an out of body experience!
White rooms The design of the white room is unique; it’s a space where students can relax, escape, recuperate and…
Assessments and investigations of vision – some helpful tips!
It is common to hear that we ‘do visual stimulation’ with students with visual impairments, and it will prove to…
Prerequisites to communication – based on the work of Dr Chris Kiernan (1982)
In order to communicate and/or to learn to use a language, the learner must have: Sensory Abilities: Adequate Hearing and…
Gofindit cards!
Here’s a great idea from Carol Allen – ‘Gofindit cards.’ A brilliant very sensory indoor or outdoor scavenger hunt! Each…
Sensory room environments
Sensory Room Design Get the catalogues and you will note that there are hundreds of products you can use. The…
Ipads Autism
We really need hard evidence to support importing new teaching technologies into the classroom. The trouble is, there is little…
Bubble tubes and Autism
How to use this vital tool with pupils with difficult behaviour. Since the dawn of multi-sensory rooms, light rooms or…