SENSORY PRODUCT SEARCH (for new autism center)

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Appearantly someone has come up with enough $ to put together a place for kids to go to and stim themselves silly. I was asked what kind of things we could put there without blowing TOO much #$$$, and frankly I have no Idea. These are really cool people, way cooler than me, and I think we should help them out in helping those like ourselves out.

so please, people, any ideas, links, prices, ways to purchase or even create new sensory experiences. Also why the thing itself is good sensory fun. Dont think that an Idea is undoable or too big, small whatever. Id also like to see if I can get Ideas for every sense, not just the big five, like Balance, etc. ... Even if something seems like it is too expensive or cumbersome perhaps there is a way to mitigate the price/hassle that someone else knows about? So what the heck, throw it up here!


The focus here is on Children and people on the more heavy (I dislike the term "low functioning" for some reason) end of the spectrum. They would like to get started with this soon actually, and

That sounds pretty nifty, chaps. Nice thread.

Surgical scrub brushes (about $1 each) have bristles one side and sponge the other, excellent for skin brushing.

Beads, shells, stones, pieces of drift wood, pine cones, whole spices like mace and star aniseed - you need to find what sizes are inappropriate for small kids as a choking hazard. You can divide them into things that are coloured, things that are textured, things that have a smell, things that make a sound.

A (washable?) box with two holes at the front in which to place objects or substances like sand, clay, found objects, for people to feel and guess what they are.

Air-filled balance balls, balance cushions. Straps from the ceiling for balance and swing sensations. (I never tried these, but I have seen them hanging from big hooks in the ceiling).

Soft balls and shapes.

Pastes, powders, gels. Perfumes or other safe smelly things.

Durable speaker system and audio player - probably needs a CD player for proprietary material and MP3 capability. Headphones - the auditory sensory programmes require very specific impedance (320 ohm) and frequency (20 KHz) characteristics.

Make a list by sense and discuss it with an OT and people who have tried sensory therapy, to work towards stuff that actually has therapeutic benefits. (You might need some fun stuff that lightens the therapy).

As mentioned above, with insurance, some objects must come from certified suppliers and meet standards. You can not substitute something similar that might pose a danger of, e.g., falling, choking.

The stuff I'm thinking of could be somewhat dangerous for the smallest children, but I enjoy it, so...

1. Sand. Soft, white, very fine sand, on a sand table. Rice works, too. Just something with smooth, uniform grains to run your fingers through.

2. Glass beads--the sort you put in the bottoms of vases or fish tanks. The decorative sort. Shiny, smooth, and can be arranged into patterns.

3. Speaking of arranging into patterns: Geometric blocks. Not the building blocks sort, but the ones that are squares and triangles and whatnot, that can be placed on a tabletop in a pattern.

4. Musical instruments, both simple and complex, and a soundproof room to play them in. Soundproofing is probably somewhat expensive, but you can fake it with tapestries or carpet on the walls.

5. Clay. Play-Doh has a funny smell that some kids don't like; regular clay--the sort made out of dirt--may be a good substitute. It has much more of a clean smell to it. But play-doh is probably softer. Your choice.

6. Bean bag chairs. You simply must have these. Also, a big bookshelf with lots of interesting books, fiction-and non-fiction, simple and complex. As a child, I loved nothing better than the smell and feel of a new book.

7. Weighted blanket. You can make your own.

8. A safe, quiet, dim place where a child can go to relax, or where a parent can take a child who needs some down time. No locks allowed, though--this isn't a seclusion room; you want the kids to think of it as a retreat, not a punishment. Learning to go somewhere quiet to relax when you're near meltdown is an absolutely essential autistic life skill.

Places to find this stuff:
Educational catalogs for teachers. Kindergarten through third grade, they'll sell a lot of visual aids and manipulatives. Try to find some number sticks--you know, visual representations of numbers. I used them to learn to understand numbers, and I was a pretty slow starter on the math. I was a year behind in the third grade, but I caught up by the sixth.

Occupational therapy catalogs. You'll find some nice therapy tools there, including those lovely little chew tubes (but you would have to actually issue those to the kids--they are not shareable!) and putty of different densities, for squeezing and squishing, as well as toys that teach you how to button a button, pull up a zipper, use a spoon, etc. Talk to an OT--you must surely know a few--and ask for their old catalogs. They'll have them, believe me. They get spammed with those things like nobody's business.

Interview some of the parents who want to get together and do this, ask them what their kids like, what relaxes them, what helps them think and learn better.

Take into account that the kids will have different needs. What overwhelms one will be wonderful to another. Find a way to keep kids with different needs in separate spots, so that the kid who loves Play-Doh can squish it to his heart's content while the kid who hates the smell of Play-Doh can bang on a xylophone where the first kid's auditory sensitivity won't be bothered by it.

Make sure there are places where the kids can engage in parallel or cooperative play. They have to test out interaction, and this can be a safe place to try it.

And make sure that parents and friends are welcome, too, and that there are spots for people who are bigger than child-size. Autistic kids, like any kids, love their parents, and often communicate better with them than with anyone else. Relegating parents to the sides of the room might mean missing out on that interaction.

I'll second what Callista says, though will say soft sand I'd drastically prefer over rice.

Theraputty - its just silly putty except there are multiple firmnesses and its usually used in therapy. That's another thing Callista mentioned though :p. (I just have some for myself and its great)

Exercise balls- they're quite fun to bounce on.

Weighted blanket + beanbags. Yes I know Callista just said those and I seconded everything she said. I'm repeating it again anyways. Making your own weighted blanket isn't hard, just time consuming, and drastically reduces price.

Soft fabrics, rough things to run your hand over and feel all the patterns.

Hammock

for littlier kids - Sit and Spin

To add to Calista's Beads suggestion: Ball Bearings or Marbles. Having a variety of shapes is good, but dont forget completely spherical either. Ball Bearings are cheap enough from the more dedicated Tools/Hardware Stores, and Ive never been sure where to buy Marbles, but I highly suggest the Glass ones rather then the Plastic ones, though I suppose having both materials wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

Also to add to Calista's suggestion of Geometric shapes, you can get Pre-made Wooden Block Sets that are designed to fit together. The cheaper ones are made of cheaper wood and are susceptible to cracking and things (Think Linkin Logs), but the more expensive ones are pretty indestructible short of Strong, Direct Force (Hitting with a Hammer, throwing as hard as possible at a wall, etc etc). The ones Im talking about tend to be made of like Cedar or Oak, and have a Finished look to them.

Depending on who the clientele ends up being, I could also suggest Lego's, but you have to be careful with those. They're also a continuous money drain if you don't supervise them as the little bits are forever getting lost, forgotten about, vacuumed up when mistakenly dropped underneath furniture, etc etc.

A variety of Rubber things (Density changes will matter, softer rubber, but I would suggest offering a variety to choose from). Soft squishy rubber balls all the way up to maybe a Kong or something from Petsmart (Just go in and ask, they'll know exactly what you're talking about).

Pillows would be a good idea for a variety of reasons, including stimming, but also as padding.....

I agree with Calista about loving books, but Id suggest not trying to run a library, again depending on the clientele you get. As a Kid I too loved books, but I remember FAR too many "Communal Childrens Librarys" in Day Care Centers, or Community Centers, or wherever else, and the books tended to become absolutely destroyed. To run a successful one you need to either find a dedicated person to watch it and take care of it, or you'll need to allocate time so the staff can clean it up. If this is a stimming center, I think the better policy would be if they wanted to read, let them bring their own books, particularly if there are quiet places they could read, rather then trying to provide books that may or may not appeal to enough kids to make it worth your while in the first place, much less trying to replace when they get colored in, torn, ripped, dropped, bent, or pulled apart.

I would also suggest what I call "Fiddly" bits. Things that have joints and are capable of changing shape. They don't have to be large, Fragile, or overly complicated, McDonalds used to make toys for their happy meals that fit this description back in the days before Uber Cheap was the party line...... Little "Transformers" type toys basically, the one I remember most vividly was Plastic McNuggets Box that unfolded out into a purple Pterodactyl (The whole thing when fully extended was about a square inch or a little more), but they had many many more, and I have no idea where you might find something similar now (Id bet my bottom dollar Toys-R-Us wont have anything like this).

Good Luck,
Aldran