To not want non disabled children using our hard fought for sensory room ?

[ApocalypseCheeseToastie]

I'm probably going to get murdered for this but meh.

We live in a town with 3 softplay areas and various activites for nt children to do, for special needs children there is sod all, no softplay sessions, no sensory room. Nada.

A few years back me and some others started to go to meetings with our local council to arrange activities and eventually, after much fundraising a softplay area was built in our leisure centre and sensory room was built in our softplay area, it was entirely funded using money allocated for children with disabilities although the softplay is open to all and we get 8 hours per week when it is soley for use for disabled children up to the age of 15. HOWEVER, only disabled children are allowed access to the sensory room, the sensory room is also used by disabled adults and is the only one for 100 miles, it's a valued facility.

Parents have been complaining and demanded access to the sensory room and a meeting is being arranged to review the situation.

Bearing in mind the children/parents who use the softplay aren't always entirely respectful (taking food etc in) and the sure start centre does have a small sensory room for babies/toddlers, aibu to think, sod off, we only get 8 hours a week as it is, I don't want this expensive, specialist equipment being trashed by kids who don't need to be there and have 1001 other things to choose from ??!!

YANBU. I agree with you.

We haven't got the hoist yet, the way I see it is the leisure centre has benefitted greatly from the softplay, financially and otherwise ( we get filthy looks off the people who arent allowed in every week tho when we're in there) so they can keep there chuffin hands off our sensory room !!

If the equipment is to break, we'll end up replacing it no doubt, am considering chaining meself to the fecking place

YANBU in fact you seem to be VR to me.

Why do you only get 8 exclusive hours in the Soft Play area? That doesn't seem very fair to me either. Is there any reason it can't be 50% SN only and 50% SN & siblings. It sounds like there are other SP places for NT children in the area.

Sensory Room - I have to confess that I don't really know what is in there or how breakable it is or how a NT child would benefit from using it. I guess if NT children would benefit from it, it wouldn't hurt to let them use it, at restricted times and for a fee (which can be saved towards maintenance).

If nobody else can use the room, why is it only available for 8 hours?

YANBU.

A sensory room would work entirely differently to a soft play anyway. For example, you could have 15 toddlers in a ball pit, or twenty scrabbling up and down a soft slide, but surely a sensory room can only be used by a certain number of people at once.

What do the nt parents propose to do? Queue up? Have a ticketed system?

Someone would need to facilitate the sessions which would mean extra staff and extra cost. Unless you did open it up and charged a fee and limited numbers and used it as a fund raiser.

(I think you mean you only get 8 hours exclusive use of the soft play, yes?)

Surely if they're so desperate for a sensory room they can take their cue from you and raise some money for it? I would go along all fired up to the meeting with lots of tips and helpful advice from when you did your fundraising - so they can do their own.

Alternatively use it as a bargaining chip - if they want access to the sensory room go with a list of NT softplay/activities etc (make it as long as you possibly can) and say wonderful! Really pleased you want to work in partnership on equal access and equipment for all - happy to give [x] hours access on such and such day in exchange for [x] hours Special Needs access only to ALL these venues for [x] hours on such and such day. Oh and by the way we'll need x x and x of special equipment installed.

Bunch of self-entitled twats. Just reminds me of all the MRA/Whataboutdamenz who jump on equal rights for women, or the whingers about all the ethnics having all the rights.

Any NT parents who attend that meeting moaning about access have just volunteered themselves for your new equal access campaign in my view. With rights come responsibilities.

YANBU. The people pushing for this are idiots.

Yanbu I don't see what an nt child would get from a sensory room that they can't get elsewhere.

If you have a petition going send it this way, I work with parents of children with SEN and I have actually heard parents of nt children saying oooo your so lucky to have sensory room, blue badge blah blah.

YANBU at all

I did my dissertation looking at physiological responses to spending time in Snoezelen rooms (a particular brand of multi sensory envirnment).

Those with disabilities aswell as those without displayed a significant decrease in a number of physiological markers of stress and anxiety, so imo NT children would be able to benefit from using this equipment as well as disabled people.

I agree though that a charging a fairly high entry fee (and therefore raising more money to reinvest) would be entirely appropriate.

because sn people are in the minority, we officially get 2 hours on a saturday/sunday, 2 hours on a tuesday, 2 hours on a thursday. The sensory room is also available for private hire outside of these sessions for £40 and has been very popular with numerous residential facilities. And i'm fine with this tbh (even tho i've caught kids on the trampolene with drinks when i've been going swimming)

We also help to fund any deep cleans, yes I know we're being exploited and ripped off (part and parcel with being a carer tbh) but it's better than not having anything

Non disabled children already have a sensory room in the sure start centre, I don't care whether they benefit or not tbh, they don't need to use ours. They have one already

You sound reasonable.

But would access with a high entry fee help generate cash?

Is it available to private hire by non disabled kids?

YANBU at all.
Facilities like this for children with sn are few and far between.
People with nt children have access to playgrounds,parks, swimming pools etc.
In fact I would go so far as to say that the children with disabilites should have access to the equipment at all times, not just 8 hours per week.
I have spent yet another joyless sunday pushing ds round in his wheelchair to look at trains because there is nowhere for us to go !

But there are so many places sn children and adults are excluded from, surely it doesn't hurt if they have one little place to call their own.

I could see how it would benefit a child suffering with some kind of stress could benefit though.

YANBU!

It's daft that you should have to rationalize that 'sn people are in the minority', when from what you say, facilities for sn people are also in the minority, and you worked so hard to find funding to pay for these facilities!

I hope you get a good result.

Cheese - I totally get the 'SN are a minority' and the battle that everything is. What I was getting at was that you (the SN parents/supporters) raised the money - why is your access restricted to something you raised the money for?? On what grounds do they justify this?

How many people are allowed in and how long do they get for £40?

Whole-heartedly agree

yadnbu!

grrrrrrrrrrrr

It would be lovely to have a sensory room for everyone.... BUT NOT YOURS. As you say, there is hardly any provision in your area and it was funded with money for disabled children. Nuf said

YANBU at all. I agree with you. Also why only 8 hours a week? That's a real shame. Suzikettles idea is a brilliant one. Reducing demand and raising funds for more equipment...might be worth thinking about.

If nobody is using it any other time, then it seems ridiculous to restrict the SN users to only 8 hours a week.

I get the feeling that they are not filling up enough with the £40 charge by restricting it to SN, and want to pull in more money by allowing anyone in.

As you have fund raised to provide all this equipment, I am not suprised you feel strongly about it being misused.

I think YABU, for thinking that 8 hours is fine, bloody hell. I would be fighting tooth and nail about this, perhaps you should draught something up to take to this meeting, you might ocme out with a few more hours! YANBU

OP I can completely see your point of view. However, where I live we have charity funded centre that was built specifically to be inclusive, and is open to disabled and non-disabled children. Some sessions are separate, but some are together. I think this encourages an understanding for both children and parents of disabilities, and allow integration which is so important. The centre has a small sensory room that can be used by all.

Thinking of my DS, he got the most out of any sensory sessions when he was a little baby. Would it be possible to compromise and allow babies under 6 months to have a certain amount of access to the room? Then hopefully it won't get trashed, but will get used, and the facility will be well known which will hopefully go some way to helping to get continued funding.

Just an idea. I can totally see why you don't want the type of toddlers that go to my local soft play in there, I don't want them in my soft play either!