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 ??!!

I'm really glad you're not getting a flaming - IMO you are being totally reasonable. It would be highly unfair to take money which is specifically intended to benefit disabled children and then provide a facility which will get trashed with overuse by those for whom it was not intended.

Having said that, I suppose there might be some sense in allowing siblings / good friends into some sessions - maybe even having "open" sessions which are heavily supervised in order to raise extra revenue (by trained volunteers to help keep costs down?)

My son is not disabled exactly, but he has serious food allergies and I was gutted when I found food smeared all over the inside of our local soft play centre. Some parents can be so thoughtless! There really should be more safe places where children with special needs can go!!

Good luck with all this. If you get a petition together, I'll sign it, and if you need letters written, I'll happily write one.

to give an idea of the costs involved

£600 for a curtain anyone??

Oooooohhhhhhhhh look, our 3 bubble tubes were only £900 each

And that lots just the start !!

I think you need to argue that the equipment in the room cannot be used as it is designed without supervision. Who's funding that?

YANBU and good luck.

What age group does your SR cater for? You said the other one was for babies/toddlers.

I think if you can make some hours available to the parents of NT children then it would benefit you - both financially now (every little bit helps) but also, hopefully, when fundraising is required to improve/replace the equipment.

If NT children already have a similar facility in the same centre, then YAdefinitely)NBU.

I hadn't realised that it was in the same place.

I really don't undertsnad in that case why you get such limited access as it is essentially your equipment. It seems such a waste for you to have gone to such great lengths for it not to be used to its full potential.

YANBU why do parents of NT kids think there being hard done by, what could their kids possibly get out of a sensory room.

YANBU, they already have one, they're just being greedy.

YANBU, it will inevitably get trashed

When they hire it out for £40, do they only hire it to disabled people?

it is a hard thing to discuss, i would like my children to use this room (perhaps as a book coner or a quiet zone) to see that disabled and non-disabled children are the same iygwim.

however i would not like this room to be used by hyper kids who can ealily use every other activity in the centre

Everyone can benefit borderslass - see my past at 21:36

The worst thing that could happen is everyone is allowed to use it and it gets destroyed bit by bit. Are children supervised in there

FFS can't disabled kids have anything?

everyone can benefit from using disabled parking spaces - doesn't mean that everyone benefits equally

YANBU.

Can you get the local paper to back you up?

It's £40 for 1 hour, don't know how many for as it's only small and sensory rooms are really one at a time jobbies

It's within the softplay iyswim and when we go we have to ask for it to be unlocked and leave a deposit behind, although if no one turns up specifically to use the sn session, after a while nt kids are let in, and we basically have to ask for them to be booted out !! (although they are prewarned)

And no, i'm not being arsey about toddlers being there but ds is a very large/aggressive 9 year old, those softplay sessions are the few times I can relax without fear of him harming someones little darling, we can't go anywhere else.

and at the risk of repeating myself, NT children already have a sensory room open to them to use whenever they wish

IwishIwasmoreorganised- did your dissertation measure the benefits gained by NT and disabled persons using the sensory room and the impact on their lives? Was it equal?

Cornsilk - why does allowing NT children to use something devalue it for SN children.

The things Cheese has linked to look amazing - I would love to be able to take small children in there. I would supervise them, they would get a lot out of it and I would be happy to pay to use it. Not all NT children are rough.

I would also be happy to be involved in fund raising for it too - to cover maintenance, new equipment, supervising staff etc

If you could hire it privately I would hire it for me to sit in - it looks incredible.

but what classes as disabled, my nephew is registered as disable but to look at him he don't seem disabled.

perhaps the parent who have demanded right to the sensory room have children with disablities such as adhd or non visable disabilities

agree

YANBU......... Will your MP or local councillor support you?? Contact your local paper and local tv stations!!

Before I worked in the job I do (portage worker/specialist children's team) I would have thought 'I see where OP is coming from but it would be nice to share it and whats the harm'
BUT

Now I know just how mindblowing expensive the equipment is, how easy it is to break and how hard it is to get it fixed.

It should be protected an exclusive resource for those it was designed for unless a budget for repairs and maintainence is provided (and guarenteed).

Soft play areas are seen as 'anything goes' type of play areas. They are padded and safe and kids are allowed to do things they wouldnt be allowed in ordinary settings. Leaping from 10'slides and flinging themselves into walls for eg.

The danger is that the children and parents would see the sensory room as just an exstension of the main area. It wouldnt last five minutes with 20 hyped up 5 year olds flying about.

Protect your valuable resource. Sensory rooms are a nice distraction for NT children, they are incredibly important to so many disabled children.

IwishIwasmoreorganised not the point disabled kids get little enough as it is and it has to be fought for you don't need to fight for NT kids in the same way.

YANBU and I feel very territorial on your behalf.

A couple of things I'm not clear on though, is would it only be NT kids who would potentially damage the equipment, or do SN kids potentially have the ability to do this too? Or is it simply an issue of supervision? And if so, could that be the answer?

I'd hate to think of this special, expensive and very specific equipment being ruined so it can't be used, but by anybody, not just NT kids. And if NT kids were to be supervised, does it really matter if it is an NT kid using it, assuming the risk of damage is removed, as long as they are not stopping a SN child using it?