sensory room

[Jimjams]

We have a basement room which is used as a kind of junk room at the moment. We would like to turn it into a mini sensory room (nothing too major- I want it to cost 100's not 1000's!!) We don't need big bubble tubes as ds1 stimms like mad with anything too bright. I would like a projector- I have a few lights and a vibrating pillow- would also like to get a mirror ball, spotlight, vibrating mattress and a cd player etc. We have the rompa catalogue and a tbh (tph?) catalogue. I just wondered whether anyone knows of any other suppliers, or whether anyone knows of charities that award grants for this sort of thing (long shot I know).

What colour is best for the walls? White?

Sounds very relaxing! For the trampoline, I'm ordering some of these floor mats . Do you think those will be ok? I've got pillows and a mattress to put around it, too, but it's a self serve room -- the idea is that he's in there on his own. What trampoline are you getting? Have you seen this one? I can't find it in the .co.uk store, sorry. I've got worries about safety, etc and would like to hear what you're doing. What are the handheld lights? I've also found a place that sells single colour ball-pool balls.

Thanks for asking -- he was fine in the States and it did me a world of good. He's quite the social boy and loved all the attention. I'm very lucky; he'll go into any creche/nursery/new situation quite happily. But I've stopped reading your posts about your worries about your ds2 talking (are you still worried?) because my son was so far behind yours as of my last reading. One thing at a time...

I'd love to hear about the highlights of the cheap nursery article, also.

The 'contact another talker' thingy doesn't seem to be working, so here's my e-mail addy if you want me to scan the article and send it to you.
scampcamp(at)tesco(dot)net

Wow that IKEA sofa trampline looks great!

We already have a trampoline - just a small ToysRUs one- which will do for the moment. - not sure I'd let a boisturous little one use it by themselves though as it has a handle etc.

The handheld lights are here:

www.rompa.com/cgi-bin/Rompa.storefront

but I don't think that will take you to the right page. They're the supersafe plastic fibre optics 1m x 100 strands.

Glad your ds2 is doing well. Ds2 is still not talking at all (apart from yes and no) but language is doing well still (understands difference between my and yours etc). Language seems fine, speech is non-existent and speech sounds are very delayed. Not worried because it's clearly just a speech problem, but am beginning to suspect verbal dyspraxia which would be a major pain in the arse. He's off to nursery next month (2 mornings). I've had a chat with the manager and she'll refer him to SALT once he's started. Saves me having to do it.

I suspect he'll like the sensory room as well

BTW - my mum gave the boys some of those floor mats for xmas. They love them. DS2 is very into the letters and numbers on them (which is worrying! I don't encourage it ) and ds1 likes the texture.

norma I'll be emailing you- many thanks

I don't recommend the foam letter/number mats to go under the trampoline feet (if you're trying to protect the floor). THey get dinges in them and come apart, single floor tiles are better which I bought individually from a kind carpet shop owner for £1 each. I also think that, for a sensory room, letters/numbers might be too distracting and potentially stress-inducing, my son would associate them with learning, therefore work. Highly recommend the ELC trampoline as it is stongner than the ones i've seen in Toys R Us and its easy to get replacement parts e.g. elastic, mat, ours have been replaced several times and its a bugger doing the elastic . We've had ours for about 5 years and its still going strong with a hefty 8 year old who performs fantastic acrobatic routines to and from the bed, book case, mentelpiece etc. We took the handle off ages ago as it got in the way. I'm not worried about safety as my son seems to be the other end of the phiscal spectrum to dyspraxia and is noticeably very well co-ordinated and, I'm beginning to think, possibly quite accomplished physically so I will be looking for his "event" in the special olympics for the future!! I am very interested in the sensory room too, mine loves those long rubbery string things with fibre optic lights. I just bought him a disco lights ball and hand held disco lights from ELC for £10, its quite good. I'd love to hear more about what you decide to choose as essential for your sensory room Jimjams and anyone else who is trying to set one up.

I'm not worried about the trampoline feet tbh. I do agree with what you are saying about the foam letters. They may wel be packed away in the BIBIC corner for the texture, most of the time they'll be strewn (by ds2) across the living rom. I thought they'd be OK for JJ's playroom though.

Your ds sounds like my friend's dd. She is incredible- she balances on the most amazing things.

Thanks for all the tips -- Norma, thanks for sending the article. The ELC trampoline is sold out atm, but I think it's worth waiting to get it as the room will take a couple of months to set up. Thanks, too, for putting up with me here. My son doesn't have SN, but this is a necessary thing for him. I think if I asked my friends about it, they'd think that I was just spoiling him or a pathetic mother. You guys might think that, too, but I can't tell!

Davros, excellent point about the squares. The ones I'm getting don't have letters or numbers, but are multicoloured. They have some that are "garage grey" and I think I'll get those instead and then affix a rug over the top. ? Does that sound like it'd work? He'll be ok on it by himself-- he's coordinated and decently cautious.

Everything has to be easy to clean, also, as my son is pooperific.

I'm having a good time looking at light things. My idea is that I could make a "curtain" of lights for him to play with. There's no real reason to do it, except that it sounds like a fun project for me.

Jimjams, my son is now behind on all aspects of language, but I think that it's due to a number of factors and we're working on it. He just seems to need to be "taught" everything -- it's something I'm unfamiliar doing which makes it more difficult for both of us.

Thanks again, guys.

JJ those uv light things can be turned into a curtain by buying an extra bit. SOrry don't know the name but its on the rompa website. Quite pricey though (I think the curtain bit is about 70 quid).

JJ - when you say you have to "teach" him everything does that mean he doesn't copy? If so, or maybe even if not, some ABA techniques may work well with him- Davros would be able to tell you more.

We have started stripping wallpaper

Oh how sweet - we have a double bed cluttering up the study at the moment waiting to go to mum and dad's house (gave ds2 the spare room), and the 2 boys are lying on it cuddling each other. I susepct it will all end in tears but they are actually kind of playing together at the moment (ds2 more than ds1 it has to be said, but still).

There's a great book called Teach me Language as well- but its probably too advanced at the moment (its way to advanced for ds1).

Jimjams, do you mean the fiber optic curtains? I'm going to try that also, but diy -- I've found 225 ft of fiber optic cable on ebay for around 30 USD. They might not twinkle or change color, though. But hopefully...

I'll let you know if it happens. Give it about a 10% chance of getting done.

The lights I was talking about are the light tubes for outdoor use. I priced them a couple of days ago and will wait to see just how much I need before I do that, as buying too much will be pricey (not Rompa pricey, but..).

He kind of copies -- actually, thinking about it, I should get his hearing tested. We're having other "issues" too and the school holidays are hellish here. He pooped on the sofa today. Do you guys have a steam cleaner? Very helpful.

Thanks for the compliment about the boys. I saw a pic of a little boy the other day and thought "He looks just like Jimjams' eldest, but without the cheeks." Your son is gorgeous. Have I missed pics of both of them?

just rereading and to clarify, your son has the best, most cutest cheeks ever.

The photos are on the same thread as yours. Two of all of us if you scroll down- and there were commments about my cheeks (which was weird as I was called moon face at school- lol- although you wil see I am pale!- I reflect the sun apparently "gee you're blinding me"

Were the fibre optic curtains made of material? If not no- they're really expensive- I think they call it a fibre optic waterfall or something.

Good idea about the steam cleaner- we have a steamer and you can buy attachments. I should do that. We had my friend's dd visit today. She's auti and added some nice colouring to our bedroom door - and also drew some lovely dogs on some of dh's stuff (luckily not his work stuff!). She's an amazing artist though so I've told dh to keep them. We didn't rush to decorate this house- being done very slowly for good reason (although ds1 is pretty good really- he doesn't get too into things).

Getting hearing tested is always a good idea. Finally ds1 has been given the all clear on hearing which is good. Even being slightly down, or down in one ear can cause all sorts of problems so definitely worth ruling out. Do you have easy access to that sort of stuff in Switzerland?

Hope you begin to get everything sorted. I forget how old your son is- isn't he about the same age as ds2? (2 in a couple of weeks). DS2 is being referred to SALT in three weeks time. God hope he doesn't have to see the nightmare one.....

JJ, I was wondering where you're based, Switzerland? If you're interested in ABA you should look at www.peach.org.uk and www.londonearlyautism.com. I think London Early Autism works in Europe including Switzerland but as an organisation associated with a replication site (in Wisconsin) I think insists on an ASD diagnosis. Many others don't. Anyway, don't be put off by the massive emphasis on autism, I'm told that in the USA, ABA is far less identified with autism and more with general learning problems or behavioural issues.
Back to the sensory room, I realised that I'm a bit confused as I keep thinking of it as somewhere that should only be relaxing but I suppose it could equally be stimulating? I still think letters/numbers etc would be best avoided but relaxation isn't necessarily the only purpose of such a room. Although the only sensory rooms I've seen do seem to focus on relaxation. My son loved a beaded curtain he had for a while, just one of the rubbish £2.99 things which I hung in a doorway using picture hooks. It didn't last long, about a month, but it was a big hit.

Hi Davros. Our aim is for a relaxing sensory room as i think thats what ds1 needs more than anything (or if he doesn't I do!) I've been raeding up a bit though and some sensory rooms seem designed to "develop" iyswim. A bit more like a sensory integration room with swings and puzzles etc I think the relaxation variety are sometimes called white rooms as they should be painted white apparently.

Wow, Jimjams, great pictures. I had only seen the top one. He does have your cheeks!

My youngest was two at the end of September. It should be very easy to get his hearing tested here. I have "Baby Talk" that you recommended and I've used some of that. All of my nieces and nephews have had ST for one reason or another (autism, super preemie, CP and general "why not" ) so I can get info from my SIL and sister. SIL does ABA also with her son (5 yo) and I might ask her about some of those techniques. I really don't think there's any serious underlying reason for his late development; it's probably a combination of little things that have added up. Not to say I don't get worried, though.

Davros, thanks for the links. Yep, we're in CH. I'm not doing a sensory room, but a safe room for my active boy to relieve some pent up energy. It's been strongly suggested that I do this for some problems he's been having and, also, because of the problems his problems are causing me. Anyway, looking for a ball pool, I came across some insanely expensive websites dealing with SN and sensory rooms. I nosed around them and found cool things that I thought my son would like, then searched here looking for cheap ways to do them.

The thing with the lights is mainly because I like lights and it sounds like a fun project for me. The room will be in what is now our bedroom. I'm hoping we can take down a wardrobe and use that space for a hanging chair (from IKEA here ), a lava lamp, some moon shaped lights I have and surround it or make the "entrance" a curtain of lights. Quite honestly, it'll take us a couple of months to do everything and I'm sure that everything I'd like to do won't get done. But hopefully enough for it to work for us.

SueW sent me a link a while ago to the IKEA site and I've ordered loads from there -- they have very cheap active play toys. At least I think I've ordered it. Got an email confirmation but no delivery date... and it says "payment on delivery", so I've got to stash some money somewhere to pay the guy when/if he comes. (Thanks SueW!)

JJ, your sils not called Bella is she? I met an English woman who was living in CH who wanted to start ABA, this must have been 2-3 years ago.
Anyway, thought you all might like to look at this thing I found in the new Urchin catalogue, page 28. Its called Baby Egg, ref no 48805 costs £19.95, www.urchin.co.uk. It plays 4 different digital recordings of ocean beach, gentle stream, mountain sunrise (what does that sound like?!) and soothing heartbeat. I might try one out, sensory room or not.

Davros, no, she's in the US. My BIL (sister's husband) was an ABA therapist for a while and gave her (she's my husband's sister) lots of advice about it when her son was diagnosed. That was... um... 3 years ago!

SueW, I'm wondering if the IKEA stuff will ever come. Still no word, although I hadn't expected delivery until next week.

many thanks- that's great