how to make a sensory room for a autistic child?

I’ve attached several good websites that have suggestions and ideas for sensory rooms for autistic children. Many of them are geared for clinical or school settings; however, if you are designing a home school room, you could take some of the ideas and adapt them more cheaply and on a smaller scale.

Keep in mind what sensory intakes the child responds to, and which ones the child is overly-stimulated by or fearful of. Try to use the responsive ones first and gradually introduce more “advanced” stimuli over time. Also, keep in mind the awareness of the child to safety issues, such as, if the child is still very oral and eats playdough and sucks on cardboard, then make sure the items you use are not harmful and that supervision is constant whenever these items are used.

As you plan, think of colors that are pleasing to the child. Remember that all learning, even for autistic children takes place through 4 modalities: Visual, Auditory, Tactile, and Kinesthetic. Try to put at least one activity that utilizes each of these 4 and that are attractive, appealing, and safe for the child.

Also, as you plan, try to look for things with multiple purposes for therapy. Something can have several attributes–color, shape, size, sound, lights-up, thickness, movement pattern, etc. Use these for focusing on either a different skill or teaching concepts when using them at various times.

Autistic children don’t deal with change well (as don’t a lot of other children). However, occasionally change your sensory room in order to keep it novel, train reactions to change (more frequent as the child progresses), and to pique interest as the child grows.

Here are some immediate ideas:

A large vinyl floor piano keyboard that can be rolled over.

A large aluminum foil ball.

Pretty lamps that have sparkles and colors.

A “key” bar such as percussionists use–homemake one with real keys on a mobile. They make a pretty tinkling sound.

Large shapes of differing colors and textures attached to the wall. Examples: something rough but not harmful (sandpaper may be too gritty), something bumpy ( a rubber bathmat), something fuzzy (fake fur fabric), something smooth (a large plastic coloring mat), etc.

A sand or water tray

Play dough and/or modeling clay–doughs with varying hardness for muscle development.

Paints–washable tempera with an easel

Sidewalk chalks

Balls of varying sizes

A swing–even indoors if possible, and one that is free enough for the child to twist or spin at will. Swings are very good for the vestibular system and spinning is a movement that a lot of children lack since merry-go-rounds have been removed from playgrounds. If outdoors, a spinning tire swing can work well.

I hope that helps. Also, I’m not sure how you would find it–perhaps within the archives, but Extreme Home Makeover built a house with a sensory room for an autistic child, last year I think. It was very cool and very practical. Anyway, good luck!! I’d love to see a picture of your room when it is done.

www.barryemons.nl has a broad supply for multi sensory “toys” a.k.a. as snoezelen.
You should/could look at their site and get inspired by their snoezel products.
With a bit of creativity and some insight you should get some awesome ideas for your self.

This website is very useful:

Home

It should help you a lot.

Good Luck 😉