Sensory Seeking

Funded Feb 21, 2023

The excitement and smiles that were received when seeing the materials from your generosity was something that will always be cherished. The sensory materials have made such an impact during our speech and language sessions. The students are able to take sensory breaks, attend to learning new words or become motivated to practice their speech sounds!

Students have made it part of their routine to regulate their bodies by jumping and/or walking on the liquid tiles to enter the speech room. Students are also now able to break away from the overwhelming school day by looking at the liquid sensory viewers. Our speech sessions are enriched with more language opportunities by these moments. For example, I have been able to provide repetitive models to facilitate learning the following concepts- first, last, more, less, top and bottom when making observations and sharing our perspectives of the liquid falling down.

The kinetic sand set and sensory foam building materials has been the biggest hit! It has allowed for significant engagement toward learning and expanding language as students have been "digging" for new words, creating castles, molding objects and searching for target speech sounds. These materials have helped regulate our students sensory needs while improving their speech and language skills.

Some students are currently working on transitioning skills and these materials have been discovered to be high motivators. I have been able to provide the students with a choice of an end of session activity to which they tend to choose the sensory materials you provided. After completing tasks on a checklist or first/then visual, the students have shown increased engagement in structured activities such as book readings

Thank you for choosing to donate to our project because it is helping our students self-regulate their bodies to maximize their abilities to learn!to get the opportunity to engage with the sensory materials we now have access to.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Connelly