Sensory Superstars

This page is here to give you some ideas about things you can do with your child/student when they are not at school. We hope you find them useful.

Finding out more:

If you are interested in any of the approaches we use in school and would like to find out more, please follow the below links to sites that can give you more information/resources.

Makaton is the sign and symbol system we use in school. You can buy resources from the Makaton Charity but they are also very good at providing freebies!
https://www.makaton.org/shop/shopping/browseStore/Free-resources
If you are using Makaton at home, and would like to revise the signs to make sure they are accurate, this USB stick is a really good resource and has all of the Core Vocabulary signs as video clips.
https://www.makaton.org/shop/shopping/stockDetails/CVVideo.
Alternatively, head to https://wetalkmakaton.org/ to the Sign of the Week to learn new vocabulary. All the old videos are available on Youtube too for free :-)

Intensive Interaction (Dave Hewett) - this approach is used throughout school with great success. Dave has lots of information on YouTube where you can see examples of Intensive Interaction in practice and learn the principles behind it. Another name to search for would be Phoebe Caldwell for more examples and information. There's a How to Guide in the downloads.

Sensory stories (Joanna Grace) http://www.thesensoryprojects.co.uk/
Jo is fantastic and has a great presence on social media if you want more information. Some examples of the sensory stories we have done in school are in the downloads below, but you can easily write or adapt your own. Just try to make sure there is an experience for each of the 7 senses - vision, hearing, touch, smell, taste, movement and balance. There's a How to Guide in the downloads.

InclusiveTeach has a lovely A-Z of sensory learning activities which are easy to do at home and will meet some of your young person's sensory needs. Why not try them all out and see which ones they like and dislike? It could be a great family activity if you've got siblings at home too :-)
https://inclusiveteach.com/2019/05/13/the-a-z-of-sensory-learning-activities/

And why not have a go at Dough Disco - a fun way to meet sensory needs with playdough and also develop hand skills. There's a How to Guide in the downloads.

Twinkl are offering many free resources to support home learning if you want some more paper-based resources. We use Twinkl at school and there are plenty of resources suitable for our students. Check out the sensory learning resources as well as more traditional 'school' type resources.
https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resources/lovely-premium-resources

Hungry Little Minds has some lovely ideas for interacting with your student - ignore the ages, just go for whatever feels fun and right for your child.
https://hungrylittleminds.campaign.gov.uk/

SPD Star has lots of sensory activities that can help young people with learning difficulties, autism, ADHD and other related conditions. It's well worth having a browse of the home activities page:
https://www.spdstar.org/basic/home-activities

And The Genius of Play website has lots of sensory play activities you can experiment with.
https://www.thegeniusofplay.org/genius/expert-advice/articles/sensory-play-for-kids-with-special-needs#.XoizTIhKjIU

You could also head over to Boromi for daily play ideas you can do at home.
https://www.boromi.co.uk/dailyplay

And if you're feeling musical, Sing Up has produced a free singing at home resource with lots of great songs at whatever level your musical ability stretches to! They even have a section for Makaton signed songs so you can practise singing and signing together :-)
https://www.singup.org/singupathome/

For outdoor types, Muddy Puddle Teacher has a YouTube channel with lots of ideas.
https://themuddypuddleteacher.co.uk

And Muddy Faces have a fantastic Outdoor Hub where you can find loads of Forest School ideas, many f which you can do in your garden or when taking a walk outside.
https://muddyfaces.co.uk/activity_category/outdoor-play/

If you like arts and crafts, Red Ted Art is a great website with loads of ideas from really easy art and craft ideas to STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) experiments and makes.
https://www.redtedart.com/

And if you enjoy music, you might like Shabang! We run themed sessions in school but our young people of all ages seem to love the bright and quirky songs which can have sensory activities easily added to them. They are a charity, so the music isn't free but you can get all 4 CDs at their website very reasonably. Our Shabang sessions are included in the downloads if you decide to have a go :-)
https://www.shabang.org.uk/shop/the-fab-four

Go Noodle is a great website/YouTube channel with lots of dance, music, yoga and mindfulness resources for young people of all ages. There will be something there for everyone whatever their age or interests and it's a great way to help our young people keep moving and active.
https://www.gonoodle.com/

There is also a PowerPoint of the Yoga programme that was devised for our students by one of our parents who is a yoga teacher - it's in the downloads at the end :-)

Keeping active is really important for all of us. Here's a link to an indoor workout by the Paralympic Association which is suitable for everyone.
https://parasport.org.uk/home-workout-kris

PECS (Pyramid Education) - there are a series of videos to show the different stages of PECS if you want to know more about where your student is at and where they're aiming for next :-)

TacPac - we use TacPac in school, but you have to buy the resources from their website - it is a year's subscription for each set (we mostly use set 1), but contact us if you'd like to have a try and see if it is worth is for your young person.

Story Massage - information on the massage strokes and some story massage nursery rhymes are included in the downloads below, but again, you can easily make up your own for particular routines, e.g. bedtime. We usually do story massage on the student's back, but you could also use the upper arm or another area of the body that they feel comfortable with - not everyone is comfortable enough to be touched from behind. There's a How to Guide in the downloads.

And a few of the liked "choose time" YouTube Channels that have been tried and tested over the years! These are all available on YouTube and seem to have qualities that appeal to our students :-)