The Church of God in Moose Jaw (COGMJ) will mark World Autism Awareness Day, April 2, with the opening of its new sensory room for children with special needs.
The unique environment is designed to develop a person's sense, usually through special lighting, music and objects. These are the tools Pastor Becky Adams, Next Gen Ministries at COGMJ, says will be used to help calm down children when they are overstimulated.
Pastor Adams says the sensory room helps to redirect a child’s attention when they need help focusing.
“The sensory room is not a place to seclude kids, but rather is used as a therapy for children with limited communication skills and is a safe place where they may learn to be part of a larger group with their peers.”
She says God is creative and we need to be creative in how we express His love in ways that can be felt and understood by all, including those with special needs.
Items in the room stimulate a child’s senses through things like bubble lights, fiberoptic lighting, music, and touching and feeling with the hands and feet.
Some of the things in the COGMJ sensory room include special lights that change colours, calming music, fidget items that can be brought to the child when interacting with a peer group or in a larger setting. The goal is to use these tools to help calm a child so they can rejoin a larger group.
The Sensory Program matches children with a buddy who could be a youth or adult who is trained to interact with the child. The program is tailored to each child’s needs which could range from such things as autism, cerebral palsy, hearing and vision challenges, as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) which is a common brain disorder that makes it hard to focus, sit still, and control impulses.
Each buddy in the program receives training. At COGMJ the program is taught by Laura Erikson who developed a special sensory program, The Friendship Club, in Regina for adults. Buddy training includes first aid and CPR. Each worker is assigned a child and is committed to the child and their family.
Workers will also be trained to pick up on the clues that indicate when their child needs to go to the sensory room.
Amanda Eastman’s five-year-old autistic son Timothy is a highly active child. It only takes five minutes in the sensory room to calm him down before he goes to the classroom with other children.
She says, “sensory rooms help to improve a child’s learning and brings them down from hyper-activity so they can focus, and it usually only takes about 10 to 15 minutes. Using the sensory room helps to get rid of the line of separation and integrates children into the regular world.”
The great positive for her is that it “keeps my kid calm so he doesn’t have meltdowns regularly. It gets rid of the title, my kid or I have a disability. The sensory room program gives me confidence to know my kid is safe and I get to enjoy the adult service.”
The long-term aim of the COGMJ program is to help these children discover their gifts and learn to participate in larger groups.
Pastor Adams says, “We are not just creating a sensory room, we are building a special needs ministry. A ministry providing opportunities for individuals with disabilities to grow to all abilities spiritually and participate in the life of the church. It provides parents the ability to grow spiritually because they know their child is safe and is being loved on by our team. It also changes the lives of the people who work with these kids each week.”
COGMJ has funding in place to meet future needs of children, including things like braille books. Another aspect of the program provides opportunities for families to have input into resource needs for the centre.
