A Sensory Curriculum for Very Special People

Book excerpt: This uniquely valuable book arose from the author's work with profoundly disabled children in a special needs school. The sensory impairment of the children meant that they were unable to learn from traditional teaching methods as they were unaware of the world around them. Our very first awareness of our surroundings and ourselves come through our senses of smell, touch, taste, sight, hearing and movement, and without them we are isolated. To benefit from the normal school curriculum, children with sensory impairment must learn to develop each of their senses, individually and in combination - a process the non-handicapped child goes through spontaneously and unconsciously. This book outlines a curriculum for each of the senses in turn, using stimuli that can be varied to suit the age of the child or young person. Demonstrating how these can be combined to create a multisensory experience and how this newly developed awareness can be integrated into the rest of the school curriculum. This book was developed from the author's work with profoundly disabled children, their sensory impairment meant that traditional teaching was unsuccessful as they were unaware of the world around them. Flo Longhorn sets out a curriculum for developing each sense, both individually and in combination, using stimuli that can be varied according to the age of the child. This book shows how these techniques can be amalgamated to create multisensory experiences and how this new awareness can be integrated into the rest of the school curriculum.Designed for teachers, and parents, of children with profound multiple disabilities combined with sensory and physical impairment this has become a classic work.