WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.680 Hi, my name is Jordan. I am a special education 00:00:02.680 --> 00:00:06.160 teacher from the UK. I share my passion for everything 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:09.119 communication, sensory regulation and fun lesson 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:11.660 ideas for my classroom of disabled pupils aged 00:00:11.660 --> 00:00:15.300 4 to 11. Each week I am joined by experts in 00:00:15.300 --> 00:00:17.640 the field answering your questions and sharing 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:19.559 our knowledge and experience working alongside 00:00:19.559 --> 00:00:22.539 our beautiful young people. Let's get started. 00:00:28.359 --> 00:00:30.920 First of all, a message about our sponsor. Today's 00:00:30.920 --> 00:00:33.640 sponsor is Octopus Energy. 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Now to the episode. 00:01:06.170 --> 00:01:08.909 Hello everybody and welcome to the Sensory Classroom 00:01:08.909 --> 00:01:11.890 podcast. My name is Jordan and today I am joined 00:01:11.890 --> 00:01:14.510 by somebody that I think lots of you follow and 00:01:14.510 --> 00:01:17.469 know of. It's Sarah Hall from Willow Sensory. 00:01:17.870 --> 00:01:22.040 Hi Sarah. Hi. I really wanted you on because 00:01:22.040 --> 00:01:23.819 I've been following you for some time now, maybe 00:01:23.819 --> 00:01:27.420 five years. I really loved everything you were 00:01:27.420 --> 00:01:29.500 doing through the pandemic, all your kind of 00:01:29.500 --> 00:01:31.280 sensory story ideas. You always seem to find 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:33.340 the best ideas on the internet. I don't know 00:01:33.340 --> 00:01:35.540 how you do it, but I get lots and lots of ideas 00:01:35.540 --> 00:01:38.379 from everything you share on Facebook and yeah, 00:01:38.439 --> 00:01:40.719 social media in general, really. Where do you 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:44.579 get your ideas from? Can we start there? Okay, 00:01:44.599 --> 00:01:47.340 quite often they come from the people that I'm 00:01:47.340 --> 00:01:50.700 working with. So someone likes something. like 00:01:50.700 --> 00:01:54.480 a microfiber mitt, then that can become an alien 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:59.879 or a piece of grass or anything, some coral under 00:01:59.879 --> 00:02:02.319 the sea. So it tends to come from them. One of 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:05.239 my favorite examples I use is the lady who liked 00:02:05.239 --> 00:02:08.580 heavy things. So I filled a Pringles tube up 00:02:08.580 --> 00:02:14.310 with compost and stones and things. She fancied 00:02:14.310 --> 00:02:16.909 the dentist and he had a colour advert in the 00:02:16.909 --> 00:02:19.490 free paper. So I cut that out and stuck it on 00:02:19.490 --> 00:02:24.129 the outside. Anything to motivate? So it's not, 00:02:24.129 --> 00:02:26.629 you know, it's not the sort of thing anyone else 00:02:26.629 --> 00:02:29.330 will ever make. But it's quite often someone 00:02:29.330 --> 00:02:32.169 does something and sort of like you or you get 00:02:32.169 --> 00:02:35.449 ideas. Obviously, now with social media, it's... 00:02:35.770 --> 00:02:37.449 I do spend a lot of time sort of like getting 00:02:37.449 --> 00:02:40.830 ideas. So is it Inclusion Unlimited did Pringle 00:02:40.830 --> 00:02:43.509 Tube painting. So you put a piece of paper in 00:02:43.509 --> 00:02:46.270 the Pringle Tube and then the person shakes and 00:02:46.270 --> 00:02:48.189 then you take it out and they've made a picture 00:02:48.189 --> 00:02:51.110 by themselves. So I've got a man who loves to 00:02:51.110 --> 00:02:53.530 shake. So in the sensory room, first of all, 00:02:53.530 --> 00:02:55.689 we played with like the neon balls. Then we put 00:02:55.689 --> 00:02:57.889 neon paint in them. Then we put them in the Pringle 00:02:57.889 --> 00:03:01.659 Tube and I'd put like an outline, a black. black 00:03:01.659 --> 00:03:03.800 card with a white outline of a zigzag Christmas 00:03:03.800 --> 00:03:06.060 tree so when we took it out he'd made a Christmas 00:03:06.060 --> 00:03:09.659 card so fantastic and completely independently 00:03:09.659 --> 00:03:13.960 yeah so so there's loads of ideas online and 00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:17.139 um yeah I get ideas I get ideas everywhere really 00:03:17.139 --> 00:03:20.639 I think I do probably have quite a sort of sensory 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:22.879 sort of focus you know I could go in almost any 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:25.520 shop and you know, B &Q and they'd be like, you 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:28.879 know, guttering for rolling things down and sandpaper 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:31.900 for kinesthetic, you know, having sensory eyes. 00:03:32.139 --> 00:03:34.039 Yeah, it's really hard to get rid of anything. 00:03:34.180 --> 00:03:36.139 I'm going around the boot sales and looking on 00:03:36.139 --> 00:03:37.919 Facebook marketplace and all these kind of things. 00:03:37.979 --> 00:03:40.599 And yeah, you're exactly right. I can see opportunities 00:03:40.599 --> 00:03:44.120 for learning in everything. Absolutely. It's 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:47.340 not great for my loft. No, no, my husband is 00:03:47.340 --> 00:03:52.710 very tolerant. I do have a lot of stuff. So you 00:03:52.710 --> 00:03:55.889 mentioned the people you work with. I suppose, 00:03:56.030 --> 00:03:57.509 are you all right describing them a little bit 00:03:57.509 --> 00:03:59.590 without, you know, giving, you know, obviously 00:03:59.590 --> 00:04:01.669 without saying who they are. But you're all right 00:04:01.669 --> 00:04:03.650 explaining a little bit about who it is you work 00:04:03.650 --> 00:04:09.530 with? Yeah. Yeah. So I did, you know, about a 00:04:09.530 --> 00:04:12.930 dozen years in special school. And then I set 00:04:12.930 --> 00:04:16.610 up my business 21 years ago. And so it's open 00:04:16.610 --> 00:04:20.029 to anybody. So babies to old people, absolutely 00:04:20.029 --> 00:04:24.259 anybody and everybody. so yeah so I have a a 00:04:24.259 --> 00:04:27.819 range of people come to me predominantly um with 00:04:27.819 --> 00:04:31.220 PMLD and is that funded by parents or is that 00:04:31.220 --> 00:04:36.079 kind of yeah yeah yeah I mean uh I have been 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:39.660 into schools to do things like um sensory days 00:04:39.660 --> 00:04:45.370 um or play schemes and things um Which I just 00:04:45.370 --> 00:04:48.490 want to say, which reminds me how hard a job 00:04:48.490 --> 00:04:51.829 it is. And a big shout out to everybody out there 00:04:51.829 --> 00:04:53.790 that's doing it. I mean, obviously, this is my 00:04:53.790 --> 00:04:55.790 passion and I think it's great, great fun. But 00:04:55.790 --> 00:04:58.990 I also do appreciate how hard it is. You know, 00:04:59.029 --> 00:05:01.170 it's a lot easier for me, you know, sort of like 00:05:01.170 --> 00:05:04.009 I do a sensory story, you know, with one lady 00:05:04.009 --> 00:05:06.509 who's in a wheelchair, you know, and I line up 00:05:06.509 --> 00:05:08.709 all my props in order that I'm going to use them. 00:05:08.750 --> 00:05:11.430 It's like, oh, my God, that wouldn't happen in 00:05:11.430 --> 00:05:14.779 a class. I'd be gone. It's funny, isn't it, when 00:05:14.779 --> 00:05:17.379 people ask advice and then you have to remind 00:05:17.379 --> 00:05:19.579 yourself, like, what the situation is that they're 00:05:19.579 --> 00:05:21.920 using it in. You know, is it an early years classroom 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:24.160 where they've got 30 mainstream children and 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:27.079 maybe two, three SEND children? You know, what 00:05:27.079 --> 00:05:30.199 is the setting? I suppose then that would make 00:05:30.199 --> 00:05:33.560 a... advice a little bit very much so yeah i 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:35.939 mean we've just done some teacher training days 00:05:35.939 --> 00:05:38.540 on children that aren't accessing national curriculum 00:05:38.540 --> 00:05:40.959 but are in mainstream you know we've done some 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:43.959 this is with reach out asc up in preston and 00:05:43.959 --> 00:05:46.819 we've been giving ideas of activities they can 00:05:46.819 --> 00:05:51.019 do um you know sort of um using the equal semi 00:05:51.019 --> 00:05:54.279 -formal curriculum but then After that, people 00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:57.360 were asking, could they have one about just the 00:05:57.360 --> 00:05:59.759 SEN kids in mainstream? So hopefully we're going 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:03.199 to do a course on that as well now. It's so needed. 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:06.000 I don't know any mainstream primary schools that 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:08.810 aren't calling out for this. support as there 00:06:08.810 --> 00:06:11.430 are less special education schools as there is 00:06:11.430 --> 00:06:14.730 more need I'm in Cornwall and we have two special 00:06:14.730 --> 00:06:16.490 education schools in the whole of the county 00:06:16.490 --> 00:06:19.290 and we are crying out for spaces and every single 00:06:19.290 --> 00:06:22.389 mainstream school in our county is an SEN school 00:06:22.389 --> 00:06:26.269 it just is we've got so much need in every school 00:06:26.269 --> 00:06:29.129 in every class that every teacher is a SEND teacher 00:06:29.129 --> 00:06:30.889 whether they've trained in it or not and they're 00:06:30.889 --> 00:06:33.410 just crying out for any support and they want 00:06:33.410 --> 00:06:35.209 to do what's best for the children they just 00:06:35.209 --> 00:06:37.829 don't know what inclusion looks like And they're 00:06:37.829 --> 00:06:40.069 scared to get it wrong. They're fearful that 00:06:40.069 --> 00:06:41.970 they're not getting it right. And I think having 00:06:41.970 --> 00:06:45.209 that kind of hands -on course training approach 00:06:45.209 --> 00:06:46.810 might give them the confidence they need to know 00:06:46.810 --> 00:06:51.220 how to do it. yeah they're probably doing it 00:06:51.220 --> 00:06:53.160 you know right and how to access the curriculum 00:06:53.160 --> 00:06:55.579 in their own way yeah i think there's a lot out 00:06:55.579 --> 00:06:58.379 there to help with lots of the like formalities 00:06:58.379 --> 00:07:00.720 of things and stuff but i haven't seen much out 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:03.399 there to say you know here's what you could be 00:07:03.399 --> 00:07:05.199 teaching here's how you could be teaching it 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:07.779 here's a load of activities and ideas you know 00:07:07.779 --> 00:07:10.300 here's um some sensory songs some sensory stories 00:07:10.300 --> 00:07:12.300 you know here's some stuff that you could be 00:07:12.300 --> 00:07:15.759 doing some practical hands -on activities that 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:18.160 we can share you know sort of so in one of the 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:20.399 sessions that that we did I think I put out about 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:23.899 90 sort of like activities for people to go around 00:07:23.899 --> 00:07:25.160 and have a look and that was just in one of the 00:07:25.160 --> 00:07:28.300 sessions wow I do tend to get carried away whatever 00:07:28.300 --> 00:07:30.740 I'm doing. I do tend to get carried away. Because 00:07:30.740 --> 00:07:34.540 that's, gosh, 90 ideas. That's months of ideas 00:07:34.540 --> 00:07:36.939 for a teacher assistant or a teacher, isn't it? 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:39.379 I did a year of ideas as well that I just pegged 00:07:39.379 --> 00:07:41.620 up on the entrance. But I'm also, I'm talking 00:07:41.620 --> 00:07:45.459 at the Sending Early Years Conference next month. 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:47.759 Yeah, so again, sort of like, you know, wanting 00:07:47.759 --> 00:07:50.139 to help people in mainstream. Hopefully that 00:07:50.139 --> 00:07:53.079 will be a way in there to, you know, sort of 00:07:53.079 --> 00:07:54.819 like tell people about some of the resources 00:07:54.819 --> 00:07:57.079 that are out there that can help them. Yeah, 00:07:57.100 --> 00:08:01.740 and it doesn't have to be expensive either, does 00:08:01.740 --> 00:08:05.439 it? What are your kind of go -to cheap resources 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:09.500 that always seem to work really well? Oh, resources. 00:08:09.740 --> 00:08:12.519 My favourite resource that I always talk about 00:08:12.519 --> 00:08:15.120 is the A4 envelopes that you get from Amazon. 00:08:15.879 --> 00:08:19.120 Yeah. So what I do with those is I'll get some 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:22.300 A4 label paper and print out a sticker, usually 00:08:22.300 --> 00:08:25.319 something related to flying or wind or something 00:08:25.319 --> 00:08:27.680 like that. So like a picture of an owl and then 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:29.899 you stick it onto the paper and you've immediately 00:08:29.899 --> 00:08:33.159 got a skin sensation flapper. And what I've started 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:36.080 doing now is I used to seal them, but I started 00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:39.139 now popping in either the poem inside or sticking 00:08:39.139 --> 00:08:41.059 the poem on the back and then adding sometimes 00:08:41.059 --> 00:08:44.340 some extra props. So there was a... chick one 00:08:44.340 --> 00:08:46.480 so i'll put in some fluorescent feathers and 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:48.419 a uv torch inside the envelope so you've got 00:08:48.419 --> 00:08:51.039 a little prop there as well as yeah as my thing 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:53.019 so because i always i've always in my sensory 00:08:53.019 --> 00:08:54.320 room there's always been a piece of cardboard 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:58.080 just on the shelf yeah you know just you know 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:00.539 sort of and again i found that out you know i'd 00:09:00.539 --> 00:09:04.039 taken out a kid from my class years and years 00:09:04.039 --> 00:09:06.600 and years ago and he was struggling to wait in 00:09:06.600 --> 00:09:09.019 a queue so we were just like wafting him and 00:09:09.019 --> 00:09:11.519 he thought that was really fun so again so i 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:14.500 like the ideas have come come from them I love 00:09:14.500 --> 00:09:16.759 that it comes from them as well I think that's 00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:20.240 so important it means it's so much more meaningful 00:09:20.240 --> 00:09:22.639 and there are lots of children that would then 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:24.899 like that experience so then they would like 00:09:24.899 --> 00:09:27.679 that resource yeah I feel like it has to come 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:30.940 from them to make it meaningful doesn't it another 00:09:30.940 --> 00:09:33.980 thing that I always twitter on about is wafter 00:09:33.980 --> 00:09:37.360 so because of my own mental health issues I have 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:39.700 a massage every week and my massage therapist 00:09:39.700 --> 00:09:42.679 is also a massage tutor So the school saved me 00:09:42.679 --> 00:09:45.440 all their tubes. So with a massage tube, I cover 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:47.340 it. I used to paint them, but I found it easier 00:09:47.340 --> 00:09:49.159 to cover them in duct tape. So I cover them in 00:09:49.159 --> 00:09:52.200 duct tape and then you tie on something. So it 00:09:52.200 --> 00:09:54.080 could be just like one big piece of foil. So 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:57.059 it's like those dancing fans or the light up 00:09:57.059 --> 00:10:01.100 autumn lights or some light up tinsel or some 00:10:01.100 --> 00:10:04.159 chiffon scarves or even sort of a load of crepe 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:07.639 in a row. And I call these wafters and they are 00:10:07.639 --> 00:10:11.110 usually very, very useful. And Alison, my friend 00:10:11.110 --> 00:10:14.230 Alison, who works at Reach Out AAC, she made 00:10:14.230 --> 00:10:19.889 one recently with pipe lagging. So with the pipe 00:10:19.889 --> 00:10:22.009 lagging, another thing about pipe lagging, you 00:10:22.009 --> 00:10:24.169 can use it to put to your mouth and your ear 00:10:24.169 --> 00:10:27.269 and it does amplification. The same as whirlies, 00:10:27.269 --> 00:10:28.889 you know whirlies that you spin round and round? 00:10:29.070 --> 00:10:32.090 They also do that. So another thing I've used 00:10:32.090 --> 00:10:35.549 pipe lagging for is to put... We did a Teletubby 00:10:35.549 --> 00:10:38.110 story with Dipsy's hat that flies away. So I 00:10:38.110 --> 00:10:40.309 stuck Dipsy's hat on the end and then it could 00:10:40.309 --> 00:10:42.669 fly all the way around all the pupils in the 00:10:42.669 --> 00:10:45.990 class. I love that. So it's about that. If you're 00:10:45.990 --> 00:10:48.889 doing the story to more than one person, would 00:10:48.889 --> 00:10:51.250 you have that many resources or would you kind 00:10:51.250 --> 00:10:55.529 of share it around the group? How would you navigate 00:10:55.529 --> 00:10:59.230 that? I think it depends because a lot of things 00:10:59.230 --> 00:11:04.169 are... I really, really love those laser torches 00:11:04.169 --> 00:11:06.490 that are really, really big. So you only need 00:11:06.490 --> 00:11:08.250 one of them because everyone can access that. 00:11:08.350 --> 00:11:11.070 A wafter, you can go around one at a time. But 00:11:11.070 --> 00:11:13.549 then you might have something that you want to 00:11:13.549 --> 00:11:15.690 be more hands -on. Like if you've got some snow 00:11:15.690 --> 00:11:18.169 or something and it could be some instant mash, 00:11:18.370 --> 00:11:20.090 then you could have a little tray each and they've 00:11:20.090 --> 00:11:22.289 all got some instant mash. So I would just be 00:11:22.289 --> 00:11:24.570 flexible, really, depending on what it is. It 00:11:24.570 --> 00:11:27.309 depends on the prop. It depends on the kids, 00:11:27.470 --> 00:11:32.360 people, you know. So, yeah. There's no hard and 00:11:32.360 --> 00:11:35.799 fast rules. Yeah, I suppose it has to be that 00:11:35.799 --> 00:11:37.940 way, doesn't it? Learners don't follow the rules, 00:11:38.059 --> 00:11:41.220 so why should we? I like that. What was I going 00:11:41.220 --> 00:11:45.879 to say? Yeah, setting up the space. And setting 00:11:45.879 --> 00:11:48.240 up an actual sensory experience. Do you try, 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:50.019 and yes, you're thinking about your pupils, but 00:11:50.019 --> 00:11:53.779 are you also thinking about trying to reach all 00:11:53.779 --> 00:11:55.539 of their senses? Or are you not really thinking 00:11:55.539 --> 00:11:58.159 as much as that? Are you thinking of like... 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:00.919 I need to make I don't know a frog story so then 00:12:00.919 --> 00:12:01.879 you're thinking about what would make a really 00:12:01.879 --> 00:12:03.860 good frog a really good pond a really good tadpole 00:12:03.860 --> 00:12:05.600 or are you thinking actually we need some movement 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:07.200 we need some sound we need some sound you know 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:10.440 what is the balance of all of those kind of thoughts 00:12:10.440 --> 00:12:13.740 yeah when you're creating it that's a bit like 00:12:13.740 --> 00:12:16.259 what comes first the words or the music yeah 00:12:16.259 --> 00:12:20.299 again I think it's just interchangeable I think 00:12:20.299 --> 00:12:23.379 sometimes you can see something like um like 00:12:23.379 --> 00:12:26.379 a frog jelly mold and think oh that'd be really 00:12:26.379 --> 00:12:29.759 cool and then you could do like as a teacher 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:32.159 when I was in a class I remember buying five 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:34.659 of those pop -up frog umbrellas because it was 00:12:34.659 --> 00:12:37.299 as a teacher it appeals to have the same but 00:12:37.299 --> 00:12:39.320 now I think it's far more useful to have five 00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:41.259 different frogs and I've got a great big kind 00:12:41.259 --> 00:12:43.200 of bin bag of all different frogs just to demonstrate 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:45.419 on my music course all the different ways that 00:12:45.419 --> 00:12:49.279 you can do five frogs um you know with shower 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:53.279 caps and um noisy ones and jelly ones and all 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:57.159 sorts and that way you can know um in your class 00:12:57.159 --> 00:13:00.139 who who's likes what you know someone really 00:13:00.139 --> 00:13:03.240 likes the tactile exploration or if someone would 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:06.460 like the you know find the noisy one funny you 00:13:06.460 --> 00:13:08.720 know and then you could give them out to whoever 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:10.779 or you can all have a go at everything you know 00:13:10.779 --> 00:13:13.139 as i say it's it's whatever i like that variety 00:13:13.139 --> 00:13:15.259 is key isn't it because otherwise they if they 00:13:15.259 --> 00:13:18.159 can't tell us what they like then it's really 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:19.620 important for them to have variety and offer 00:13:19.620 --> 00:13:21.580 variety so that we can see what really resonates 00:13:21.580 --> 00:13:25.980 with them Yeah, I would say with our PMLD people, 00:13:26.279 --> 00:13:28.539 choice is absolutely paramount as much as possible 00:13:28.539 --> 00:13:30.120 throughout the day, whether it's, you know, I've 00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:32.980 got one man who I ask his carer to give him two 00:13:32.980 --> 00:13:34.840 deodorants to choose from, you know, one we know 00:13:34.840 --> 00:13:37.019 he likes and one he doesn't. It's empowering. 00:13:37.139 --> 00:13:39.360 It means you've got some control over your environment. 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:42.100 And conversely, we've got some of our people 00:13:42.100 --> 00:13:45.480 who don't like making decisions. And, you know, 00:13:45.500 --> 00:13:47.539 we've got to bear that in mind as well. You know, 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:50.059 you don't want to put anyone under any sort of 00:13:50.059 --> 00:13:53.350 like stress or pressure. And we mentioned classes, 00:13:53.429 --> 00:13:55.950 but as I say, I tend to work one -to -one now, 00:13:56.070 --> 00:13:59.750 so it's an awful lot easier. It's just a luxury, 00:13:59.870 --> 00:14:01.750 isn't it, to be able to work one -to -one because 00:14:01.750 --> 00:14:04.669 it can be so bespoke to that individual person. 00:14:05.389 --> 00:14:08.389 Yeah, well, having said that, one man that's 00:14:08.389 --> 00:14:10.909 been coming to me for many, many years, almost 00:14:10.909 --> 00:14:14.769 when I started, Solihull Library let me do a 00:14:14.769 --> 00:14:17.590 session there for adults with PMLD. So he did 00:14:17.590 --> 00:14:20.110 come with his friend. So that was really, really 00:14:20.110 --> 00:14:22.620 lovely. That is really lovely. And I love that 00:14:22.620 --> 00:14:25.779 you've got that really strong relationship, can't 00:14:25.779 --> 00:14:27.340 you? If you're seeing them over years and years 00:14:27.340 --> 00:14:29.379 and years, you could really, you probably know 00:14:29.379 --> 00:14:31.919 his sensory system just as well as anyone that 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:35.120 works with him. Yeah, and his history as well. 00:14:35.159 --> 00:14:37.399 Obviously, in our world, especially with the 00:14:37.399 --> 00:14:39.360 adults, you know, people come and go out their 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:42.220 lives constantly, you know, whether it's... passing 00:14:42.220 --> 00:14:44.299 away or if it's just you know changing changing 00:14:44.299 --> 00:14:46.299 jobs you know people just sort of like come and 00:14:46.299 --> 00:14:49.600 go so quite often we'll we'll have a people come 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:51.779 and people go song and and I can mention the 00:14:51.779 --> 00:14:54.460 names that from the past because you know I've 00:14:54.460 --> 00:14:57.779 been there that's really lovely we spoke about 00:14:57.779 --> 00:15:01.620 bereavement and loss with PMLD before actually 00:15:01.620 --> 00:15:05.039 because yeah like you say even if it's not them 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:08.100 passing away often there is lots of loss through 00:15:08.100 --> 00:15:10.580 staff members or friends just moving on and and 00:15:10.580 --> 00:15:12.919 change and that maybe not is isn't really explained 00:15:12.919 --> 00:15:16.620 properly or understood yeah so there is a lot 00:15:16.620 --> 00:15:19.580 of loss and bereavement how would you tackle 00:15:19.580 --> 00:15:22.519 those kind of tricky subject matters with people 00:15:22.519 --> 00:15:26.340 you work with In the same way that I tackle everything 00:15:26.340 --> 00:15:29.840 with music and with sensory and with sensory 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:32.919 resources and sensory props and things like story 00:15:32.919 --> 00:15:35.480 massage. So I do have a pack on bereavement for 00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:40.919 £10 that people can buy, which includes, well, 00:15:40.919 --> 00:15:44.919 lots of different people you can contact if need 00:15:44.919 --> 00:15:47.539 be. And then hands on stuff that I've done. So 00:15:47.539 --> 00:15:49.440 I did a session with one man who'd lost his mum 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:52.009 and dad. So I've put all the activities in that 00:15:52.009 --> 00:15:55.049 we did. The man I've just mentioned, he did have 00:15:55.049 --> 00:15:58.009 someone living with him who died. So we did sensory 00:15:58.009 --> 00:16:02.590 sessions on that. Things like the man that died 00:16:02.590 --> 00:16:05.929 liked motorbikes. So this man likes to shake. 00:16:06.049 --> 00:16:08.250 So I made him a sensory bottle so he could shake 00:16:08.250 --> 00:16:11.190 the motorbike thing. We used to do a thing with 00:16:11.190 --> 00:16:13.669 the man that died, a poem about Harley Davidsons, 00:16:13.669 --> 00:16:16.590 and we used to waft this flag. So we put his 00:16:16.590 --> 00:16:19.149 aftershave on that in the session for the other 00:16:19.149 --> 00:16:22.159 man. Because I think it's, you know, music and 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:25.500 smell, you know, because they bypass the hypothalamus 00:16:25.500 --> 00:16:28.360 and go straight to the limbic system. Feeling, 00:16:28.679 --> 00:16:31.679 emotion, our memory can take you straight back. 00:16:32.139 --> 00:16:35.639 And, you know, I've got another young lady at 00:16:35.639 --> 00:16:38.679 the minute and I found a perfume bottle in a 00:16:38.679 --> 00:16:43.480 pet shop. So I've put her nanny's perfume. I 00:16:43.480 --> 00:16:46.340 bought a sample of nanny's perfume and we put 00:16:46.340 --> 00:16:51.600 nanny's perfume on that. And I wrote her a story 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:54.279 massage and a call and response story. And we 00:16:54.279 --> 00:16:58.860 do a session about her nanny. But it's not always, 00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:02.779 you know, sad. I think people are scared of the 00:17:02.779 --> 00:17:04.579 whole bereavement thing. But, you know, doing 00:17:04.579 --> 00:17:06.819 these sessions with all three of these people, 00:17:06.859 --> 00:17:09.609 you know, we've had. lovely times as well you 00:17:09.609 --> 00:17:11.890 know because we're having nice happy memories 00:17:11.890 --> 00:17:15.990 or having fun you know one man do you remember 00:17:15.990 --> 00:17:18.430 when you used to go to Skegness and we'd play 00:17:18.430 --> 00:17:20.529 with a little coin toy where you put the coins 00:17:20.529 --> 00:17:24.690 in and the coins come down and yeah so it's there 00:17:24.690 --> 00:17:28.210 are some sort of like I don't know I think as 00:17:28.210 --> 00:17:31.339 well It's really important that people buy it 00:17:31.339 --> 00:17:34.240 now, not when somebody dies, because when somebody 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:36.759 dies, it's horrendous. You're so overwhelmed 00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:39.279 and you're so upset. And because I'm this obsessive 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:41.900 person, first of all, I wrote a thing on bereavement 00:17:41.900 --> 00:17:44.119 for creative education. And since then, I've 00:17:44.119 --> 00:17:46.359 just added to it and adding to it and adding 00:17:46.359 --> 00:17:48.619 to it. So it's enormous. It's really overwhelming, 00:17:48.819 --> 00:17:52.019 you know, and you can't cope with that. When 00:17:52.019 --> 00:17:53.920 you're grieving and it's harder to do things 00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:56.240 like make decisions. But I've put things in there 00:17:56.240 --> 00:17:59.200 like art and craft ideas that schools can do. 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:03.619 There's funeral ideas, memorial ideas. My godson's 00:18:03.619 --> 00:18:07.119 funeral was kind of, couldn't have been better. 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:09.900 You know, in the thought and the effort, you 00:18:09.900 --> 00:18:12.779 know, we'd got like Teletubbies and Rosie and 00:18:12.779 --> 00:18:15.400 Jim painted on his coffin. And one of his mums 00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:18.380 read The Hungry Caterpillar. And, you know, it 00:18:18.380 --> 00:18:21.380 was just beautiful and a slideshow. You know, 00:18:21.400 --> 00:18:25.759 lovely, lovely ideas. One of my kids from my 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:28.180 class, when he died, we had the school choir 00:18:28.180 --> 00:18:31.039 come and sing, which was just, it was hilarious 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:33.079 because one of them was like a pub singer. But 00:18:33.079 --> 00:18:36.500 it was, you know, there's lots of lovely ideas 00:18:36.500 --> 00:18:39.220 that, you know, sort of, you don't want to be 00:18:39.220 --> 00:18:42.299 Googling when you're grieving. And we, I can 00:18:42.299 --> 00:18:45.200 attest to that firsthand. We lost a pupil last 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:48.019 year and we weren't prepared. We weren't ready. 00:18:48.099 --> 00:18:51.710 And it was... a beautiful mess but trying to 00:18:51.710 --> 00:18:53.970 navigate that with a class and support your team 00:18:53.970 --> 00:18:56.349 and support the pupils and the parents you know 00:18:56.349 --> 00:18:57.750 you're so close with the parents aren't you in 00:18:57.750 --> 00:19:00.069 special education kind of trying to support everybody 00:19:00.069 --> 00:19:03.950 whilst trying to also manage ourselves and find 00:19:03.950 --> 00:19:06.809 suitable and appropriate things to do was just 00:19:06.809 --> 00:19:09.450 an absolute minefield so if we'd have already 00:19:09.450 --> 00:19:11.430 been doing that we already had the resource knew 00:19:11.430 --> 00:19:13.710 the resource already practicing some of those 00:19:13.710 --> 00:19:16.009 things you know like Like we said before, it 00:19:16.009 --> 00:19:17.829 doesn't have to be somebody passing away. There's 00:19:17.829 --> 00:19:19.690 lots of loss. So there's no reason why you couldn't 00:19:19.690 --> 00:19:23.809 do regular, you know, activities on loss, on 00:19:23.809 --> 00:19:27.130 staff members that have moved on, you know, friends 00:19:27.130 --> 00:19:29.230 that are year six and they've gone to a new school, 00:19:29.329 --> 00:19:31.089 you know, all of those kind of things and practice 00:19:31.089 --> 00:19:33.549 that because then if and when it does happen, 00:19:33.569 --> 00:19:36.170 and unfortunately it's really common in our field 00:19:36.170 --> 00:19:39.089 of work that we would sadly lose some people 00:19:39.089 --> 00:19:40.930 that we work with. It's one reason why you have 00:19:40.930 --> 00:19:44.880 class pets. So that they experience some loss. 00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:47.900 Yeah. Yeah, because we all experience loss in 00:19:47.900 --> 00:19:51.559 our lives, don't we? Yeah. I mean, it's too easy 00:19:51.559 --> 00:19:57.599 to assume that our pupils aren't aware and don't 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:00.500 feel the loss. Even on a sensory level, even 00:20:00.500 --> 00:20:03.299 if it is on a sensory level, they will miss the 00:20:03.299 --> 00:20:05.759 sounds that are now not there or the smells that 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:08.339 now aren't there. And the love. I think they 00:20:08.339 --> 00:20:11.759 miss the love. Yeah. yeah and I've noticed that 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:14.500 with my learners that um our guest language processors 00:20:14.500 --> 00:20:17.440 so do have some phrases and some words they were 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:20.859 able to say that they missed this pupil which 00:20:20.859 --> 00:20:23.700 told us that then all of them would you know 00:20:23.700 --> 00:20:26.519 that was our little cue of you know no if the 00:20:26.519 --> 00:20:28.079 ones that are speaking are speaking about him 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:30.759 then it means that the ones that aren't speaking 00:20:30.759 --> 00:20:34.630 are thinking about him Yeah, and a healthy way 00:20:34.630 --> 00:20:36.690 is to talk, isn't it? It's, you know, talking 00:20:36.690 --> 00:20:38.829 therapy and stuff. So, you know, for our nonverbal 00:20:38.829 --> 00:20:41.589 kids, we would just do however we communicate 00:20:41.589 --> 00:20:44.089 with them normally. So, like, I've written story 00:20:44.089 --> 00:20:46.930 message for, you know, losing grandad, losing 00:20:46.930 --> 00:20:49.650 a pet, you know, breaking up with somebody, you 00:20:49.650 --> 00:20:52.309 know, all sorts, you know, there's all sorts 00:20:52.309 --> 00:20:55.309 of loss, you know. Even moving house, you know, 00:20:55.329 --> 00:20:57.809 breaking her favourite toy, like it's... Yes, 00:20:57.809 --> 00:21:02.180 yeah. It's all loss, isn't it? Yeah. We use the 00:21:02.180 --> 00:21:04.000 book Rabbitiness. I don't know if you know it. 00:21:04.180 --> 00:21:06.960 Oh, I've also put together a huge, huge book 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:09.140 list. Every time someone comments on social media, 00:21:09.259 --> 00:21:10.960 oh, we use this one. I'm like, we'll add that 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:13.579 to the list. So there's a huge, huge list. Rabbitiness 00:21:13.579 --> 00:21:16.319 is so perfect for us. He was particularly loved 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:19.289 being. It's obviously all about rabbits. And 00:21:19.289 --> 00:21:22.029 this story is beautiful, all about loss, isn't 00:21:22.029 --> 00:21:24.529 it? And how to share their legacy in few music 00:21:24.529 --> 00:21:27.250 and colour. And it was so perfect. So every year 00:21:27.250 --> 00:21:30.890 now we will have a rabbitiness day and to remember, 00:21:30.930 --> 00:21:32.609 well, yeah, to remember our friend particularly, 00:21:32.630 --> 00:21:34.670 obviously remember him every day, but yeah, to 00:21:34.670 --> 00:21:36.430 remember him particularly. You can also do things 00:21:36.430 --> 00:21:39.309 like, you know, autobiography umbrellas and autobiography 00:21:39.309 --> 00:21:41.650 sensory bags and stuff. And so you're doing that, 00:21:41.730 --> 00:21:44.710 you know, we're finding all about ourselves and 00:21:44.710 --> 00:21:48.089 all about me while we're living. But, you know, 00:21:48.130 --> 00:21:50.109 when someone passes, they're really useful because 00:21:50.109 --> 00:21:53.049 you've got in a bag an all about me that's, you 00:21:53.049 --> 00:21:54.970 know, their favourite things. You know, this 00:21:54.970 --> 00:21:57.410 is the music I like. This is the smell I like. 00:21:57.450 --> 00:21:59.210 You know, this is one of my favourite toys. I 00:21:59.210 --> 00:22:01.809 really love this show, you know. I really like 00:22:01.809 --> 00:22:04.849 that. And it's all created by them. It's their 00:22:04.849 --> 00:22:08.190 choices. Yeah, their preferences. I mean, you 00:22:08.190 --> 00:22:10.529 could do it for anything, you know. I did a sensory 00:22:10.529 --> 00:22:13.269 umbrella for a dog one, you know. So I've got 00:22:13.269 --> 00:22:15.109 an umbrella that's just got like paws on and 00:22:15.109 --> 00:22:18.200 then hanging off like. certain toys or bits of 00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:20.079 blankets or bits of smells and stuff and then 00:22:20.079 --> 00:22:22.920 it's a it's a focal point to talk about the things 00:22:22.920 --> 00:22:24.559 as well isn't it or remember he used to like 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:26.980 playing with this toy you know or here's his 00:22:26.980 --> 00:22:29.240 little name tag how cute's that you know and 00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:33.599 it gives you a little something to you know grieve 00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:36.519 together over yeah well like we would with concrete 00:22:36.519 --> 00:22:40.339 props and sensory resources you know 24 7 yeah 00:22:40.339 --> 00:22:43.759 absolutely so why not do it with everything any 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:48.779 kind of tricky topic yeah Can it work for all 00:22:48.779 --> 00:22:52.240 ages and stages? You know, thinking about age 00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:56.299 appropriateness. Yeah, absolutely. Can we talk 00:22:56.299 --> 00:22:58.960 about that for a second? Of course, yes. Because 00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:00.380 I heard you talk about, you know, a Teletubby 00:23:00.380 --> 00:23:03.039 story and things. Yeah. I'm sure you can guess 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:04.980 what I think about that, but I'd love to hear 00:23:04.980 --> 00:23:09.259 your views on aid appropriateness. We have a 00:23:09.259 --> 00:23:13.500 day centre by us and I asked them about the Teletubby 00:23:13.500 --> 00:23:15.680 thing. And they said if my godson had turned 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:17.740 up with a Teletubby, they would take it off him 00:23:17.740 --> 00:23:20.420 and give him a more appropriate soft toy, which 00:23:20.420 --> 00:23:23.180 to me is absolutely ridiculous. It would mean 00:23:23.180 --> 00:23:26.519 absolutely nothing to him. He was Teletubby obsessed. 00:23:27.059 --> 00:23:29.880 You know, he could choose an episode of Teletubbies 00:23:29.880 --> 00:23:32.819 that he wanted to watch, you know. I don't know, 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:34.299 a Minecraft figure or whatever it'd be these 00:23:34.299 --> 00:23:36.740 days. It would be completely irrelevant and mean 00:23:36.740 --> 00:23:39.140 absolutely nothing to him. And I think that's, 00:23:39.140 --> 00:23:40.940 it's cruel. You know, I think. Yeah, and I know 00:23:40.940 --> 00:23:43.799 lots of adults that are really into Disney. Absolutely. 00:23:43.859 --> 00:23:46.900 Disney seems to be an acceptable one. Or, you 00:23:46.900 --> 00:23:50.720 know, whatever. Like there were lots of things 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:52.740 that all of us like. Yeah, absolutely. Because 00:23:52.740 --> 00:23:54.700 they just feel nice. They feel good. They feel 00:23:54.700 --> 00:23:57.380 nostalgic. They bring us joy. Yeah. Who's to 00:23:57.380 --> 00:24:00.019 put a number to that? Like I do think it's genuinely 00:24:00.019 --> 00:24:04.910 bizarre. simply since we say stage not age yes 00:24:04.910 --> 00:24:08.069 and Flo Longhorn says person appropriate yes 00:24:08.069 --> 00:24:10.410 because it's really you know you might have someone 00:24:10.410 --> 00:24:14.849 you know at a cognitive level that's that's quite 00:24:14.849 --> 00:24:18.049 low but then they might you know sort of I don't 00:24:18.049 --> 00:24:20.769 know have I don't know a relationship with someone 00:24:20.769 --> 00:24:23.269 you know a boyfriend girlfriend type relationship 00:24:23.269 --> 00:24:25.829 you know you can't sort of say they're at a particular 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:29.319 it's very hard to say that someone's at a particular 00:24:29.319 --> 00:24:31.940 sort of level because there's so many different 00:24:31.940 --> 00:24:34.220 sort of facets to our sort of personality aren't 00:24:34.220 --> 00:24:38.240 there but you know I think if you are at that 00:24:38.240 --> 00:24:42.799 level it's really important that whatever you 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:45.160 find comforting whatever makes you feel safe 00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:47.720 is you're allowed to have and it should be utilized 00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:50.440 to the absolute max if anybody anywhere in any 00:24:50.440 --> 00:24:53.299 school has got any kind of interest or whatever 00:24:53.299 --> 00:24:56.970 you would just use it not as a reward but use 00:24:56.970 --> 00:25:00.089 it as part of your what you're doing you know 00:25:00.089 --> 00:25:01.490 sort of like if you're counting so i've just 00:25:01.490 --> 00:25:02.789 written this this morning actually if you're 00:25:02.789 --> 00:25:04.549 counting something you might as well be counting 00:25:04.549 --> 00:25:07.630 paw patrol you know compare that to a worksheet 00:25:07.630 --> 00:25:09.490 you know if you've got something right in front 00:25:09.490 --> 00:25:11.950 of you that's tangible and real you can touch 00:25:11.950 --> 00:25:14.029 it you can hold it and it's your favorite characters 00:25:14.029 --> 00:25:17.279 you know you need to use what's What's of interest 00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:20.319 and what's motivating to encourage people to 00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:22.480 learn and encourage them to remember. And I've 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:25.779 just done sensory drama actually at a care home 00:25:25.779 --> 00:25:29.079 for some ladies with dementia. We did Strictly 00:25:29.079 --> 00:25:32.380 Come Dancing and it was superb. They absolutely 00:25:32.380 --> 00:25:35.430 loved it. playing with all the light -up stuff 00:25:35.430 --> 00:25:38.430 and fiddling with the sand. And we'd got a big 00:25:38.430 --> 00:25:42.289 disco balloon that we were playing with and instruments 00:25:42.289 --> 00:25:45.730 and fluorescent stuff. We were all dancing to 00:25:45.730 --> 00:25:48.170 all these different... We did story massage there 00:25:48.170 --> 00:25:50.829 as well as sensory props. But yeah, it was superb. 00:25:51.329 --> 00:25:53.819 That's another good point, isn't it? take be 00:25:53.819 --> 00:25:55.740 inspired by what they're really interested in 00:25:55.740 --> 00:25:58.059 and obviously don't not do that but also maybe 00:25:58.059 --> 00:26:00.079 try and broaden their interest you know maybe 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:01.599 they're into strictly come dancing well maybe 00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:03.380 they'll also be into different types of music 00:26:03.380 --> 00:26:04.839 and different types of dancing and different 00:26:04.839 --> 00:26:07.079 types of fabrics and you know kind of expand 00:26:07.079 --> 00:26:08.940 off of that too like say if they're into paw 00:26:08.940 --> 00:26:11.259 patrol well maybe they'll like other type of 00:26:11.259 --> 00:26:14.480 animal based cartoons or other yeah maybe it's 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:16.579 the colors maybe it's the big eyes maybe it's 00:26:16.579 --> 00:26:19.460 that they're animal based explore and experiment 00:26:19.460 --> 00:26:22.700 with that too with no you know it's not bad if 00:26:22.700 --> 00:26:24.900 they don't like whatever yeah it's good to kind 00:26:24.900 --> 00:26:27.700 of just experiment and it's offering stuff isn't 00:26:27.700 --> 00:26:31.299 it it's offering invitations to yeah new experiences 00:26:31.299 --> 00:26:33.279 and stuff I remember the first time I heard about 00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:35.640 galaxies when I was a teacher you know when I 00:26:35.640 --> 00:26:37.359 first started teaching and I thought that's ridiculous 00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:39.720 thing to do with PMLD they should be learning 00:26:39.720 --> 00:26:41.799 about themselves about their bodies about their 00:26:41.799 --> 00:26:44.519 own likes and preferences but then I did a galaxies 00:26:44.519 --> 00:26:47.880 session and completely and utterly 180 degrees 00:26:48.490 --> 00:26:50.390 turn around I'm completely literally converted 00:26:50.390 --> 00:26:53.390 you know because doing sensory dramas like that 00:26:53.390 --> 00:26:55.930 as you say you can include things that people 00:26:55.930 --> 00:26:58.170 like because you know them but you can also introduce 00:26:58.170 --> 00:27:00.269 a whole new load of stuff that you might not 00:27:00.269 --> 00:27:03.210 I mean who knew that someone was gonna like you 00:27:03.210 --> 00:27:05.789 know sort of like the I don't know a ball with 00:27:05.789 --> 00:27:08.230 jingles in you know if we hadn't had that for 00:27:08.230 --> 00:27:11.549 a planet you know because you might not always 00:27:11.549 --> 00:27:14.549 worry I don't know if you agree But my fear as 00:27:14.549 --> 00:27:16.470 a special education teacher is always that I 00:27:16.470 --> 00:27:19.670 underestimated the understanding of the learners 00:27:19.670 --> 00:27:22.470 in my class. You know, have they got PMLD or 00:27:22.470 --> 00:27:25.490 have they got PMBL? So profound barriers to learning. 00:27:25.710 --> 00:27:28.630 Maybe they do understand scientific concepts. 00:27:28.730 --> 00:27:30.829 Maybe they do understand the concept of a galaxy 00:27:30.829 --> 00:27:33.390 better than I do. Maybe. But they just can't 00:27:33.390 --> 00:27:35.430 show or tell us because, you know, they're physically 00:27:35.430 --> 00:27:39.150 disabled in multiple and profound ways. So, yeah, 00:27:39.210 --> 00:27:41.309 I kind of like to try and mix it up. I like to 00:27:41.309 --> 00:27:44.779 offer like a sensory based. So that everybody 00:27:44.779 --> 00:27:47.299 that learns through the sensory system has something 00:27:47.299 --> 00:27:49.779 like that. But then, yeah, why not use words 00:27:49.779 --> 00:27:52.759 like bioluminescence? And, you know, Joanna Grace 00:27:52.759 --> 00:27:55.059 does it beautifully with her how to create a 00:27:55.059 --> 00:27:58.980 star sensory story. And why not do that? Because, 00:27:59.119 --> 00:28:01.619 you know, my learners might understand the concept. 00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:03.799 Who's to say they won't? And then if they don't, 00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:05.740 then we've just got a really cool sensory space 00:28:05.740 --> 00:28:08.960 story. Then I can go home and sleep well at night 00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:11.759 knowing that. You know, whatever they do know, 00:28:11.819 --> 00:28:15.279 I've kind of captured them. Yeah, I think Jonathan 00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:17.660 Bryan as well also sort of like showed us how 00:28:17.660 --> 00:28:21.400 effective the low -tech eye gaze can be. So, 00:28:21.460 --> 00:28:23.799 you know, sort of like, and then you can assess 00:28:23.799 --> 00:28:25.779 someone's comprehension. Would that be with like 00:28:25.779 --> 00:28:29.920 an e -tram board? Yeah, yeah. We had a volunteer 00:28:29.920 --> 00:28:31.839 at Camp Jojo. I should give them a shout out, 00:28:31.900 --> 00:28:35.640 shouldn't I? So Camp Jojo is a camp for children 00:28:35.640 --> 00:28:37.440 with complex needs who wouldn't ordinarily go 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:39.819 camping. So, you know, they might have oxygen 00:28:39.819 --> 00:28:42.000 or be in wheelchairs or whatever. So I volunteer 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:43.619 at that every year. So I've done one camp so 00:28:43.619 --> 00:28:46.420 far, but another two camps to go. And I can't 00:28:46.420 --> 00:28:49.039 remember why I was telling you that. What was 00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:50.619 I saying about Camp Jojo? We were talking about 00:28:50.619 --> 00:28:52.839 e -tram. Oh, yeah. There was a lad, when we were 00:28:52.839 --> 00:28:55.079 at Camp Jojo, we do Camp Jojo's Got Talent. And 00:28:55.079 --> 00:28:57.599 so kids get up and we had one kid come up and 00:28:57.599 --> 00:29:00.740 tell us why 4G was better than 5G. Or someone 00:29:00.740 --> 00:29:02.619 was learning to walk on his Zimmer. So he did 00:29:02.619 --> 00:29:04.660 that with loads of bubbles and a car wash song. 00:29:04.740 --> 00:29:06.960 You know, whatever. You know, we just celebrate 00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:09.599 whatever. they want to celebrate really and we 00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:14.680 had um a kid there and one of the incredible 00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:16.720 incredible volunteers the volunteers are amazing 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:18.900 they come from all over and she made him one 00:29:18.900 --> 00:29:22.559 of these boards and he could just blink and he 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:25.140 planned the whole of his camp jojo's got talent 00:29:25.140 --> 00:29:29.609 down to One of these, this man, one of the original 00:29:29.609 --> 00:29:32.369 founders of Camp Jojo, her dad, who's never got 00:29:32.369 --> 00:29:34.309 up to do Camp Jojo, he's got talent, doesn't 00:29:34.309 --> 00:29:37.650 like it. He got him wearing a baseball cap backwards. 00:29:37.970 --> 00:29:40.009 It was very, very specific. Just by blinking, 00:29:40.109 --> 00:29:41.329 he got all these instruments and made him get 00:29:41.329 --> 00:29:43.690 up and do the dance to this rap song. So was 00:29:43.690 --> 00:29:46.470 it like, yes, no? Yeah. Well, no, letters. It 00:29:46.470 --> 00:29:48.890 was letters for him. But I think, you know, you 00:29:48.890 --> 00:29:50.829 would start, yes, no, wouldn't you? And then. 00:29:51.600 --> 00:29:53.839 same as you would with like an AAC or anything 00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:56.700 imagine if they were never shown that AAC imagine 00:29:56.700 --> 00:29:59.000 if they were never shown that e -tran you know 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:02.619 like we would just never know and then no wonder 00:30:02.619 --> 00:30:05.539 there's such high poor mental health within the 00:30:05.539 --> 00:30:09.630 disability disabled community I think I'm also 00:30:09.630 --> 00:30:14.490 very wary the other way. I also feel really, 00:30:14.549 --> 00:30:17.410 really strongly because Jonathan Bryan wrote 00:30:17.410 --> 00:30:19.650 about sort of, you know, how we were just doing 00:30:19.650 --> 00:30:22.769 nursery rhymes and sensory and special ed. And 00:30:22.769 --> 00:30:26.690 it's not just if that's where our PMLD kids are 00:30:26.690 --> 00:30:29.190 at, that is what we need to do. And we need to 00:30:29.190 --> 00:30:31.589 love them and appreciate them and accept them. 00:30:32.250 --> 00:30:34.589 where they are and what they're doing and and 00:30:34.589 --> 00:30:37.250 how they you know just for themselves to be themselves 00:30:37.250 --> 00:30:39.970 you know and if that's what they need that is 00:30:39.970 --> 00:30:42.210 absolutely fine and that's important too we have 00:30:42.210 --> 00:30:45.269 to love them for who they are yeah so absolutely 00:30:45.269 --> 00:30:47.589 I do feel like really strongly about that as 00:30:47.589 --> 00:30:50.109 well yeah I totally I totally agree and I also 00:30:50.109 --> 00:30:52.329 feel equally strongly which is such a juxtaposition 00:30:52.329 --> 00:30:55.950 that sometimes we are most comfortable there 00:30:56.400 --> 00:30:58.160 Sometimes we're most comfortable doing we're 00:30:58.160 --> 00:31:00.339 going on a bear hunt story. Sometimes we're more 00:31:00.339 --> 00:31:02.000 comfortable just doing the nursery rhymes that 00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:05.700 we know rather than learning new ones. So I think 00:31:05.700 --> 00:31:08.039 it's also good to question, is it the children 00:31:08.039 --> 00:31:10.930 that want this? Or is it the team that are just 00:31:10.930 --> 00:31:13.569 a bit stuck and stagnant and aren't researching? 00:31:13.750 --> 00:31:16.549 So it's just as a teacher or as the leader or 00:31:16.549 --> 00:31:19.009 manager of your own thing, it's always good to 00:31:19.009 --> 00:31:20.869 just question, you know, why are we doing this 00:31:20.869 --> 00:31:22.750 the same every time? Is it to ease their anxiety? 00:31:22.950 --> 00:31:25.210 Is it because they want to? Or is it just because 00:31:25.210 --> 00:31:27.809 we're a little bit stuck? Absolutely, yeah. Penny 00:31:27.809 --> 00:31:30.190 Lacey was absolutely instrumental in drumming 00:31:30.190 --> 00:31:32.410 into me, you know, we must, must be reflective 00:31:32.410 --> 00:31:34.910 teachers. So all the time just thinking about, 00:31:34.970 --> 00:31:36.670 you know, what you're doing and why you're doing 00:31:36.670 --> 00:31:40.000 it and stuff. And I know... somebody with a child 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:43.880 with PMLD who sort of claims he's into 80s music 00:31:43.880 --> 00:31:46.319 and gets to meet all the 80s pop stars and the 00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:48.740 kid isn't into his music. But then on the other 00:31:48.740 --> 00:31:51.920 hand, I don't know if you follow Hugh on social 00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:55.539 media, Hugh's mum is into 80s stuff and he was 00:31:55.539 --> 00:31:59.259 grown up and he now likes heavy metal. But that's 00:31:59.259 --> 00:32:02.680 fantastic because she's listening to what he 00:32:02.680 --> 00:32:05.460 really wants and what he really likes and respecting 00:32:05.460 --> 00:32:08.829 his wishes. Yeah. Yeah, and if you didn't have 00:32:08.829 --> 00:32:10.450 the opportunity to listen to all types of music, 00:32:10.490 --> 00:32:12.150 then you wouldn't know that. Absolutely, yeah. 00:32:12.309 --> 00:32:14.630 Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have to, yeah. It's all 00:32:14.630 --> 00:32:17.930 trial and error, isn't it, really? I love sensory 00:32:17.930 --> 00:32:20.309 massage stories for that, actually. That kind 00:32:20.309 --> 00:32:22.329 of, and that tack -pack kind of style. Because 00:32:22.329 --> 00:32:25.529 it gives you an opportunity to hear a range of 00:32:25.529 --> 00:32:27.289 sounds, a range of music, and then you can see 00:32:27.289 --> 00:32:29.650 how your learners are reacting to that. You know, 00:32:29.690 --> 00:32:32.690 one of our learners loves classical music. And 00:32:32.690 --> 00:32:35.099 we wouldn't know that if... you know we didn't 00:32:35.099 --> 00:32:38.779 explore that yeah side of things one of my clients 00:32:38.779 --> 00:32:43.539 is so musically bent you know but I sing my hello 00:32:43.539 --> 00:32:45.559 song he has um because I'm also a complementary 00:32:45.559 --> 00:32:48.299 therapist as well as a teacher so I go to this 00:32:48.299 --> 00:32:50.420 man with PMLD um going this evening actually 00:32:50.420 --> 00:32:52.900 and he has full body aromatherapy massage and 00:32:52.900 --> 00:32:54.940 as soon as I get that I sing my hello song as 00:32:54.940 --> 00:32:57.539 fast as I possibly can because I know I'm tone 00:32:57.539 --> 00:33:00.220 deaf and he doesn't like my singing Do you know 00:33:00.220 --> 00:33:02.420 what? I've had a few students that do that, that 00:33:02.420 --> 00:33:05.000 really just don't want me to sing. Make it very 00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:06.599 obvious that they do not want me to sing. It's 00:33:06.599 --> 00:33:08.440 just the CD. They don't want my voice. And I'm 00:33:08.440 --> 00:33:11.680 like, okay. Yeah, I've seen that. But he loves 00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:14.980 all sorts, you know, from opera to, you know, 00:33:14.980 --> 00:33:19.519 musicals to Disney, all sorts, you know. Music 00:33:19.519 --> 00:33:22.180 that's in the charts, soul music, you know, he's 00:33:22.180 --> 00:33:24.339 got a massive range. And that's because he's 00:33:24.339 --> 00:33:29.069 been, you know, exposed to it. If you were working 00:33:29.069 --> 00:33:31.150 with somebody that seems very, you know, you're 00:33:31.150 --> 00:33:32.930 pulling out all the stops, you've got your best 00:33:32.930 --> 00:33:35.109 things, you've got your best music, sound, action, 00:33:35.150 --> 00:33:37.250 everything, and they seem really uninterested, 00:33:37.289 --> 00:33:43.349 what would you do? Okay, so the first thing, 00:33:43.410 --> 00:33:45.869 if anyone wants to make a booking, because as 00:33:45.869 --> 00:33:47.309 I say, most of the people I work with are non 00:33:47.309 --> 00:33:50.710 -verbal, so I would be talking to people who 00:33:50.710 --> 00:33:53.710 know, not many family members or carers or whatever, 00:33:53.809 --> 00:33:55.990 to see what they like, what they dislike, even 00:33:55.990 --> 00:33:59.480 in my... you know massage and reflexology forms 00:33:59.480 --> 00:34:01.980 it's like a what do you like what do you dislike 00:34:01.980 --> 00:34:04.240 what what are your triggers what are your glimmers 00:34:04.240 --> 00:34:08.420 you know um so yeah so that's where I would start 00:34:08.420 --> 00:34:11.639 and with anybody and everybody in my world probably 00:34:11.639 --> 00:34:15.119 intensive interaction is just absolutely magic 00:34:15.119 --> 00:34:18.519 a really simple concept that's hugely powerful 00:34:18.519 --> 00:34:23.340 yeah and really does build bonds relationships 00:34:23.340 --> 00:34:28.710 get you gets you into their you know, world and 00:34:28.710 --> 00:34:31.670 sees the world how they see it. And you can really 00:34:31.670 --> 00:34:34.550 find what they enjoy with their stims and what 00:34:34.550 --> 00:34:37.130 they enjoy with their sounds. And actually, ultimately, 00:34:37.289 --> 00:34:39.929 they are the leader. So they are showing you 00:34:39.929 --> 00:34:41.329 what they're an expert in. And it's sometimes 00:34:41.329 --> 00:34:43.889 really difficult. And it reminds you that, you 00:34:43.889 --> 00:34:46.329 know, they are experts at things too. And it's 00:34:46.329 --> 00:34:49.230 not all about them meeting us where we're at. 00:34:49.269 --> 00:34:52.099 It's about us. meeting them where they're at 00:34:52.099 --> 00:34:54.179 and yeah you're right it's such a such a such 00:34:54.179 --> 00:34:56.219 a beautifully simple concept you don't need any 00:34:56.219 --> 00:34:59.360 resources all you just need is you and them yeah 00:34:59.360 --> 00:35:00.780 well there's the hanging out program are you 00:35:00.780 --> 00:35:02.599 familiar with that i've only just heard about 00:35:02.599 --> 00:35:07.019 it okay yeah yeah so i have sent that to uh to 00:35:07.019 --> 00:35:09.019 a care home recently yeah it's new on me i haven't 00:35:09.019 --> 00:35:10.360 tested out yet but that's that's going to be 00:35:10.360 --> 00:35:14.500 my yeah lovely lovely lovely concept do you want 00:35:14.500 --> 00:35:17.500 to explain a little bit about it uh it's from 00:35:17.500 --> 00:35:20.340 a lady who in I think she's in Australia and 00:35:20.340 --> 00:35:22.800 she was she's a speech therapist and it really 00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:24.260 worried her things like you know sort of like 00:35:24.260 --> 00:35:26.739 they might walk past someone in a care home and 00:35:26.739 --> 00:35:29.900 say hello and by the time our kids had responded 00:35:29.900 --> 00:35:32.320 with the process in time and then you know and 00:35:32.320 --> 00:35:34.380 then formulating the speech you know that person's 00:35:34.380 --> 00:35:36.559 long gone you know they're just whizzed past 00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:39.599 because you know they're busy so she she recommends 00:35:39.599 --> 00:35:42.539 that we have 10 minutes just quality time just 00:35:42.539 --> 00:35:45.139 10 minutes just sitting with someone and just 00:35:45.139 --> 00:35:48.550 being with them and you know being led by them 00:35:48.550 --> 00:35:52.210 um and just having that really important just 00:35:52.210 --> 00:35:56.590 being yeah every day 10 minutes every day yeah 00:35:56.590 --> 00:35:59.250 it's lovely you know and you know I do a session 00:35:59.250 --> 00:36:01.650 over zoom and and even then sort of like I'll 00:36:02.090 --> 00:36:03.730 pause and we'll say you know let's just have 00:36:03.730 --> 00:36:06.050 like whatever three minutes five minutes and 00:36:06.050 --> 00:36:08.110 you know if he's in a chatty mood it flies by 00:36:08.110 --> 00:36:10.230 but sometimes you know you don't speak and that 00:36:10.230 --> 00:36:12.409 three minutes seems really long i saw i saw a 00:36:12.409 --> 00:36:15.610 lady on youtube once 10 minutes she waited for 00:36:15.610 --> 00:36:18.230 the man she was working with to initiate and 00:36:18.230 --> 00:36:20.750 make a sound 10 minutes it's incredible which 00:36:20.750 --> 00:36:22.849 is long when say if you're being paid by the 00:36:22.849 --> 00:36:24.550 parents and they're watching and they're thinking 00:36:25.159 --> 00:36:27.840 hang on yeah but it comes with some confidence 00:36:27.840 --> 00:36:29.420 doesn't it to wait that long and I feel the same 00:36:29.420 --> 00:36:30.840 with intensive interaction as well you know you've 00:36:30.840 --> 00:36:34.480 got to be confident to just wait like don't force 00:36:34.480 --> 00:36:36.940 anything don't make anything happen don't come 00:36:36.940 --> 00:36:40.880 with an agenda just wait and it's harder than 00:36:40.880 --> 00:36:45.719 yes it seems it is yeah but so much more rewarding 00:36:45.719 --> 00:36:49.800 if you do wait yeah yeah yeah lovely and there's 00:36:49.800 --> 00:36:51.280 also you know sort of physical interaction and 00:36:51.280 --> 00:36:52.739 musical interaction as well you know they're 00:36:52.739 --> 00:36:55.940 all approaches that I would embrace yeah definitely 00:36:55.940 --> 00:36:59.019 so let so get the team around the child you know 00:36:59.019 --> 00:37:00.920 talking about what that motivates them what they 00:37:00.920 --> 00:37:03.420 enjoy and work off of that as a starting point 00:37:03.420 --> 00:37:06.159 and then yeah ultimately intensive interaction 00:37:06.159 --> 00:37:08.260 so they kind of maybe trust you a little bit 00:37:08.260 --> 00:37:10.460 more and you can learn a little bit more about 00:37:10.460 --> 00:37:14.500 what they enjoy doing and their language as it 00:37:14.500 --> 00:37:19.840 were yeah how would you get your team or wider 00:37:19.840 --> 00:37:25.000 school or parents on board with things that you're 00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:28.559 wanting to do with the the learners because ultimately 00:37:28.559 --> 00:37:30.539 if you're going in and out you know that's a 00:37:30.539 --> 00:37:32.119 great session you're having a fantastic session 00:37:32.119 --> 00:37:34.260 but then ultimately it'd be even better if they 00:37:34.260 --> 00:37:36.599 were doing it every day so yeah how do you get 00:37:36.599 --> 00:37:39.420 those on the floor I do have um a sensory course 00:37:39.420 --> 00:37:42.139 which is a day course um so we spend a lot of 00:37:42.139 --> 00:37:43.880 the morning thinking about why why we're doing 00:37:43.880 --> 00:37:46.000 this and why we're using senses and then in the 00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:47.619 afternoon we do loads of activities like sensory 00:37:47.619 --> 00:37:50.579 pass the parcel sensory umbrellas sensory mats 00:37:50.579 --> 00:37:55.440 sensory drama sensory stories so it's a whole 00:37:55.440 --> 00:37:58.530 day A head teacher from one school saw somebody 00:37:58.530 --> 00:38:00.550 doing something after my course and said, oh, 00:38:00.570 --> 00:38:02.909 is that one of Sarah's ideas? And she said, oh, 00:38:02.929 --> 00:38:06.150 no, it's mine. And that is what I want. I want 00:38:06.150 --> 00:38:11.130 to empower people to go and do their own sensory 00:38:11.130 --> 00:38:13.690 stories, their own, you know, whatever, sensory 00:38:13.690 --> 00:38:16.510 songs. Story Massage is a classic one, I think, 00:38:16.530 --> 00:38:19.579 at the moment. Lots of people. sort of like join 00:38:19.579 --> 00:38:21.880 in when someone leads a story massage session 00:38:21.880 --> 00:38:24.739 where to me it can be used in so many different 00:38:24.739 --> 00:38:26.900 ways i mean it's absolutely fantastic you know 00:38:26.900 --> 00:38:29.440 sort of like for families and siblings to do 00:38:29.440 --> 00:38:32.139 or to do just like if as you're chatting you 00:38:32.139 --> 00:38:33.800 know it doesn't have to be a story it could just 00:38:33.800 --> 00:38:35.920 be you know a conversation that you're doing 00:38:35.920 --> 00:38:40.239 or a nursery rhyme you know it's um it can be 00:38:40.239 --> 00:38:42.219 used in lots of different ways and at lots of 00:38:42.219 --> 00:38:44.420 different times or lots of different people rather 00:38:44.420 --> 00:38:46.639 than just like joining in when the teacher does 00:38:46.639 --> 00:38:49.199 a a story massage session having that initial 00:38:49.199 --> 00:38:52.980 structure helps build confidence to know what 00:38:52.980 --> 00:38:55.780 to do and to get them doing that and then hopefully 00:38:55.780 --> 00:38:57.719 the idea is then that they'd feel comfortable 00:38:57.719 --> 00:39:00.019 enough to then leave the structure a little bit 00:39:00.019 --> 00:39:02.000 and be led by them but sometimes it's nice to 00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:04.780 have some kind of massage story or sensory story 00:39:04.780 --> 00:39:06.599 as a bit of structure as a bit of cushioning 00:39:06.599 --> 00:39:08.840 and a buffer really for our benefit not for theirs 00:39:08.840 --> 00:39:11.659 absolutely yeah but i think it's a case of training 00:39:11.659 --> 00:39:14.920 both for any settings any any schools any parents 00:39:14.920 --> 00:39:17.500 at camp jojo the camp that i've just done um 00:39:17.500 --> 00:39:20.980 i sat doing story massage on a mom and the husband 00:39:20.980 --> 00:39:23.179 sat in front of her on the floor as we talked 00:39:23.179 --> 00:39:24.809 about lots of different ways that they could 00:39:24.809 --> 00:39:27.349 use it when they got home. So, and again, if 00:39:27.349 --> 00:39:29.949 you, any kind of training for people, I would 00:39:29.949 --> 00:39:32.789 make sure it's very, very sort of prop heavy. 00:39:33.250 --> 00:39:35.610 You know, I went to one school and didn't take 00:39:35.610 --> 00:39:39.769 a single slideshow. I'm not, I say I'm not a 00:39:39.769 --> 00:39:43.349 fan of slideshows. You know, it depends where 00:39:43.349 --> 00:39:44.190 and when and what you're doing. Get the stuff 00:39:44.190 --> 00:39:46.949 out and get working. Rather than talking about 00:39:46.949 --> 00:39:49.269 it, let's just do it. So that they can get their, 00:39:49.429 --> 00:39:53.110 the appreciation of the fact that, you know, 00:39:53.500 --> 00:39:55.519 when we are using our senses if you use your 00:39:55.519 --> 00:39:58.159 senses you learn better you remember better and 00:39:58.159 --> 00:40:00.500 if you're actually doing that with them i like 00:40:00.500 --> 00:40:03.460 to demonstrate that so that they can see that 00:40:03.460 --> 00:40:08.500 in action you know i like to you know about a 00:40:08.500 --> 00:40:10.380 call and a response about call and response i've 00:40:10.380 --> 00:40:13.460 written a story massage about story massage you 00:40:13.460 --> 00:40:16.219 know so it's all very sort of like um here's 00:40:16.219 --> 00:40:18.940 a demonstration with a little bit of information 00:40:18.940 --> 00:40:22.989 but yeah people need to know why they're doing 00:40:22.989 --> 00:40:26.090 what they're doing as well. Yes, because then 00:40:26.090 --> 00:40:28.329 that gives it longevity then, doesn't it? And 00:40:28.329 --> 00:40:30.889 also when a senior leadership team comes in and 00:40:30.889 --> 00:40:32.949 questions, you know, why are you just waiting 00:40:32.949 --> 00:40:35.090 when they're on the other side of the room? Why 00:40:35.090 --> 00:40:37.250 are you just sitting watching them or sitting, 00:40:37.369 --> 00:40:40.449 not even looking at them, in silence for 10 minutes? 00:40:40.510 --> 00:40:43.309 Why are you doing that? How is that useful? You 00:40:43.309 --> 00:40:46.329 can then explain to them. Wow, well. I've you 00:40:46.329 --> 00:40:49.329 know I'm here I'm ready to receive when they're 00:40:49.329 --> 00:40:51.349 willing to give you know you can you can say 00:40:51.349 --> 00:40:52.989 we're doing intensive direction or we're doing 00:40:52.989 --> 00:40:55.530 whatever it is we're just doing hanging out and 00:40:55.530 --> 00:40:57.670 and this is the space he needs in order to accept 00:40:57.670 --> 00:40:59.849 that whatever it is but if you know justify it 00:40:59.849 --> 00:41:02.170 yeah then you can justify it and then I think 00:41:02.170 --> 00:41:05.010 I'm guaranteed they'll say oh okay and then walk 00:41:05.010 --> 00:41:09.309 away but if you don't know your why then that's 00:41:09.309 --> 00:41:11.010 going to be really difficult to then justify 00:41:11.010 --> 00:41:14.019 and unfortunately you often do need to, especially 00:41:14.019 --> 00:41:18.059 in schools, justify the time spent doing those 00:41:18.059 --> 00:41:23.300 things. We had a head and he said we had to put 00:41:23.300 --> 00:41:26.019 how much time we were like in the bathroom with 00:41:26.019 --> 00:41:28.320 our kids, you know, put how much time on all 00:41:28.320 --> 00:41:30.500 the different subjects and including the bathroom. 00:41:30.579 --> 00:41:31.920 But obviously I was in nursery at the time, so 00:41:31.920 --> 00:41:34.079 we were in the bathroom 90 % of the time. And 00:41:34.079 --> 00:41:36.219 we said what percent we were and he was like, 00:41:36.260 --> 00:41:38.119 can you make it any less? And I'm like, no. And 00:41:38.119 --> 00:41:40.059 he said, right, then we'll justify that to Astrid 00:41:40.059 --> 00:41:44.000 when they come. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, gosh, so 00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:46.219 much is easily done. So much learning is done 00:41:46.219 --> 00:41:49.980 in the bathroom, I think. Yeah. There is so much 00:41:49.980 --> 00:41:52.860 consent, choices, communication. It's so intimate. 00:41:52.880 --> 00:41:57.300 You have to give time. Somebody that we had on, 00:41:57.340 --> 00:42:00.639 I think a couple of weeks ago, works with PMOD, 00:42:00.739 --> 00:42:04.139 PMOD teacher. And she said, again, it's a crazy 00:42:04.139 --> 00:42:05.920 amount of time spent in the bathroom. You know, 00:42:05.980 --> 00:42:08.320 we have one lay on bed, one hoist, you know, 00:42:08.340 --> 00:42:11.710 somebody's always in there. But she said, I really 00:42:11.710 --> 00:42:14.670 don't want to rush it because it's so intimate. 00:42:14.809 --> 00:42:18.590 And I really want to have that, give off that 00:42:18.590 --> 00:42:22.449 opportunity of space, time, processing time, 00:42:22.650 --> 00:42:26.650 consent, choices, narration of what you're doing. 00:42:26.670 --> 00:42:29.329 It's really important. And self -awareness and 00:42:29.329 --> 00:42:31.570 body awareness. The lady from Chely Heritage 00:42:31.570 --> 00:42:35.010 recommends we should have like full length mirrors 00:42:35.010 --> 00:42:37.889 in our... in our bathrooms for our PMLD kids 00:42:37.889 --> 00:42:40.489 so they see their whole body so they learn things 00:42:40.489 --> 00:42:42.510 like the concept of you know that foot belongs 00:42:42.510 --> 00:42:44.329 to me I control that foot we never do that do 00:42:44.329 --> 00:42:46.489 we they've never maybe never seen their whole 00:42:46.489 --> 00:42:49.289 self yeah yeah it's thought -provoking isn't 00:42:49.289 --> 00:42:52.530 it yeah I love that that's why I love these podcast 00:42:52.530 --> 00:42:55.050 chats I really do selfishly use these for my 00:42:55.050 --> 00:42:56.889 own training by the way so thank you for that 00:42:56.889 --> 00:43:00.130 but again you know training is expensive so things 00:43:00.130 --> 00:43:03.079 like I mean if I If someone was interested in, 00:43:03.119 --> 00:43:06.039 say, sensory stories, you know, just listen to 00:43:06.039 --> 00:43:09.340 Pete Wells' podcast. You know, he deconstructs 00:43:09.340 --> 00:43:12.039 his sensory story. He talks about the props and 00:43:12.039 --> 00:43:16.059 why he's using them. And he interviews someone 00:43:16.059 --> 00:43:19.659 from the, you know, special ed world every week. 00:43:19.860 --> 00:43:22.380 And, you know, you could just learn while you're 00:43:22.380 --> 00:43:25.019 in the car, you know. And he's, you know, obviously 00:43:25.019 --> 00:43:28.179 now there's lots of podcasts to choose from about 00:43:28.179 --> 00:43:31.880 our field. You know, it's a really simple and 00:43:31.880 --> 00:43:36.000 cheap way in. yeah absolutely talking about courses 00:43:36.000 --> 00:43:38.239 I feel like your courses are incredibly affordable 00:43:38.239 --> 00:43:41.400 they were live ones for 12 pounds then 40 pounds 00:43:41.400 --> 00:43:43.380 for the pre -recorded do you want to talk a little 00:43:43.380 --> 00:43:45.320 bit about what courses you offer because I'm 00:43:45.320 --> 00:43:46.860 sure that people after listening to this will 00:43:46.860 --> 00:43:49.320 be really interested to learn more yeah subject 00:43:49.320 --> 00:43:51.900 yeah that would that would be really yeah thank 00:43:51.900 --> 00:43:55.780 you um yeah so then what I did was when I first 00:43:55.780 --> 00:43:58.659 set up I wrote um about eight different courses 00:43:58.659 --> 00:44:01.239 like a play one and a sensory one and stuff and 00:44:01.239 --> 00:44:04.670 autism one and then What happened was the schools 00:44:04.670 --> 00:44:06.889 would phone me and say, oh, can you do a mixture 00:44:06.889 --> 00:44:09.889 of this and this? So what I tend to do now is 00:44:09.889 --> 00:44:13.050 bespoke courses. So I can do you a course on 00:44:13.050 --> 00:44:16.849 anything sort of sensory based. So long as you 00:44:16.849 --> 00:44:19.469 give me some kind of like remit, I can do a bespoke 00:44:19.469 --> 00:44:21.829 course. Pulling on those eight courses as well 00:44:21.829 --> 00:44:23.989 as, you know, other things that I've done over 00:44:23.989 --> 00:44:27.110 the past few years. So I can come, I can travel 00:44:27.110 --> 00:44:29.570 to. Anyway, I've got a little camper van so I 00:44:29.570 --> 00:44:31.789 can come to your settings or we can do stuff 00:44:31.789 --> 00:44:34.949 over Zoom. So that could be any kind of talk, 00:44:35.050 --> 00:44:39.110 consultancy or any talk. So the sensory ideas 00:44:39.110 --> 00:44:41.429 course has been the one that's been the most 00:44:41.429 --> 00:44:43.530 booked, you know, sort of how to use the equipment, 00:44:43.650 --> 00:44:45.510 why to use the equipment. And I would say as 00:44:45.510 --> 00:44:48.010 well, Joe Grace did a book called Myth Bust in 00:44:48.010 --> 00:44:52.500 Sensory Rooms. And one of the most important 00:44:52.500 --> 00:44:54.739 things that came out of that was that people 00:44:54.739 --> 00:44:57.639 want a sensory room. They go buy a sensory room 00:44:57.639 --> 00:45:00.219 and they don't have training. They don't think 00:45:00.219 --> 00:45:03.000 about beforehand how they're going to use it, 00:45:03.039 --> 00:45:04.800 how they're going to timetable it, who's going 00:45:04.800 --> 00:45:07.139 to use it, why they're using it. So, yeah, I 00:45:07.139 --> 00:45:09.500 feel really strongly that you should have sensory 00:45:09.500 --> 00:45:12.059 training before you spend all that money, you 00:45:12.059 --> 00:45:14.639 know, because sometimes, you know, my man that 00:45:14.639 --> 00:45:17.019 likes to shake things once, the best thing that 00:45:17.019 --> 00:45:19.800 we used was just like a three pound torch. because 00:45:19.800 --> 00:45:22.900 he needs to have it within like 90 centimeters 00:45:22.900 --> 00:45:25.880 from his eye. Yeah, I find that we changed our 00:45:25.880 --> 00:45:28.780 sensory room a lot when I came in because it 00:45:28.780 --> 00:45:31.199 was very overwhelming. There was sounds, there 00:45:31.199 --> 00:45:33.380 was movement, there was light, there was loads 00:45:33.380 --> 00:45:35.239 of resources. Like the whole room was filled 00:45:35.239 --> 00:45:36.719 with resources to choose from. And I was like, 00:45:36.760 --> 00:45:40.400 whoa, whoa, whoa, two to three things max. Like 00:45:40.400 --> 00:45:42.739 this is, you know, this isn't chill out. This 00:45:42.739 --> 00:45:45.219 isn't regulation. This is so overstimulating. 00:45:45.360 --> 00:45:47.320 And it would have worked for some pupils, but 00:45:47.320 --> 00:45:48.699 it certainly didn't work for the class we had 00:45:48.699 --> 00:45:51.460 in practice. No, what happens then is they just 00:45:51.460 --> 00:45:54.030 shut down. Yeah. They're just shut down. But 00:45:54.030 --> 00:45:55.469 I think one of the problems with that is the 00:45:55.469 --> 00:45:57.570 catalogs because the catalogs want to sell everything. 00:45:57.670 --> 00:45:59.989 This is what Jo says. So everything's turned 00:45:59.989 --> 00:46:02.449 on. Whereas in my room, it says all over my room 00:46:02.449 --> 00:46:04.289 and whenever people come and I have a sensory 00:46:04.289 --> 00:46:06.349 room at my house, which is where I work. So I've 00:46:06.349 --> 00:46:08.050 got a converted garage, which is a sensory room 00:46:08.050 --> 00:46:10.469 with, you know, bubble tubes and fiber optics 00:46:10.469 --> 00:46:13.190 and UV and everything. So if someone comes and 00:46:13.190 --> 00:46:15.750 wants to hire the room, I show them round and 00:46:15.750 --> 00:46:18.409 I say, you know, just one piece at a time. And 00:46:18.409 --> 00:46:20.190 when you finish with that piece, you turn it 00:46:20.190 --> 00:46:22.309 off and you put something else on. It's really... 00:46:22.320 --> 00:46:24.280 simple to use it's still just plugs and switches 00:46:24.280 --> 00:46:26.320 you know because that's another issue I have 00:46:26.320 --> 00:46:28.619 with sensory rooms is senior management think 00:46:28.619 --> 00:46:30.159 they're wonderful and then the staff don't know 00:46:30.159 --> 00:46:32.619 how they work yeah yeah and then what's the point 00:46:32.619 --> 00:46:35.760 yeah yeah so um courses wise as well I've got 00:46:35.760 --> 00:46:38.780 um sensory outdoor ideas you know sort of like 00:46:38.780 --> 00:46:41.280 for working outside or playing outside sensory 00:46:41.280 --> 00:46:44.239 walls that I've either seen ideas that have been 00:46:44.239 --> 00:46:48.110 done or I've invented myself like um A sensory 00:46:48.110 --> 00:46:50.710 bubble wall, for example. So, you know, the tube 00:46:50.710 --> 00:46:53.429 ones, you sort of duct tape half a dozen of those 00:46:53.429 --> 00:46:56.329 to a part of your school fence. And that's for 00:46:56.329 --> 00:46:58.769 blowing so that the kids have to do some deep 00:46:58.769 --> 00:47:01.909 breathing. Really, really keen on the whole holistic 00:47:01.909 --> 00:47:06.190 thing. So sensory meditation or massage or story 00:47:06.190 --> 00:47:09.530 massage. I can do talks on or sensology. The 00:47:09.530 --> 00:47:12.579 latest one I've just done is dance massage. So 00:47:12.579 --> 00:47:14.960 I've just written a course on dance massage if 00:47:14.960 --> 00:47:17.780 anyone wanted to book that. I could do it over 00:47:17.780 --> 00:47:19.599 Zoom, but it would be much better in person because 00:47:19.599 --> 00:47:21.260 obviously it's very interactive and you've got 00:47:21.260 --> 00:47:23.920 to join in and you've got to do it. Yeah, and 00:47:23.920 --> 00:47:25.780 amazing that you can travel all over the UK. 00:47:25.860 --> 00:47:28.239 That's just so awesome. I saw some information 00:47:28.239 --> 00:47:30.119 on, yeah, oh gosh, you've got so many courses 00:47:30.119 --> 00:47:32.840 on there. I will leave your website down below 00:47:32.840 --> 00:47:35.280 and people can check it out so that they can, 00:47:35.420 --> 00:47:38.400 yeah, get planning what. courses they would like 00:47:38.400 --> 00:47:41.599 for their settings I better find out how it works 00:47:41.599 --> 00:47:44.739 and maybe update it then yeah yeah you've got 00:47:44.739 --> 00:47:47.340 to talk very much thank you so much Sarah for 00:47:47.340 --> 00:47:50.110 joining me today it's been absolute joy this 00:47:50.110 --> 00:47:54.010 topic is so where my heart is at gosh i could 00:47:54.010 --> 00:47:56.690 talk about senses and meeting prd learners where 00:47:56.690 --> 00:47:58.989 they're at forever and i'm just so pleased that 00:47:58.989 --> 00:48:01.730 you're doing what you're doing and yeah that 00:48:01.730 --> 00:48:03.469 is just making it a little bit easier for all 00:48:03.469 --> 00:48:05.969 of these mainstream schools that would want to 00:48:05.969 --> 00:48:08.030 do this stuff just don't know where to turn and 00:48:08.030 --> 00:48:10.789 so thank you so much for for giving them somewhere 00:48:10.789 --> 00:48:13.969 safe that gives very knowledgeable very wise 00:48:13.969 --> 00:48:17.480 and very experienced answers so thank you Thank 00:48:17.480 --> 00:48:17.900 you very much.