Bag Books is a UK registered charity which publishes multi-sensory books to support people with severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities. They are aimed to be enjoyed by people who do not benefit from ‘mainstream’ books by providing stories which are interactive and sensory based rather than relying on words and pictures. They can be enjoyed without being fully understood as they are told using objects, voices, emotions and actions. All of the stories consist of just a few lines, with every line being accompanied by a sensory element, such as something to touch, a sound, a smell, or a physical interaction with the storyteller.

Bag Books use a variety of inexpensive everyday objects and can develop and encourage reactions to stimuli; develop participation in shared activities; develop an interest in people, events or objects; develop focus of attention on people, events or objects; develop acceptance and engagement in co active or shared exploration; develop awareness of activities and experiences; and develop turn-taking skills.

Bag Books have created DIY at home books which can be accessed free of charge and simply require the storyteller to gather the items themselves. The objects are things that you will probably already have or which can be easily and cheaply obtained. Each storyboard also mentions alternatives that could be used for certain elements. The stories are designed to be used at home by a parent/carer in a one-to-one setting and can be found either via the website or using the links below. Each storyboard also contains a link to a film where you can watch an example of the story being told.

Bag Books is a resource which we frequently use in school so will be familiar to your child. The objects needed for the stories are mainly freely accessible everyday items from home however if you are unable to source some of them then please get in touch and we will do our best to get them for you.

If you would like more information then have a look on the website http://www.bagbooks.org/

Bag Books – A Sad Day 2021

Bag Books – A Snowy Day 2021

Bag Books – Don’t Say Egg 2021

Bag Books – Laila in Lockdown 2021

Bag Books – Moving Day 2021

Bag Books – Party in the Sky 2021

Bag Books – The Alien Planet 2021

Bag Books – The Secret Ingredient 2021

Bag Books – Three Little Pigs 2021

Hi Everyone,

Following  last week’s blog about smell it seems logical to move onto taste as the two sensory systems are so intertwined.  As we all know it can be hard to taste if we have a reduced sense of smell, for example if we hold our nose or have a cold it is difficult or impossible to taste properly. Our mouths have lots of sensory receptors, both tactile and taste, and as result are an excellent ‘tool’ for exploring and learning about the world around us.  By putting an object in our mouth we receive information about smell, taste, texture and temperature.  This also means for children with hypersensitivity in certain sensory systems daily tasks such as eating and brushing teeth can be very challenging:

On our tongue we have different taste bud receptors for sour, sweet, salty, umami (meaty) and bitter. The tactile receptors on our tongue gives us information about the texture (crunchy, dry, smooth, wet) and temperature of food.

I have included a link to a brilliant clip about taste and smell, which explains why children are more sensitive to strong taste than adults.

Some children may have strict ‘rules’ around what they eat, or a very short list of food they enjoy.   Other children might seek out non food substances to eat such as sand and dirt. This may be because they are seeking strong tastes (hyposensitive to taste) or even because they are trying to stimulate their tactile receptors in the mouth (hyposensitive to touch).  *[Pica is an appetite for non food items ]

Food and eating can be a very emotive and stressful subject for parents and families.

A fun way to explore your child’s reaction to different tastes and textures is sensory food sessions.  At school these are sessions where we can gather information about preference of taste and texture, hypo and hypersensitivity to temperature, taste and texture and this information can help us to encourage sensory exploration of different foods and ingredients.  At Hillside we explore food during weekly cookery sessions, when pupils are encouraged to investigate ingredients using their senses. Staff use their observations and consult with parents and our wonderful school cooks, and where appropriate Speech and Language Therapists and Occupational Therapists to build individual eating and drinking profile for our pupils.  With the information we have gathered we can begin to build some sessions to incorporate sensory preferences and begin to try to increase the range of foods the young person will accept.

At Hillside we encourage the pupils to use their senses to explore food, I have attached some visuals if you would like to try using them as a prompt at home.

look smell touch taste

Below I have included a selection of different sensory food activities you could enjoy with your child at home.  If you would like any of these in printed form please contact the school or email me directly at lindsey.robertson1@eastayrshire.org.uk.  Alternatively if you would like visuals to support sensory food exploration tailored to the specific preferences of your child contact me and when can create something around your child’s needs.

Edible Chocolate Slime Recipe

sensory food sessions

• Pica is an appetite for non food items which may in part be caused by seeking the feeling of eating certain non-food items, but there can be other developmental or nutritional reasons behind Pica.  I have included a link to a website that explains Pica in more detail for your information: https://thechildpsychologyservice.co.uk/advice-strategy/pica/

Tacpac is a sensory communication resource using touch and music. Tacpac helps people with sensory impairment, developmental delay, complex learning difficulties, tactile defensiveness, and limited or pre verbal levels of communication.

Tacpac was created to help develop communication skills with children who have profound and multiple learning difficulties and aims to heighten levels of awareness and arousal and also promote responses to various stimuli.

Tacpac is an integrated experience which uses music and textured objects to match the different patterns of the music and is based on the idea of tactile play. It combines touch, sound, pattern and relationship as a fluid process between partners. Tacpac works as a partnership between a ‘giving partner’ and a ‘receiving partner’.

Benefits –

• Tacpac music is composed specifically to reflect the texture of each object so that the receiver experiences total sensory alignment.
• Tacpac can be used by anyone.
• Tacpac builds communication skills.
• Tacpac enables progress to be measured and recorded.
• Tacpac can be used in any setting – at home, in school, in hospital, in residential care or even outside

Throughout Tacpac, each piece of music has been selected carefully to evoke a certain mood and match a tactile sensation, and has been prepared with a mix of texture, volume, speed, rhythm and beat. It is important to stick to the beat throughout the activity.

Touch – The skin is the largest organ in the body, and has many receptors of varying densities. For many of our young people, touch is a primary means of contact and can be the beginnings of pre-intentional communication which means that the child does not intend to convey meaning however we can interpret the responses to have meaning.

Music –  From very young, we develop associations with sounds that accompany particular experiences – touch, taste, smell, emotion and people. Sound is also physical and contains vibrations which can be experienced throughout the whole body as well as the ears.

How Tacpac works –

Each Tacpac activity has music which is specifically composed to reflect the texture of the object which goes with it. This means that your child experiences complete sensory alignment – what they see, is what they hear, is what they feel. Over time, this enables them to develop trust with you as their partner in communication. They can then begin to express themselves by showing what they feel or what they want.

Some of the objects used for Tacpac activities include: a washing up sponge, chopsticks, a pastry brush, a fan, a paint roller and marbles – to name a few. These are all objects which you may already have around your home. There is no need to buy any expensive equipment.

We hope this gives you an understanding of Tacpac as you consider using it at home.

https://tacpac.co.uk/

Communication is an essential part of everyday life and is also a fundamental human right. It is the primary means of conveying and accessing information, it is how we express our needs and wants and also how we discuss thoughts, feelings and build relationships. Communication is the basis of how we socially interact with others, but it is not just talking.

It is not uncommon for individuals who have additional needs to have communication difficulties therefore, it is important that they are supported to use alternative ways to communicate their messages and increase positive interactions with others.

Total Communication is an approach that is used in Hillside School with all pupils and combines a range of modes of communication methods including verbal, non-verbal and written in order to allow individuals with communication difficulties to communicate in a way which is appropriate and accessible to them. We use a combination of objects of reference, photographs, Boardmaker symbols, Makaton signs, written words and also AAC devices including switches daily to allow our learners to be exposed to as many modes of communication as possible. These can also be replicated at home.

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION –

• Verbal – vocalisations and spoken words
• Non-verbal – signing, gesture, facial expressions, use of photos, symbols and use of objects
• Written – written words or drawings

For Total Communication to be effective, we must provide 3 important components –

1.  We must identify and support preferred and appropriate means of communication,
2.  We must motivate individuals to communicate and also provide a reason for them to communicate with us,
3.  We must create lots of opportunities for individuals to practise communicating with us .

Communication is a 2-way process therefore, it will only be successful if we use the same language. It is important to note that  for some individuals, their primary modes of communication may differ in school from that at home and that is ok. This is the reason why we must practise a combined approach of the modes of communication across a range of environments as often as possible in order to maximise effectiveness.

In Hillside, we try to encourage as much as possible the use of total communication at home too in order to further support our learners communication development. This gives pupils different contexts to practise their communication skills and is even more pertinent during lockdown when they are not in school.

Here are some hints to encourage communication with your child.

If you would like more information regarding total communication or advice on how to help your child then please get in touch. You can also find information, advice and ideas from Speech and Language Therapy in East Ayrshire Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/SpeechLanguageEastAyrshire/

Hillside has our named SALT Claire McPherson who is available for advice and can be contacted through the school and there is also a weekly helpline where you can speak to an experienced East Ayrshire SALT. Please see below for times and contact details.

Online links –

https://www.sense.org.uk/get-support/information-and-advice/communication/total-communication/

https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/media/3428/totalcommunicationresourcepackopt.pdf

This week we are moving on from focusing on our sense of touch, to think in more detail about our sense of smell (our olfactory sense). As I mentioned before, behaviour we observe in our children can often be linked to more than one sense (multi sensory), as all our senses are very closely linked.  With some observation, thought and discussion we can begin to pin point the sensory needs of our children more accurately.  This YouTube link to Sensory Spectacle focuses in on this point and explains its relation to the sense of smell:

Our sense of smell is really closely related to our emotions, as the information from this sense is taken to the same part of the brain that controls our emotions. I’m sure that makes perfect sense to you all…most of us will have experience of a  smell can ‘transporting’ us to another place and time. This can produce overwhelming feelings of nostalgia, happiness, sadness and fear.  We should always remember how powerful and emotive smell can be.

For individuals who are hypersensitive to smell (they avoid certain smells) you may see extreme responses to even faint smells, e.g. becoming very upset, running away, gagging.  It is important to remember your perfume, shower gel, shampoo or even the smell of washing powder from your clothes, could elicit an extreme response from someone who is hypersensitive to smell.

On the other hand, people who are hyposensitive to smell might seek out very strong smells, even smells that might be dangerous or perceived as unpleasant such as petrol or faeces.  By offering access to safer and more acceptable alternative strong smells it is possible to reduce the seeking of these less desirable ones.

I have included a couple of links to lovely, fun, olfactory sensory activities.  You should only really work with around two or three smells per session as your nose becomes overpowered by too many smells at one time.

If you have any essential oils you could pop a couple of drops on a cotton wool ball and place it in an empty bottle and let your child smell.  You could also use essence/oil used for baking, for example, peppermint or vanilla.  Alternatively you could even use some ‘smells’ from around your house e.g. a spray of mummy’s perfume on cotton wool (or on a scarf), a lemon wedge, crushed garlic, cloves, some rosemary from the garden.  An extension to this activity could be doubling the jars of scents and the child has to match like with like, or you could even have a visual for the child to match to the smell. This could be real object to smell or picture/symbol to smell matching.  Start with the light smells first building to the stronger ones, giving the child time to register and process the smell.  Watch carefully for responses to smells.

This activity below is not only a lovely olfactory activity, it will be visually stimulating and if you wish to get your hands in there it will be lovely and tactile too!

Homemade paint recipe with spices

The final activity I have chosen this week would be fun, hassle and mess free for a day when you just want to escape the house and be at one with nature.  Why not print the board below and go outside to the garden and explore some garden herbs…you could do this at the start or end of a lovely family walk. Explore the smells and if appropriate for your child, they could match the herb to the picture board.

Herbs

I have again included some simple symbols your child will use at Hillside to express their likes and dislikes.  If you would like any resources sent home in packs or hard copies of the Boardmaker symbols please email me lindsey.robertson1@eastayrshire.org.uk or phone the school.

like don’t like yes no

Please share any pictures of your activities via our Facebook page. Have a great week and stay safe.

Lindsey