A Snoezelen Room isn’t something you will find in an everyday household. It’s a multi-sensory room specially designed to provide a stimulating environment to various senses, using various lighting effects, color, sounds, music, and scents.
Barrhead’s Multi-Sensory Environment (MES) Committee was presented with a $10,000 cheque from MLA Maureen Kubinec last week, which the committee has been awaiting for a couple of years. For a committee that has been working towards the single goal of bringing this room to Barrhead for six years now, receiving the final step in funding is an exciting step. However this shouldn’t be an accomplishment only celebrated by members of this group, but by the community.
The committee is made up of up of members from BES, Blue Heron, ADLC, Alberta Health Services, the Northeast Region Community Board of Persons with Developmental Disabilities (NEPDD) and Barrhead Play and Grow Society. These individuals have put a lot of time and effort into bringing this opportunity to the Barrhead area.
Right now the closest sensory rooms are in Westlock and Whitecourt, which are quite a distance for some. Time slots and transportation can become so much of an issue, they prevent some individuals from taking advantage of such a unique and helpful tool.
If everything goes as planned, the new multi-sensory room available to the community by September of this year. What’s great is the room won’t only be accessible to children. Though it will be in the elementary school, adults and seniors who would benefit from spending time in the room can use it as well.
The goal is to provide a space where people with mental and physical disabilities can explore their senses in a safe environment. This can be done through swinging, light sensations, movements, textures, and unique visuals, all of which the sensory room will offer.
The level to which technology has advanced when it comes to multi-sensory devices is astounding. The school will be purchasing a LightFloor, a surface made of LED-lit and pressure-sensitive tiles that detect and react to movement with color and sound. Stepping onto the surface, the display might show a forest with leaves that can be blown aside with the swipe of a hand. The scene could change to a field, where making a kicking motion will send a ball flying.
Similar devices such as a a solar wheel, which will display scenes like falling leaves, sunsets, and starry nights, can also be expected. There will also be a hammock hanging from the ceiling, as well as a parachute through which a projector can give the illusion of falling snow.
With the final stages of this long-awaited project about to begin, Barrhead should give an encouraging pat on the back to this dedicated committee who have been striving to make this area in rural Alberta a better place for everyone.
