 |
Main Menu |
|
|
 Home Community Members options Search Web
|
|
|
|
|
Survey |
|
|
How many children are on the spectrum in your family?
|
|
|
|
|
News › Snoezelen Room
|
Therapy & Treatments: Snoezelen Room
|
|
|
Posted by Sylvia on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 (12:07:58)
Sensory stimulation and relaxation in special interior rooms
Prof. Dr. Krista Mertens
Humboldt-University of Berlin (Germany)
Development of Snoezelen
Since the 1980s Snoezelen has found increasing popularity in Germany. I first heard the term "Snoezelen" in 1988 and made contact with the institution for 400 severely and extremely severely mentally handicapped children and adults De Hartenberg, in Ede (Netherlands).
The special Snoezelen rooms, floors and corners - even a Snoezelen pool - were designed as "day activities" by Ad Verheul and Jan Hulsegge. (In Ad Verheul are traits of a set-designer, artist, landscape gardener and aviation designer. He is able to use his creativity, openess and sensivity to comprehend the needs of handicapped people and to develop new items.)
As mentioned above Snoezelen was originally conceived as a leisure activity for people with severe mental handicap. By now therapeutic and pedagogic concepts of Snoezelen are scientifically based on a wealth of available observation.
The advantages of this intervention are enjoyed by many people in schools, kindergartens, day centres, old people's homes, psychiatric institutions, hospitals and rehabilitation centres
In Germany work is being carried out on getting recognition for this intervention method both in paedagogique and therapeutic practice but also as a cure. In 1998 we set up the German Snoezelen Foundation. The members of the board - and me as the president - agreed on the following definition:
"Snoezelen means a specially designed environment where well-being is to be caused by controllable multisensorial stimuli."
Snoezelen can take place either inside a room or in an area outside.
Experts, not only in Germany but especially in Great Britain, do also share different opinions on this issue. One group argues that this „designed environment“ has to be restricted to a specially planned interior room. Others believe that Snoezelen - in correspondence with so-called sense gardens (e.g. Kükelhaus) - is also possible in specially designed areas outside.
A third group proclaims that any perception of stimuli that has a positive influence on the individual can be called Snoezelen. This could include a stroll along a stream, in the mountains or at the sea as well as rocking in a hammock in the shade of a tree - might be in an oasis with the observation of bubbling springs.
Some even believe that any satisfaction of one’s needs should be called Snoezelen. It seems to be difficult to find a common denominator concerning this issue.
In all cases one can find the same positive effects: These specially designed rooms cause positive emotions such as well-being, rest, satisfaction, poise or joy. Pleasant surroundings call back memories and support self-reflection. One is enabled to gather strength and develop ideas.
On the basis of this exclusively positive experience, the number of rooms designed accordingly is constantly rising - 250 in Germany (August 2000). You can find most of them in institutions for handicapped people (including sheltered work shops), in clinics and institutions for rehabilitation and in different institutions for elderly. The special ambience is now being applied to water, too. Here, light and sound seem to have positive effects similar to those in other rooms.
Full Article
Design of a Snoezelen-Room
Snoezelen has become a magic world. Smelling and dozing takes place in a room enriched with odours, between water tubes in which illuminated bubbles rise. Lying between “lights glittering like jewels†and being taken intor the realm of sleep by pleasant music.
With the multitude of sensual stimulation and the possibilities Snoezelen offers it is being accredited with an increasing amount of success: it creates an atmosphere, motivates children and adults to learn, helps release stress, offers distraction, is a form of therapy, alleviates disturbances, brings people closer together, and can be used in many places. Many of these points which are based on experience could be considered as scientifically proven.
From history, we already know about rooms that might be characterised as Snoezelen rooms. Ludwig II, king of Bavaria in Germany, created grottoes and bedrooms for dreaming and relaxation in his castles in Neuschwanstein and Linderhof at the middle of the 19th century. Natural rock caves, such as the fairy cave in Saalfeld, are equally fascinating natural examples.
They show great similarities with some of today’s Snoezelen institutions. Oriental bathrooms or temple-like pools at the turn of the century - nowadays fun pools - could be classified as belonging to Snoezelen. The question is: Where is the borderline?
If you agree in the task of science and research you must habe a common basis. It is important to start with an indoore centre.
A Snoezelen centre may have up to twelve rooms (Ede in Netherlands; Upplevelsen in Sweden). The area offers multisensory stimulation for the senses, but each room do more or less emphasize different stimulation for one or two specific senses. The most popular room is the white one. It is designed with several light-effect. Sound and music can be added, aromatherapy can be included. The common equipment are:
· bubble tube
· light tube
· fibre optic and cascading fountain
· projector with effect wheels
· senso-kit tower
· milky way carpet
· mirrors
· music water bed
· aroma diffuser
These effects are used alone or combined safety. They stimulate the person to interact with their surroundings, to construct an image of their world and to form a structure. This is always related to the time needed to think and to experience, to the time a person spends in a room and in which they absorb impressions, associate and memorises them.
Scientific recognition
The question of the theoretic background of Snoezelen becomes increasing pressing. Snoezelen has not been developed from a therapy concept but has developed from need for rest of people with severest handicap.
Snoezelen has much in common with so-called sensorial integration. The main issues are the effects of visual, haptic-somatic, kinaesthetic, olfactory and acoustic stimuli, which - alone or in combination - calm people down and help them to settle their affairs. They help to remember, to compare and to re-organise.
In such a sensorial integration process, short distance senses (olfaction, degustation, touch, feel, including tactile-kinaesthetic and proprioceptive sense) and long distance senses (looking, hearing) have to co-operate.
In connection with these facts, the sense of smell, that is the olfactory perception (and closely related to it the gustatory perception, the sense of taste) needs to be emphasised again. This oldest part of the brain, the limbic system, regulates breathing, blood pressure and sleeping. Earliest memories from childhood are always connected to smelling. A certain oil, for instance, reminds one of a room in first year where a child is grown up, or the smell of anise and cinnamon reminds of Christmas cookies.
Scents are used purposely in Snoezelen rooms in order to activate the memory (e.g. in certain processes where you lost memory - apallic syndrome). These substances can also be used for manipulation: lemon scent or menthol to bolster somebody up, Saint John’s wort or hop to avoid anxiety and depression; sandalwood to activate.
In Snoezelen, the effects of colours and light, of sounds and melodies will have to be more closely examined, too.
In centring concentration the child learns to focus on stimuli, to select and to concentrate on a particular thing in the specially designed Snoezelen rooms, which can be full of sense stimuli or contain very few stimuli.
"Snoezelen is a concept in which an indoors environment is created mainly to provide comfort by using controllable stimuli. The specially furnished rooms offer a multitude of sensorial stimulations. The user can discover the world of senses by experiencing both - the individual but also the combined effect of music, notes, sounds, light effects, tactile stimulation and aromas.
The room design has a positive therapeutic or paedagogique effect on the user. In addition the relationship between carer and user can be successfully influenced."
While experts in the 1980s concentrated on disabled and severely disabled people, Snoezelen-rooms are now also used for mentally ill people as well as for families and for elderly people, who seek relaxation in these rooms. Snoezelen institutions are being tested with violent juveniles and hyperactive children.
This area is used in pain therapy as well as in combination with certain body-and relaxation therapies. One must not underestimate the opportunities for sensual perception development in infants and school children in a specially designed Snoezelen room.
Click here to read more
Or Click here to visit International Snoezelen Association
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by Sylvia on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 (12:07:58) (18343 reads)
|
|
|
|
|
Latest: 
New Today: 0
New Yesterday: 0
Overall: 7437
Members: 0
Visitors: 8
Total: 8
1: