SENSORY BAGS

One of the main aims of the project was every school to provide with a multi-sensory bag to work with those who have multiple disabilities and difficulties to communicate and relate with their nearest environment. With these sensory bags we can bring to our students the European dimension of the project, so everybody in the school has the chance to know more things about the visited country in a funny and pedagogical way.

In Aremi school we were the responsibles to close the project since we hosted the final meeting, and we decided to do more than a sensory bag, a multi-sensory story or book. The main aim was to gather and sum the most important or significant stimulus seen in the different countries plus the stimulus of our own country and then tell a story with all these materials. That's a multi-sensory story or book.

Multi-sensory books offer accessible stories for those who cannot benefit from mainstream books. They are told interactively, through actions and emotions rather than words and pictures, so they are perfect for anyone with severe learning difficulties, profound and multiple learning difficulties and those on the autistic spectrum. They also work well with children who have language delay and younger mainstream children with visual impairment.

This concept is understood as a globalized intervention whose main aim is to promote students’ communication, interaction and a development from the basis of their basic needs.

In a multi-sensory story each line is matched with a specially selected object which participants are helped to access hand-over-hand. These objects engage the senses of sight, sound, touch, smell and motion.

Here you have the story created by the staff of AREMI school that can be explained now in our partner's county and of course can be adapted to use in any special school.

MULTI-SENSORY STORY CENTRE D'EDUCACIÓ ESPECIAL AREMI (LLEIDA)

Long, long time ago, in a small village near Lleida, there lived two brothers called Jordi and Laia. His house was surrounded by pear, peach and apple

trees…

Now let’s smell this apple! Yummy!!! How sweet it is!!!

One day, on a Saturday morning, they decided to go out for a walk with their friends, but … as soon as they left the house it started pouring with rain. At first it was raining slowly, then heavier. Therefore they decided to remain at

home.

Listen to the rain! Fine drizzle…..downpour…..

Then, Jordi said to his sister:- “Laia, why don’t we tidy up our rooms?”

- “Ok! Let’s go!” – Laia said.

Off they went to Jordi’s room. To her surprise Laia stared at a shinny coloured box…

OOOOOOHHHHH!! Look at this box!!!! It’s beautiful!!!

- “Jordi” –Laia said- “what’s inside this beautiful box?”- “Now I’m going to show you. Have a seat and look…” – answered Jordi

joyfully-

Sitting on the floor, Jordi carefully opened the box.

OOOOHHHH!!! Look at this, it is like a chest of treasures!!!

The first thing that she took out was a bag of chocolates.

Listen!! Now, we’re going to taste this chocolate!! Mmm, it’s really good!!! It’s delicious!!! Once you’ve started, you can not stop.

Jordi explained that it reminded him of the time when he went to Belgium, where he met Philippe, who helped him discover the world of chocolates.

After that, Laia took out a brilliant black object:

- “Jordi do you see that?” It looks like the sweets that The Three Wise Men bring at Christmas time.

- “That’s for sure”, “this is coal…but it’s not the sweetest one they have brought".

Touch it! It’s hard!! Look at your hands!! They’re dirty. Don’t eat it, because it is real coal!!!

Jordi said: “My friend Andreas gave it to me when I went to Germany. There they use the coal to heat up their homes.”

Let’s go and clean ours hands!!

“And look at these gloves that Erik from Norway gave me ! Winters are bitterly cold there – Jordi said.

Look and touch it!! They are soft and warn. Can you feel it?

“Now, Laia listen!!” – Jordi takes a CD and a white napkin out of the box…

Suddenly a sound of music starts:

- “What’s that music?” (music sounds)- “It sounds nice! We danced a lot with this music with Agatha from

Cyprus. I feel like dancing right now! Let’s party Laia!- “That’s funny!”- Laia said

Let’s dance!! It’s funny!!! Now lets throw upwards the white napkin!!

When the music had stopped they went back and carried on with the box.

– “Look at this umbrella!”- Jordi said –

Ooohhhh! Look up, these colours are so beautiful!! It is like a rainbow after the storm!!

- “I still remember one rainy day in London and Catherine came with me for a walk along the Tamesis. The rain wasn’t a problem we had a good

time there!!!”

Jordi looked back into the box and said:

- “Ohhh! There’s nothing else inside. I’ve got an idea! Why don’t we send a Catalan souvenir to our European friends?”

- “That’s a great idea!”- said Laia. “We could send a “tio” with “la barretina i la senyera”.

- “Oh Cool! Let’s do it! They will always remember their trip to Catalonia.”

In this way, Jordi and Laia enjoyed that unique moment and they realized how lovely it is to have friends around Europe.

And that’s a true story, and now the story is yours.