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Kids with sensory issues have an especially difficult time hiding God's word in their hearts. Cubbies is very stimulating, and depending on the child, that can make things better or worse for the child. God blessed me one year with kids with issues (6 of 60 needed special attention from leaders). That same year, I "happened" to meet an expert in special needs children who worked for the Bellevue School District teaching teachers how to manage a classroom with special needs children. I learned so much that year, I made myself a chart to help me remember everything I learned. I don't, by any stretch, consider myself an expert. But I offer here what I learned working with sensitive children over the years.

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We’re not looking to ‘diagnose’ or label anyone with sensory or learning issues. What we are doing is recognizing that there are kids who get ramped up with stimulation, and there are kids who require stimulation to calm down and to focus. We want to provide both of those environments when we can in order to Hide God’s Word in the Hearts of Cubbies.

 

Some of the tools (for example, tools to help ease transitions) may benefit all our Clubbers. Some tools (for example, the beanbag chair or rocking chair) we need to restrict access to just certain Clubbers, by saying things like “this is Mary’s special chair. Only Mary can use it.”

 

With all that said, here are some tools we have available to use with the Clubbers we know will benefit from them.

sensory seeking vs sensory sensitive.jpg

Special Needs

Idea

  1. Bean bag and Rocking chair.

  2. Balance ball.

  3. Fluorescent light filters. (Amazon.com : fluorescent light filters)
     

  4. Easing transitions.

    • Three-minute warning

    • Countdown timer

    • Pictures of next activity






       

  5. Sitting on their tummy. Laying on the floor (commando style).


     

  6. Gloves.

     

  7. Noise-cancelling headphones.





     

  8. Picture cards with foreign language symbols.




     

  9. Sensory Sand.

     

  10. Fidget Box.

  11. Sensationalbrain.org

Benefit

  1. Vestibular stimulation keeps them calm.

  2. Has the same effect as running around the room, but they are doing it in place.

  3. Fluorescent lights are known to cause the wrong kind of stimulation in children. Some churches have converted to LEDs. An alternative is adding filters to fluorescent light fixtures to soften the effects of the lights.

  4. People commonly have difficulty with change. And we change at least four times throughout our night at Cubbies. To help all our Cubbies ease into our transitions, we are using a countdown timer and pictures of the next activity. HOW IT WORKS: Three minutes before the transition, you will start the timer and tell your Cubbies there are three minutes until we move to the next activity. You will show your Cubbies a picture of the next activity so they can start preparing mentally for what comes next. Finish up what you are doing in your classroom, until the bell chimes.

    Timers and pictures will be provided in all our classrooms. We may provide pocket-sized versions to some of our special Cubbie friends. Please let us know if you think one of them might benefit from a set of their own pictures.

  5. Provides a greater surface area that is being touched. This can have a similar effect as the bean bag or rocking chair. This is a perfectly acceptable option to encourage focus. If it becomes more of a distraction, we will need to figure out how to say “Kayla can sit like that but you can’t.” I don’t know what that looks like yet, so bear with me as we work that through.

  6. Some of our Cubbies are finger suckers, which poses a challenge when we want to hold their hand to keep tabs on them. We have small knit winter gloves for them to use to help with that.

  7. Cubbies frequently have tender ears and can be bothered by the intensity of our activities. Although we discourage excessive screeching by asking for a do-over done with excited inside voices, some Cubbies can still find that level of noise too much to handle. Additionally, crying Cubbies can be disturbing to other Cubbies. If you are in one of our more active stations (Games, Songs, sometimes the Bible Lesson), feel free to use our noise-canceling headphones with any of your Cubbies. It would be especially helpful if you are able to put the headphones on the Cubbie before s/he actually needs them.

  8. Even though Cubbies don’t “read” yet (in their own language or in English), if they have been exposed to the symbols previously (for example, if they have grown up in another country where the symbols were everywhere) the Cubbie will recognize the foreign characters and actually be comforted by the familiarity of those characters. So if we were to take a picture of, for example, Katie Collie with the Chinese characters for the Chinese word for “dog,” while we say the English word “dog,” this process would be more comforting, making the Cubbie more able to learn.

  9. Sensory sand can be very calming. In previous weeks we have removed the Cubbie from the classroom to calm down with sensory sand. We are making a small tub of personalized sensory sand for specific Cubbies so they can use it and remain in the classroom.

  10. Small fidget items can have the same effect as sensory sand. We will be assembling personalized boxes of these items as well.

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