Page 79 - SEN113 SEN Magazine July-August 2021-V3

Sensory Creating successful sensory circuits Kim Griffin explains sensory circuits. What is a sensory circuit? Sensory circuits are similar in function to a gym circuit, but instead of focussing on fitness, they focus on supporting arousal. Arousal is the body’s level of alertness and it can range from sleeping to highly stressed. In order to learn, a student needs to have adequate arousal to focus. Sensory circuits can help students with this. Sensory circuits have evolved from the sensory diet concept. Sensory diets are a set of specific sensory strategies created for one student to help to support their readiness to learn. The term ‘diet’ was used to liken sensory needs, often movement, to the body’s need for food as fuel. Some children benefit from additional sensory input as fuel for learning. The benefit of using a circuit is that more children can be involved at the same time. A well designed sensory circuit will support each child’s individual arousal needs. So, if the student needs to increase their arousal, the circuit should support this. If they need to get organised, the activities in the circuit should help with this. For individuals who are sensitive, it should help them to calm down. “Arousal is the body’s level of alertness” Before you start It is important to consider the individual needs of the children, setting a goal is a great way to monitor if the circuit has been helpful. If your students are super fidgety and inattentive, the goal may be that they are able to sit and concentrate on lesson input for 15 minutes. If your child is really overloaded when they come home from school, then the goal may be that they calm down in a safe and organised way. If you have a lot of children who are very fidgety in class, then movement to increase their arousal coupled with heavy work to finish should help. This could include pushing, pulling and yoga. If you have children who are more sluggish and struggle to maintain sufficient alertness, then more movement could be the best choice as they will need to increase their arousal. If a child needs to calm down, yoga, heavy work and breathing activities should be in the circuit. Setting up a circuit Circuits will look very different from school to school and house to house, as it will depend on what space and equipment is available. It should also depend on the needs of the children that are doing the circuit! It can be helpful to schedule the circuit into the daily timetable. Some schools do them first thing in the morning, other teachers use them as a break between lessons to help children to refocus. Parents of children who are easily overloaded find them helpful when their child arrives home from school. You will need to consider the time, space and resources you have available. At school the PE hall and equipment can be great, or potentially the trim trail in the playground. Some SEN113 79 ■ Circuit at school senmagazine.co.uk