Improving learning and wellbeing for autistic children

The first evidence-based guide to creating a sensory room to support the well-being and learning of autistic people has been launched. The Wales Autism Research Centre at Cardiff University collaborated with teachers and psychologists who work with autistic children, autistic people and parents to develop the new sensory room guide. The resource aims to ground the development of a sensory room in research - something that hasn't existed to date - to help practitioners and parents maximise the benefit of sensory spaces for autistic individuals. Dr Catherine Jones, Director, Wales Autism Research Centre at Cardiff University who led the development of the guide, said: "A sensory room is a dedicated space that contains sensory equipment to transform the environment and provide sensory stimulation in lots of different ways. It is an adaptive space, changing the equipment types and stimulation amounts to meet the user's needs." Sensory rooms are widely used within schools that support pupils with additional needs, as well as in a range of community and care settings for both adults and children, but there were no evidence-based guidelines for their creation. The team at the Wales Autism Research Centre aimed to develop a guide, based on their own research, to help educators ensure they can use sensory rooms to their full potential, to maximise their benefits for learning and wellbeing. The sensory room guide draws on the Wales Autism Research Centre's research into the use of key pieces of multi-sensory equipment - such as bubble tubes, mirror balls, fibre optics and tactile walls.