Last week’s talk was from Niz Smith, the co-ordinator of Linkage’s outreach project. Linkage is a Community Trust which has been supporting people with special educational needs in Lincolnshire since 1976 and employees around 600 people full and part-time.
It offers many services including residential care, supported living (where individuals have their own home), education and helping people into work. The outreach project was established 7 years ago, and centres around a mobile sensory room known as “The Big Purple Bus”.
The bus is out 5 days a week and occasional weekends, and typically attends mainstream primary schools that have a handful of pupils with special needs but not the equipment or staff training of a dedicated special needs facility. The bus provides an opportunity for children to interact with a variety of sensory items and toys, and for teaching assistants to find out what their pupils respond to and what may be of benefit in the classroom going forwards.
Linkage also run a library of sensory items which can be lent out for individuals to try. This service is in demand since items marketed as “sensory” tend to be quite expensive, and it’s hard to predict if a given individual will benefit from them until they can be “hands on”.
Many items can be quite cheap and simple, such as crochet “Worry Worms” that provide a fidgety child something to quietly play with that doesn’t distract their fellow pupils. Niz sent the club a link to the tutorial video below, noting that they work best when made with thicker wool and that embroidered eyes are far safer than googly eyes. Why not have a go!
Find out more about Linkage at https://www.linkage.org.uk