3 minute read
Rhyming Multisensory Stories - Storytelling Through The Senses
By Victoria Navin ©2020 Victoria Navin
My name is Victoria Navin and I have 20 years of experience working in education. From 2000–2010, I taught literacy skills to the traveling community and English (EFL) to Spanish and Moroccan communities.
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From 2010–2021, I taught literacy, numeracy, and speech and language interventions in a special education school in Cheshire, England. My caseload was 70 students, aged 3–19, with a range of disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder, sensory processing disorder, profound and multiple learning disability (PMLD) complex needs, behavior challenges, Down syndrome, speech and language disorders, and global delay.
In March 2020, I built the website www.rhymingmultisensorystories.com as a free resource to help parents, caregivers, and families during the COVID-19 pandemic school closures.
My stories connect individuals with special educational needs and disabilities, aged 3–19, to literature, culture, and topic through the senses in a way that is fun, motivating, and meaningful to their lives.
What is a Multi-sensory Story? Storytelling builds a bond between the storyteller and the story explorer, enhancing wellbeing and enriching experiences.
Multisensory stories tell a story using words and sensory stimuli (story props that are low-budget items found around the home.) Exposure to stimuli allows the story explorer to engage with new experiences to calm and alert the sensory system in a safe, therapeutic environment. In short, it helps individuals to use their senses to understand the world around them.
The combination of sensory stimuli, rhyme, and the repetitive structure of the stories supports memory and the development of early literacy skills such as joint attention, eye contact, turn-taking, anticipation, communication, and language skills. The stories are suitable for a range of abilities from curious kindergarten-aged children to teenagers with complex needs.
Multisensory stories are an excellent motivating tool for encouraging alternative communication systems that are non-verbal, such as Makaton, American Sign Language (ASL), body sign, choose board, and to facilitate picture exchange communication systems (PECS). They help individuals with speech impediments and communication difficulties by building confidence with speech as they have a physical prop to support the words they are saying.
Using Multisensory Stories to Inform on Needs and Care Plans Observing reactions to a range of sensory stimuli enables you to build a picture of an individual’s sensory preferences. This record of likes, dislikes, motivators, and triggers can calm an individual when anxious or stressed and help parents and families make informed choices to enhance daily life in areas such as diet, sensory needs, care plans, and daily or leisure activities.
Knowing triggers informs the writing of behavior plans and strategies. You may seek to avoid some triggers and work on de-sensitizing others that may be necessary, e.g., teeth brushing through repeated exposure to build tolerance.
When used in a safe setting, rhyming multi-sensory stories can prepare the special needs child for visits out of their daily routine such as getting a haircut or visiting the dentist.
For sensory ideas and inspiration and to download your free multisensory stories visit the website www.rhymingmultisensorystories.com Your questions, queries, comments, and feedback are always welcome!
