The Autism Academy of Learning

Announcing……

The Autism Academy of Learning’s New State-of-the Art

Snoezelen Multisensory Room!

We are excited and proud to announce the opening of the school’s new Snoezelen Multisensory Room! We have transformed a bare and empty room off the third floor gymnasium into one filled with sensory delights, including two colorful bubble columns, fiberoptic combs and sprays, vibrating bean bag chair, soft rocker, lighted infinity tunnel, projector with various visual effects and aromatherapy. Rubber tiles were placed to make a soft and easy-to-clean floor.

Snoezelen rooms combine sights, sounds, textures and movements to provide a calming and relaxing environment. The Snoezelen environment will provide the students of the AAL an enjoyable and therapeutic setting that will help them in processing sensory information, increasing their attention spans and reducing self-injurious and self-stimulating behavior as well as aggression. This will help our students to be more focused and more able to concentrate on academic and vocational instruction.

We could not have built this room without the support of our community, parents and staff. The funds used to build the Snoezelen Room came entirely from grant funding, corporate donations and the school’s PTO/Fundraising efforts. Thank you to our PTO/Fundraising Chair, Rachel Cisco for her tireless efforts.The total amount raised and spent on the room equaled approximately $16,500.

We sincerely thank the following organizations for

their most generous donations:

Grant Awards:

Toledo Rotary Foundation

Ronald McDonald House Charities

Wal-Mart Foundation

Coroporate Gifts:

Sanofi Aventis

Fundraising:

AAL PTO/Fundraising

(Thanks to all those who sold and bought fundraising items)

Federal Funding:

ARRA (federal stimulus) Funds

Donated Items:

Mark Lafferty, Principal (stereo)

We are building a Snoezelen Multisensory Room for the students of The Autism Academy of Learning. The equipment will be used by all of our students, providing them hands-on experiences that will be therapeutic, motivating and fun. This room is located on the third floor and is currently undergoing renovations that include the installation of a drop ceiling and dimmable incandescent lights, electrical upgrades, soft flooring and matting on the walls.  We foresee students using this room by April.

Snoezelen rooms combine sights, sounds, textures, movements and aromas to provide a calming, relaxing and stimulating environment. A typical Snoezelen room contains items to stimulate the visual, auditory, tactile, vestibular, proprioceptive and olfactory senses. Types of equipment include things such as large bubble tubes, fiber optic sprays, projector effects, vibrating mats, relaxing music and tactile wall. Such environments have proven especially effective and therapeutic for individuals with autism, sensory processing disorders, self-injurious behavior and mood disorders. Persons with autism often have great difficulty in integrating sensory information, and Snoezelen is an effective way to help those with autism to gain better sensory integration. The environment will help an upset student feel calmer and may help reduce the chances that they will engage in self-injurious behaviors. Being able to provide our students a state of the art Snoezelen environment will help our school to better serve our students.  The Snoezelen equipment is therapeutic in many respects and enjoyable to the students at the same time.

Students with autism have a difficult time with maintaining equilibrium when it comes to their sensory systems. They are often either overstimulated or understimulated in their environments. Snoezelen multisensory equipment addresses this issue and provides for sensory experiences that are both calming and stimulating. The needs of a student can be addressed on an individual basis by providing exposure to the types of equipment that will give the student either the stimulation he/she craves, or provide a calming experience for a child whose sensory system is overwhelmed. When students with autism are overstimulated, they can respond with negative behaviors that include aggression, self-injurious behavior, self-stimulating behavior, anxiety and avoidance. When understimulated, they may be withdrawn and difficult to engage in their surroundings, which makes it more difficult to gain their attention to where they are able to learn.

We have been writing many grants in order to obtain funding for our Snoezelen Room.  Thus far, we have received grant funding from Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northwest Ohio and the Wal-Mart Foundation.  We have received a donation from the Sanofi Aventis company.  We have received ARRA (America Recovery & Reinvestment Act) or federal “stimulus” money.  And through the efforts of fundraising by our parents, families and staff, we have raised money earmarked for Snoezelen that has been used to pay for the electrical work.  We will add new items of equipment as funding is secured and our Snoezelen Room will be state of the art!

We are building a Snoezelen Multisensory Room for the students of The Autism Academy of Learning. The equipment will be used by all of our students, providing them hands-on experiences that will be therapeutic, motivating and fun. This room is located on the third floor and is currently undergoing renovations that include the installation of a drop ceiling and dimmable incandescent lights, electrical upgrades, soft flooring and matting on the walls.  We foresee students using this room by April.