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 The Sensory Experience
Our world is full of sensory stimuli. As babies, everything is new and challenging. As we grow, our brains learn to interpret and respond to information received via our senses. Our sensory responses become organized, automatic, and very efficient. We often ignore much of the sensory stimuli we absorb unless it is different or unusual. But we continually regulate our sensory lives through choices, movements, and activities.
Our individual sensory responses vary as we balance our sensory lives. Some needs remain consistent while others change. We interpret, respond, react, and cope according to many different factors such as cognitive ability, culture, experience, and mood. We stay alert, awake, attentive, or asleep only with the right amount of stimulation.
Some individuals are not able to organize and respond appropriately to sensory stimuli. Others have lost skills due to accident or illness, and yet more lack the ability or freedom to make choices to balance their sensory lives. For these individuals the world may be a confusing and frightening place, full of over- or under-stimulation. They may behave inappropriately and act or respond in ways others do not understand.
 SNOEZELEN offers a relaxed atmosphere with pleasant surroundings, soothing sounds, captivating aromas, tactile experiences, massage and vibration, vibrosonic sensations, and gentle movement. Interesting light effects and comfortable seating allow your client to self regulate by choosing sensations. Further, the SNOEZELEN environment provides opportunities for interaction and engagement.
SNOEZELEN and Children with Special Needs
SNOEZELEN and Mental Health
SNOEZELEN and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
SNOEZELEN and Pain Control
SNOEZELEN, Stroke, and Traumatic Brain Injury
SNOEZELEN and Aging
SNOEZELEN and Children with Special Needs
Throughout the world, more work has been done—and more good achieved—with special needs children than in any other area of SNOEZELEN practice. The body of experiential evidence of SNOEZELEN’s benefits for this group is enormous and continues to grow.
FlagHouse has installed SNOEZELEN MSEs or provided portable SNOEZELEN equipment in all the following pediatric settings
- Schools: Since SNOEZELEN MSEs provide diverse learning opportunities, both children with special needs and typically developing children may reap the benefits of multi-sensory learning. We are currently looking at providing inclusion learning settings. Educators and therapists may achieve learning goals by using SNOEZELEN as relaxation or a transitioning tool in an educational setting. It will also help students focus on what is being taught.
- Children’s Hospitals: Pediatric patients experience a release from the stressors of a hospital environment through SNOEZELEN MSEs.
- Autism Programs: Sensory stimulation is a common and successful approach with autistic individuals. It has an impact in the educational as well as the therapeutic arena. The benefits of the non-directive, undemanding SNOEZELEN approach are now both widely accepted and confirmed by research. Further, it is being used in practice as a means of nonverbal communication as a setting for relaxation and self-healing and to provide stimulation for those who would otherwise be almost impossible to reach.
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SNOEZELEN and Mental Health
 A SNOEZELEN MSE's relaxed, calming atmosphere provides an ideal situation for the development of therapeutic relationships. People suffering from tension, depression, or anxiety may discuss feelings more readily as they experience the deep relaxation of SNOEZELEN. This effect initially occurs while in the SNOEZELEN environment but also continues for the rest of the day.
SNOEZELEN and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
SNOEZELEN is also used to provide a "safe place" where children traumatized by violence, sexual abuse, or the effects of war may begin to communicate, regain confidence, and rebuild trusting relationships. Additional research has shown the capacity of SNOEZELEN to induce deep relaxation and improve sleep patterns in critically ill children.
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SNOEZELEN and Pain Control
Recently, caregivers have been turning to SNOEZELEN to provide relief from acute and chronic pain, and to help women relax and remain calm and focused during labor. Early observations indicate that the SNOEZELEN environment offers distraction from pain, a "rehumanizing" effect due to deep relaxation, and all the benefits of leisure which might not otherwise be available to pain sufferers.
 SNOEZELEN, Stroke, and Traumatic Brain Injury
The University Hospital of Ghent, Belgium found that SNOEZELEN's unique flexibility produces excellent results. Here, therapists work one-on-one with young adults who have suffered severe brain damage through injury or stroke. The same SNOEZELEN equipment that stimulates passive individuals may also soothe those prone to agitation. SNOEZELEN allows the hospital to offer its patients a complete therapy package, addressing both gross-motor competencies and emotional needs, with the goal of moving each person toward the highest possible functional level. Practitioners throughout Europe have been using this multi-level approach with documented, positive results.
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SNOEZELEN and Aging
The second largest area of SNOEZELEN research examines its use for individuals with dementia. Its use in this area requires further definition and a more sophisticated specification of the type and stage of dementia is also needed to achieve measurable results. However, overall current findings show consistent improvement across a wide spectrum of categories with a broad range of clients. Recent research projects in Great Britain and the Netherlands have replicated these results, including improvement in affective state, cognition, communication, and functional behavior. Staff also gives positive reports of SNOEZELEN and its effectiveness.
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