Sensory Processing & Learning

At Ballarat Specialist School our students can access a range of sensory spaces which provide opportunities to self-regulate in order to effectively learn.

A sensory room is a controlled and intentionally created space that provides multi-sensory resources to support a student’s sensory needs to enable them to engage in learning.

At Ballarat Specialist School sensory rooms are referred to as the sensory room, the sensory gym, the therapy room, back/quiet rooms and the sensory pool.

In addition to the use of sensory spaces we also promote sensory interventions (activities / resources / experiences) within regular learning spaces such as classrooms. Sensory learning and regulation activities develop the students’ ability to organise and interpret information received through the senses to produce a response, including visual, auditory, gustatory (taste), olfactory (smell), tactile, proprioceptive, interoception and vestibular information. In order to be able to understand the environment around us and engage in learning, our brain needs to be able to process information from different senses simultaneously.

Sensory rooms are used by students who have been assessed by an occupational therapist as having sensory needs. Every student using a sensory room has Individual Education Plan (IEP) learning goals and outcomes linked to the use of the room. Sensory rooms are used with guidance from an occupational therapist who will also provide staff training and education about the use of the sensory rooms.