Everything about Snoezelen totally explained
Snoezelen or
controlled multisensory stimulation is used for people with
mental disabilities, and involves exposing them to a soothing and stimulating environment, the "snoezelen room". These rooms are specially designed to deliver stimuli to various
senses, using lighting effects, color, sounds, music, scents, etc. The combination of different materials on a wall may be explored using tactile senses, and the floor may be adjusted to stimulate the
sense of balance.
Originally developed in the
Netherlands in the
1970s, snoezelen rooms have been established in institutions all over the world and are especially common in
Germany, where more than 1200 exist.
The term "snoezelen" (pronounced like "SNOOzelen") is a
neologism formed from the
Dutch "snuffelen" (to sniff, to snuffle) and "doezelen" (to doze, to snooze).
Ideally, Snoezelen is a non-directive therapy and can be staged to provide a multi-sensory experience or single sensory focus, simply by adapting the lighting, atmosphere, sounds, and textures to the specific needs of the client at the time of use. There is no formal focus on therapeutic outcome - the focus is to assist users to gain the maximum pleasure from the activity in which they and the enabler are involved. An advantage of Snoezelen is that it doesn't rely on verbal communication and may be beneficial for people with profound autism, as it may provide stimulation for those who would otherwise be almost impossible to reach.
Snoezelen is used for people with
autism and other
developmental disabilities,
dementia, and
brain injury. However, research on the benefits of treatment is scarce, with variable
study designs.
A small research study carried out in Brussels compared the behavior of nine adult clients with profound autism in both classroom and Snoezelen settings. Though individual results varied, the study claimed a 50% reduction in distress and stereotypical behavior, and seventy-five percent less aggression and self-injury in the Snoezelen environment.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Snoezelen'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://snoezelen.totallyexplained.com">Snoezelen Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |