From CHATNewsToday.ca
By Chantal Wagner
An occupational therapist in Medicine Hat is helping families that have children with sensory needs.
You know when a rainbow bus pulls up and parks, it’s going to be a fun ride.
That’s the goal of the Sensational Path.
Inside the colourful bus looks like a playground, but it also provides different sensory needs for children.
Erin Grujic has been an occupational therapist for 21 years.
And over the last three, the owner of Sensational Path has been travelling southern Alberta.
She converted a school bus into a mobile sensory space for youth and works with the senses.
“Their tactile sense, your vestibular sense which is a movement sense, and your proprioceptive sense which helps kids be calm when they need to be calm,” Grujic explained.
The sensory bus is a way for children to learn and have fun, while they work on developing their skills to be independent.
Grujic says everyone has different sensory needs.
And for kids who have a hard time sitting still or just need a movement break, they can blow off some steam during a session.
“With my training, I can switch the equipment out based on what the kids need. There are swings, climbing wall, there’s a really fun rope tunnel the kids like,” she said.
The preschoolers at Montessori Preschool were able to let loose inside the fun bus.
Grujic loves seeing the kids smile and their reactions all while the fun works to help process information from their senses.
“Some kids have what I call a big cup for sensory needs,” Grujic explained. They need a lot of input to fill their cup. And some kids have a small cup and they are easily overwhelmed because their cup gets filled up quite quickly.”
Childcare workers also know first-hand the improvements they see in the kids during sensory bus sessions.
And they say it helps kids come out of their shells.
“The ability to try new things, because it is something different that we don’t have here, like some of the gross motor stuff,” Heather Fruin, childcare worker with Montessori Preschool said.
“Kids love school buses and it’s a great way for them to incorporate having fun,” Alex Wirachowsky fellow childcare worker at Montessori added.
Having fun rings quite true for preschoolers.
The rainbow bus is always an exciting day, the kids say they love the tunnel, zip-line, and slide.
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