Sensory Friendly Storytimes

Friday, March 14th
Cathy McMahon - from Nebraska.

This lady was a firecracker - good presentation!  She told us about her life changing experience when she totally lost control of her preschool storytime and was very shook up by her reaction. She couldn't figure out what was going on. Storytime audiences have changed. She received a grant to educate over 55 librarians and community professionals on how to modify or create sensory friendly storytimes.

Basically the storytimes run for 25 min and feature:
-sensory toys or specialized furniture for children on the autism spectrum. Cube chairs, fidget toys (which helps focus the child - which seems contractictory)
- physical chart with activities - remove each item once you are finished with that activity
- routine - every storytime repeats certain activities
- low light
- soft music

She limits registrations to 12 children ages 2 - 8 with parent or caregiver. Storytime takes place once a month.

The bulk of the session was group work sharing ideas on how to talk to a parent of caregiver about the sensory storytime option vs. a standard storytime (frame it in words expressing the child's well being, offer it as an alternative - try it out - your child may feel more comfortable in a sensory storytime. Another question was what do you do if your sensory storytime goes out of control - go into song, transition to another activity, remind parents that storytimes are a perfect time to model good behaviors (for those parents who are distracted by cell phones or socializing and not participating) "We know your child will pay attention is you are paying attention." Email parents the storytime lineup one week before the program so they can go over what will be happening with their child and they will know what to expect.