The sensory storytimes offered by Douglas County libraries in Colorado came out of a pilot program "Sensory Enhanced Storytimes." Their program differed from the sensory programs that I learned about at the conference in that they don't have an age limit. Their brochure states "For children on the autism spectrum and differently-abled children of any age at a preschool level of development."
For 10 months they worked with a district task force with community partners, Autism Society of Chicago, local school districts, youth services staff, volunteer coordinator to create the program. They also adapted the Charlotte McKlenburg "Special Needs Program" for their program.The Autism Society observed their traditional storytimes and made recommendations on how to improve the room and add activities to make the sensory storytimes. The society also did a presentation during their Staff Day on understanding autism and children's staff did a sensory storytime demonstration.
The storytimes lasted 20 - 30 min. Registered up to 15. One to one ratio - parent or cargiver with minor.
Template: * = repeat at all storytimes
*Welcome and visual schedule
Book or adaped book, flannel version
Fingerplay or nursery rhyme
Song
book
*Scarf song
* Bubble and song
*Parachute and song
*Goodbye song
They had a resource table and posted a social story on their website so parents or caregivers know what to expect when they come to the library. Library staff also emailed the storytime program to the parents or caregivers one week in advance so they knew what to expect.
I think with some training and collatoral materials, we can do a sensory stortytime at our libraries. We can find community partners to help collaborate with us and I think have a very popular program. We can start with creating our own social story for our libraries and post it to our website. Creating a sensory storytime in our current lineup will take more time, but I believe we should incorporate one in the near future.
Hi Margaret,
ReplyDeleteThanks for including the link to the social story - it's simple, but effective since it shows patrons where to go and who they'll see when they come to storytime. In addition, it shows patrons how to do simple tasks at the library. It applies to everyone - just knowing what to expect can be very helpful.
Thanks,
Casey