Snooze

[: il] The snooze is a treatment room. The room has mattresses, lights, sensations and sounds. Through multi-sensory stimulation adapted to the will, need and ability of each child, different areas of development can be influenced.
Snozlan treatment helps increase attention and concentration, encourages communication, improves movement, sensory regulation and more. A multi-sensory environment (sight, hearing, touch, balance), is a place where there is a balance between relaxation and activity. The design of the room is characterized by a relaxing atmosphere, soft comfort, dimmed lighting, appropriate music, and various visual means that can be activated according to the patient’s responses.
Caring for visually impaired children requires adapting and drawing attention to the unique challenges for these children:

• The new environment can be very threatening to a visually impaired or blind child and therefore time to adapt to the new environment should be given to avoid fear of staying in the room.
• In the absence of vision, other senses should be used to encourage inquiry, and to combine them with the visual stimuli.
• The therapist should reflect the beam in the room and the child’s activity, combined with the use of other senses. For example: he must say aloud what is happening, so that the child will feel that moving his hands and meeting in one of the facilities, is what created the noise.
• In order to increase confidence and allow for orientation and inquiry, the patient’s child should be presented with the various means in the room in an orderly and regular manner and placed in a permanent place
• The lighting should be adapted to each of the children, it is enough to ensure maximum use of the remnants of vision (lights in a dark room, objects that are not illuminated in good lighting, prevention of dazzling lights, etc.).

In addition, during treatment, additional characteristics of visual impairment should be considered:
1) Preference of a certain color and shape – especially when a new object is presented to the child
2) Movement: The snow-lit equipment is usually in motion (the bubble column, for example). This is a facility that can definitely help focus vision in children with CVI.
3) Delay: The child should be allowed time to focus on the illuminated objects.
4) Field of vision and distance vision: The lights should be placed in the preferred field of vision for the child, and at the appropriate distance.
5) Children with complex problems: Sometimes a special adjustment of the room itself is needed:

• Turn off the main lights in the room (instead of “dim” light).
• Disable the amount of lights in the room
• Disables additional stimuli when submitting a lighted object. Awareness of the difficulty of hand-eye coordination

is also important

• Match the overall color of the room: maybe turn it from white to black. If this is not possible, it is recommended that the therapist wear black, or use a different black background

6) Staring at the light: Individual lights should be provided, or focus on other sensory channels.
Room care is provided by trained therapists. In Jerusalem, the caregiver is Dalia Yellin, a special education teacher who has been working at ELI since 2002 as a teacher for the Maonit group, who has been certified to treat Snozlan.

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The Snoezelen is a therapy room. The room includes mattresses, lights, sensations and sounds. Through multi-senses stimulation that is tailored according to the will, need and ability of each child, it is possible to influence different developmental fields.

Snoezelen treatment helps to increase the level of attention and concentration, encourage communication, improve movement, regulate senses and more. A multi-senses environment (seeing, hearing, feeling, balance), acts as a place that balances activity and relaxation. The design of the room is characterized by a calm atmosphere, soft comfort, dim lighting, appropriate music and different visual aids that can be used according to the patient’s reactions.

Treatment of visually impaired children requires adjustment and paying attention to these children’s unique challenges:

• The new environment might be intimidating for the visually impaired or blind child and therefore there is a need to allow time for adjustment to the new environment in order to prevent fear of staying in the room.
• Without sight, there is a need to use the other senses in order to encourage exploration and to combine them with visual stimulation.
• The therapist needs to mirror whatever is happening in the room and the child’s activity, combined with other senses. For example: he needs to say out loud whatever is going on so the child will understand that moving his hands and touching one of the devices, created the noise.
• In order to increase confidence and to enable orientation and investigation, the therapist needs to present the child with the different items in the room in an orderly and consistent manner and place them in a permanent place.
• The therapist needs to adjust the lighting to each child, in order to ensure maximum use of remaining sight (lights in a dark room, objects that are not lighted in appropriate lighting, avoiding blinding lights etc.).

In addition, during therapy, the therapist needs to refer to additional features of the visually impairment:

1)     Preferring a certain color and shape – especially when presenting the child with a new object.

2)     Movement: the equipment lighted with Snoezelen is usually in motion (for instance, the bubble pole). This is a device that helps with focusing the sight of children with CVI.

3)     Delay: The therapist should enable enough time for the child to focus on the lighted objects.

4)     Field of vision and farsightedness: the therapist should locate the lights in the child’s preferred field of vision and at a suitable distance.

5)     Children with complex problems: sometimes there is a need for special adjustment of the room itself:

–        Turning off the central lights in the room (instead of “dim” lights).

–        Limiting the amount of lights in the room.

–        Limiting additional stimulation while presenting a lighted object. It is also important to create the awareness to the hand-eye coordination difficulty.

–        Matching the general color of the room: maybe turning it from white to black. If this is not possible, it’s recommended that the therapist dresses in black or uses a different black background.

6)     Staring at light: the therapist presents single lights or focusing on other senses channels.

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