Sensory Stories

Sensory Stories


Looking for the right story to make into a sensory one can be difficult !. I have found a lot of stories are often too long for the students that I work with. When I first started reading sensory stories with my students with PMLD I found I was getting carried away by using far too many sensory props, I would get in a pickle, the student would loose interest and I would go home feeling deflated that I had done a bad job. It definitely takes a lot of time and practice to get it right for your students, so it is always exciting when you find just the 'right book'. One that is not too long, with an inspiring story to give you lots of ideas for meaningful sensory props.
Sensory stories are a great way for students with PMLD to learn, respond and communicate. Adding sensory resources to a story makes the story come alive, it helps the student connect with the story by giving the words meaning. Getting the right story with the right supporting sensory resources means you can give the students you are working with a fabulous, engaging sensory learning experience. Learning targets such as 'responds to repetitively presented stimulus', 'shows anticipation',  can be met through use of sensory stories. By incorporating communication devices into your story, such as the 'Big Mac' will give students the opportunity to achieve communication targets too.

This page of my blog is dedicated to sharing all the valuable resources and information I have found about sensory stories. All of this information has been a huge help to me in my work. I hope by collecting all this information and displaying it in one place it will help you too. 

Sensory Stories by Joanna Grace

I stumbled across 'The Sensory Story Project' via Facebook. Joanna Grace set up the project, creating sensory stories that you can resource yourself for very little cost. The stories are brilliant ! I brought three stories after visiting the site for just £12 each. I am currently reading 'Boris the Bumble Bee' with my younger students with PMLD . It has been a huge success!. Another story I can't wait to set up and use with my students is one called 'Naali', a sensory story written especially to use in your sensory room. You MUST visit Joanna's website by following the link below, the stories are a breath of fresh air for anyone working with students with special educational needs. Her sensory stories are creative, inspiring and refreshingly affordable for tight budgets. 
www.jo.element42.org

Sensory Stories for Children and Teens with Special Educational Needs
 by Joanna Grace

This book is a practical guide for parents, teachers and other professionals working with Special Educational Needs. It has a complete step by step guide  to creating and using sensory stories effectively. Through the book Joanna Grace aims to make sensory stories affordable and accessible to schools and parents in the classroom environment and at home. This book is fantastic and I so so pleased that I discovered it. It is an absolute must buy for anyone working with students with PMLD (profound and multiple learning difficulties). At present it costs around £17 from Amazon or you can download the kindle version which I did for just £12 . It is again worth every penny. To purchase the book just follow the link below.

Please also read this article by following the link below. Here Joanna Grace talks to the Guardian about the importance of sensory stories for students with PMLD.

Reading with Five Senses

Bag Books

Bag books is the only charity in the world that produces books for people with profound and multiple learning disabilities. There multi sensory books allow you to tell the stories through voice and emotion rather that pictures. We have purchased several of their books which we use in our school we have also had storytellers from Bag Books come in to tell the students some of the stories. Our students loved this and their books are a huge hit in school with Pmld students of all ages. Take a look at their website by following the link below.

 Bag Books Website

 There are also five free stories available for download on their website 'Party In the Sky', 'A Snowy Day', 'Don't Say Egg', 'Moving Day', and 'The Alien Planet'. They are downloaded in PDF format, you need to register with them to receive a password to unlock each story. As Bag Books is a charity they ask if you can to donate five pounds for each one, this way they produce more stories in the future to share. Follow the link below to download the stories.

 Free DIY Books from Bag Books

The Whiteboard Room

The Whiteboard room is a website which shares resources for professionals working with students with PMLD, SLD, and ASD. The website allows you to download resources to use with your students via a plasma screen and whiteboard. All curriculum topics are covered as well as having a section dedicated to PMLD. This section includes a list of sensory stories to use with your students via a whiteboard, some of which are switch accessible. The sensory story section also details P Level descriptors , which tell you which targets can be met when using the stories with your students. Follow the link below to visit their website.



Free Sensory Story Downloads from teacherspayteachers.com

I stumbled across these sensory stories whilst looking for sensory stories on Pinterest. I am yet to read any of them to my students by they are so lovely and available to download for free !. You do have to register with teacherpayteachers.com to download the 'Tiny Seed' sensory story, but registering is free too and only takes a few minutes!

The sensory stories available to download are the 'Rainy Day', 'Kitty's Dinner' and 'The Tiny Seed' and adaption of the Eric Carle book. Each sensory story comes with story scripts with sensory experience suggestions, sound files to accompany the story and a printable visual book. There is also a template which allows users of the story to write their won ideas for actions and resources. Follow the links below to download the stories and register with teacherspayteachers.com












                                                  

























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