Sensory Souls Train Day 2019

Over the past few years we've attended a few sensory friendly events that were organised and conducted by an organisation called Sensory Souls. We've been to numerous Sensory Santa sessions, Stand Up Paddle Boarding and a train event last year.

Sensory Souls is a Queensland based organisation that organises, coordinates and conducts sensory friendly events for individuals who have additional needs both in Queensland and in other states of Australia. They recently won the Disability and Inclusion category in the National Awards for Local Government in conjunction with the Moreton Bay Regional Council for the Backstage Pass Program. The Backstage Pass allows families and individuals access to Council Libraries after hours in a low sensory environment.

Sensory Souls was originally developed to support families, children and individuals to have fun in a range of positive experiences and activities in a safe an judgement free environment. Initially Sensory Souls organised Sensory Santa sessions and they've now evolved into offering other activities and experiences.

For those not in the know, a sensory friendly event typically looks like a pretty ordinary outing. It differs in that the number of participants are limited so that the activity is not too overcrowded, the noise or music may be kept to a minimum so as not to overwhelm the participants and the lights may be dimmed if the event is at an indoor venue. Most of the events are activities that the majority of society would take for granted but for children and adults who have sensory processing difficulties, keeping all the above factors at a minimum, means that the likelihood of the child or adult having a meltdown because they are in sensory overload is less likely.

During the last school holidays, Sensory Souls ran their very popular Train Day. We went along to this for last year and the little superheroes had a ball. So off we went again, this time we took two of their friends.

The Train Day is conducted at the Pine Valley Railway by the Queensland Society of Model and Experimental Engineers - a huge group of individuals from all walks of life who share a common interest ... making engineering models of trains. Lots of trains. In other words, they're just big kids who love the trains!

The Pine Valley Railway is open to the public by invitation only and once a year the members of the organisation join forces with Sensory Souls to conduct a train day for children and adults who have additional needs.

The Pine Valley Railway truly is spectacular. It's situated on a piece of landscaped land that is five acres in size and has over 2000 metres of ground level track and approximately 180 metres of elevated track. There are tunnels, bridges, round houses, signal boxes, train crossings and all of the other things that you'd expect to see on a real life train line. There are also areas for children to run around and play, picnic tables and a small canteen.

In terms of the trains there are steam trains and replicas of diesel locomotives. There was even a replica of the Pacific National, a HUGE LOONG freight train!

 

The steam trains when under full steam were truly spectacular.

This Mama spotted the little red caboose and was in love. One of my all time favourite Golden Books as a child was the story about the little red Caboose. By the end of the day, there were lots of photos of the little red caboose on my camera!!

On the Train day, the members of QSMEE had numerous trains running for the families to ride on. Trains were leaving the main train station every ten minutes or so, so everyone was able to have numerous train rides. O, L and their two friends were very impressed that each time they rode a train, they went around the circuit three times! And when on the steam train, they were quick to remind each other "close your eyes and mouth in the tunnel!" Otherwise you might get a mouth full of smoke and steam!

 

O and her fiend G, were fascinated by the scribbly lines on one of the old gum trees so I took the opportunity to give them a little nature lesson. Scribbly Gums are spectacular Australian Eucalyptus species that get their name from the scibbly lines that are left on their smooth bark. The tracks are tunnels that are made by the larvae of the Scribbly Gum Moth!

If you are interested in visiting the Pine Valley Railway, you'll need to visit their website and send off an expression to visit the site. As I previously mentioned, the site is invitation only so make sure you get in early as I'm told their open days are very popular and they are book out very early.

Sensory Souls is a not for profit organisation and they do rely heavily on their volunteer base to run these events as well as their sponsors. So from our family to Leah and Chanelle and all at Sensory Souls, thank you for everything that you do. We truly do appreciate these events.

Sensory Santa 2018

This is our fourth year of visiting a Sensory Santa and three out of the four years both my little superheroes have been in the photo with Santa. Winning!!!

Essentially Sensory Santa, or Sensitive Santa as the sessions are occasionally known as, is held in selected shopping centres that host Santa each year leading up to Christmas. Santa's Kingdom is opened up to families whose children have additional needs prior to the normal shopping centre hours. Families book in advance so that there are no queues and as such no noisy crowds of people. The lights are kept low in the area, there is very little or no background music and very few staff within Santa's Kingdom itself.

All these factors often contribute to children who have additional needs struggling to participate in activities that families who do not have children with additional needs, often take for granted. Too much noise or bright lights and L just shuts down as there is far too much sensory input.

We first heard about Sensory Santa in 2015 when we were living in Perth. At that stage the only way that we could get either O or L to sit anywhere near Santa was to have Daddy Superhero and I in the photo as well. Cue an impromptu Christmas family photo.

In 2016, Santa was running quite a bit late - sleigh mechanical difficulties and he had to feed his reindeer - so by the time that Santa arrived, L was completely over the whole Santa thing. But we did get a wonderful, smiling photo of O and Santa.

Last year, we'd just moved to Queensland. We found a Sensory Santa not too far from where had moved to and both the little superheroes were keen to visit Santa - they were a little worried that Santa might not have realised that we'd moved. O was wonderful as always in assisting L to feel comfortable. She did all of the talking and kept a reassuring hand on L the entire time. The photo was lovely, O was sitting on the chair with Santa while L was sitting on the floor snuggled into O's leg. O is an amazing big sister.

This year, well the Santa that we visited recently was hands down, the best one yet! He either had a lot of experience in engaging with children who have additional needs, had done a sleigh load of training, is a natural or a combination of all three! Both little superheroes were keen as mustard to visit Santa but when we arrived, L shut down. He was able to make to the inside of Santa's Kingdom and then that was it, he parked himself on the floor and started grunting at us. O on the other hand, marched straight over and parked herself on the chair next to Santa!

Santa sensing that L was struggling, turned his back and essentially ignored L - which was the best thing that he could have done. Santa had a short conversation with O about what she would like for Christmas before getting up to go and talk to his elves.

At this point, L was intrigued by the bubbles that one of the elves was blowing into a fan, so up he hopped to go and sit next to the fan. When Santa saw that L was happy and comfortable playing with the bubbles, he snuck back into the area and sat on the far end of the chair next to O. By that stage L was obviously feeling comfortable enough to sit on the chair as up he hopped and snuggled into O and then Santa just went with the flow!

At one point both O and L had their feet tucked up on the chair, so that's exactly what Santa did!

When O and L were trying to catch the bubbles, Santa joined in! When L started dabbing, so did Santa. I would never have thought that we'd have difficulty in choosing which Santa photo we wanted!

It was such a positive experience for both O and L. And even better, L let Santa put the sparkly reindeer antlers that all his visitors received onto his head. This was a first, L won't even give Santa a high five or fist bump. To allow Santa to touch his head, wow!

It makes me so very happy to see more and more shopping centres becoming involved with the Sensory Santa sessions. Families who have never been able to get photos of their children, both the young and slightly older, are now being able to add this yearly tradition to the calendar. 

And touch wood, we've not had a screaming child in a photo in four years! The little superheroes have been all smiles!

Sensory Souls Event - Paddle Boarding

Wednesday's at Superhero Headquarters is therapy day for both O and L. Therapy usually involves a one on one session with either an Occupational Therapist or a Speech Therapist for both O and L either at Autism Queensland or at school. However because it is school holidays, we put therapy on hold for the two weeks to give my little superheroes a break and instead we've been doing therapy of a different kind.

Last Wednesday O and L had the opportunity to try paddle boarding at an event that was run by Sensory Souls.

Sensory Souls is a Queensland based organisation that organises, coordinates and conducts sensory friendly events for individuals with special needs both in Queensland and in other states of Australia.

Individuals, both children and adults, with special needs often have sensory processing difficulties and as such they may find it difficult to participant in outings such as going to the movies or to other special events. Sensory Souls evolved from Sensory Santa sessions to sensory friendly movie days to other events such as paddle boarding.

A sensory friendly event typically looks like an outing in which the number of participants is kept to a low number or the noise is low and the lights are dimmed in the venue. By minimising these sensory inputs, the likelihood of a meltdown occurring due to an individual entering into sensory overload is lower.

We've participated in a number of sensory friendly events in Western Australia and every time O and L have had a ball.

During the first week of the school holidays, a paddle boarding event was run not far from where we now live. When I saw the event advertised I thought that it would be the perfect activity for both O and L to participate in.

Not only would they get to try something that neither of them had done before but it would also serve as a therapy activity. Paddle boarding would work on their core strength or their proximal stability, it would be an opportunity for them to work on their gross motor skills and balance or provide some vestibular input. The event would also give both O and L the opportunity to practice their social interaction skills as well! Remember, I can turn any activity into a therapy activity!!

I am so glad that I registered O and L for the paddle boarding because it was a huge hit with the both of them. They had a blast and they've both requested that we find somewhere where they can do paddle boarding again!

Thanks to the generous sponsors of the event, every participant received a back pack prior to the start that contained a beach towel, a cap and a bright blue rashie! O and L were just as excited about the backpack and goodies as they were about the paddle boarding. L thought the rashie was just the best - "I real surfer dude now!" 

The rashie's also assisted the volunteers to identify the children and young adults who were participating in the paddle boarding. The event was closed to those who had registered and the rashie's just helped them to stand out!

Both O and L were very eager to get into the water, despite the grey sky and looming rain clouds! When the instructors told all of the participants to stand by a board, it was a race between O and L as to who could get to the boards first!

It was wonderful to see such a huge range in ages of children and young adults enjoying being out on the boards. Every participant was assigned a volunteer so there was full supervision of everyone throughout the event. This also meant that the parents and care givers could stand back and marvel in what their children were doing! I was well prepared that I may have to get into the water with one or both of my little superheroes, so I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to stay dry!!

The volunteers were all wonderful with the children. They were all so very patient and understanding. The children and young adults were setting the pace as to what they wanted to do. There was no pressure whatsoever put onto the participants that they had to stand up or had to get into the water.

O took to paddle boarding like a duck to water. She found her balance very early on and spent most of the session standing on her board.

At one point O paddled over towards me and shouted "Mummy, Mummy! I can stand, I can steer, I can change directions, I can stop. I'm an awesome grommet!!"

L had a fun as well - he mostly wanted to sit or lay on his board! He also showed off his diving and swimming skills to his very patient supervisor!

All in all, the paddle boarding was brilliant. I can honestly recommend the events that Sensory Souls organises to all families who have children or young adults with special needs. There is a lot of thought and effort put into the events.

So thank you Sensory Souls and all of your volunteers for an amazing opportunity. Both O and L loved paddle boarding and want to try it again. Also a huge thank you to Surfing Australia, Rip Curl, Sunshine Coast Surf Schools, Weetbix and Macquarie Sports for your support of Sensory Souls in running these paddle boarding events. I can only speak on behalf of my two children, but we really appreciate the opportunity to participate in these types of events.