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Sensory kits help children interact with stories

George Thorpe
BBC News, South West
Jake Richards
BBC News, Cornwall
BBC Susan Arthur and Molly use a sensory kit. Molly, who has Down's syndrome, has long brown hair. She is dressed in a green jumper with black trousers which have small silver stars. Molly is holding a spinning wheel and a piece of purple tubing. Susan is sat next to her, with short curly fair hair and wearing a colourful patterned top.BBC
The kits, like this one Susan Arthur and Molly are using, have props to help people with special educational needs

Stories which aim to stimulate sensory experiences for children with special educational needs (SEN) have been added to Cornish libraries.

Five sensory story kits have been bought by Cornwall Libraries, which use props to help engage with the traditional five senses - sight, sound, smell, taste and touch - along with additional ones such as temperature and balance.

Along with the five kits, other standalone books which let people create their own sensory stories have also become available to borrow.

Nastassia Player, library resources co-ordinator at Cornwall Libraries, said being able to offer the stories meant the service was able to reach and help more people.

The stories can be reserved online and picked up from any Cornwall Libraries site.

Some libraries, including Camborne, are running story sessions using the kits.

Ms Player said: "It is really important to us that we make our resources as assessible as possible to as many people as possible."

'Engages with story'

Susan Arthur, whose daughter Molly attends sensory story sessions at Camborne Library, said kits helped her interact more.

Ms Arthur added: "She kind of interacts more with the story rather than just kind of looking at the book.

"I think it's more important that Molly engages with a story."

Joanna Grace, the author of some of the stories, said the kits could be very impactful.

Joanna Grace sits in a library in front of two book shelves. She is smiling and has a spiky fascinator on the back of her head. She is wearing a cream-coloured jumper and has a bird badge on it.
Joanna Grace said she had seen how much of an impact the story kits could have

Ms Grace added she had seen evidence of this during a story session she was involved with at a school in Manchester.

She said: "I thought one of the pupils was asleep in their wheelchair.

"But, right at the end of the story, they lifted up their head a little bit and smiled.

"The member of staff that had brought them into the room looked at him and said: 'We've never seen him do that before.'"

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