Lower School Students Raise Awareness about Sensory Challenges

This week, Freddie and Molly in 6A organised an awareness raising event for their fellow Lower School students at breaktime in the winter sunshine.

They wanted to get people thinking about what school is like for people with sensory challenges.

Freddie, who has dyspraxia, said he wanted to raise awareness of his condition and others which can pose difficulties for young people at school. He said: “My dyspraxia affects my motor skills so I can struggle with my balance which can make lessons like PE more challenging. I have to use a different technique to hold a pen as I struggle to hold the pen for long periods and my hands hurt so I need to take breaks. When people understand what it’s like for another person, it’s easier for them to treat them in a better way.”

Assisted by SENCo, Sally, and Learning Support Administrator, Eilidh, they laid out a variety of different activities. There was a table of safety goggles which had been modified to mimic different sight challenges from reduced vision to tunnel vision, we spoke to students as they tried the goggles and they agreed that it definitely made it harder. “Writing would be hard as you can’t even see what you’ve written properly!”

There was a blindfold challenge to experience what it would be like to be completely blind and an app which let you experience how some people hear differently.

The writing table featured only very thin pens and thick rubber gloves to mimic the difficulty of holding writing equipment when you have conditions like dyspraxia. Students were shocked at how difficult it was to write well and all felt that they had learnt something.

Fellow organiser, Molly, said: “I think its important to understand how others experience things so I’m glad lots of people have come.”