Multisensory Environments

The reason I am talking about Multi-Sensory Environments (MSE), is because the local children hospital just added one and now is the second place in New York which has one.  These are which regulate noise, lighting and sometimes temperature.  There are also things inside which promote relaxation and stimulation of the senses.

MSE is a relatively knew to the United States. It originated in the 1970's in Netherlands and didn't come to the States until 1992.  In 2006 a group of professionals created The American Association of Multi-Sensory Environment (AAMSE). " according to the AAMSE Web site, "as a way to bring together different disciplines to improve education, research, training, and awareness in the use of MSE. It was also a way for those interested in MSE to network with each other and find out where MSE rooms are located throughout the nation (Carter Hollingsworth)."'

Because these are such a new phenomenon, it seems to some professionals to be unbelivable. The idea, that just a quiet room can change a person, can be hard to believe. Dr. Christoper C. Giza wrote, "MSE and many other rehabilitative strategies have been viewed with some skepticism in the medical community. This is due in part to the difficulty in standardizing these therapies and also because it is difficult to demonstrate that
these therapies work distinct from a person's normal course of recovery (Carter Hollingsworth)."

I have a feeling that as more research is done, the more people will understand how important MSE are for community members with sensory motor impairments.

Hollingsworth, J. C. (2007, December). The American Assiciation of Multi Sensory
     Environments. The Exceptional Parent, 37(12), 47-48. Retrieved from
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