Christopher Douglas Hidden Angel Foundation

Multi Sensory Environments, Sensory Stimulation

“There are no guarantees in life, except that everyone faces struggles. This is how we learn (and grow). Some face struggles from the moment they are born. They are the most special of all people, requiring the most care and compassion and reminding us that love is the sole purpose of life.”– Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
These are our Hidden Angels – teaching all of us life’s most valuable lessons.

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Multisensory room helps individuals with developmental disabilties

Treatment and Learning Centers ramps up occupational therapy department

April 25, 2012 Maryland – Serhan Stegman toddled to the bubble tubes, wrapped his arms around the long cylinders of water, changing colored light and rising bubbles.

Like a child on a carousel, he spun, his tiny arms the fulcrum for his spinning delight.

Serhan, 2, of Darnestown uses the new multisensory room at the Treatment and Learning Centers in Rockville twice per week to help him notice and process his environment.

“The equipment they have in there, it seems so simple,” said Ulgen Fideli, Serhan’s mother. “But it’s so important to him.”

Serhan has a pervasive development disorder that is not otherwise specified. The multisensory room — a space with lighting effects, bubble tubes and water and vibrating beds — helps promote neurological activity and encourages relaxation for children such as Serhan.Multisensory environments help encourage learning, cognitive and motor development, language skills and social interaction, said Brigid Baker, director of occupational therapy at the centers. The Treatment and Learning Centers is a nonprofit offering services, including child care and preschool programs, occupational therapy, testing and tutoring and outpatient services.

“It’s also great for our kids who have sensory processing difficulties, similar to those on the autism spectrum, to help them be in more control of their environment,” Baker said.

When a child pushes a green button, the lights in the bubble tubes turn green. It’s cause and effect, showing the children how one action can drive another.

The room cost $24,000 to build, with $10,800 of that funding coming from Christopher Douglas Hidden Angel Foundation, an organization promoting the use of multisensory environments to enrich the lives of people with emotional, cognitive and physical impairments. The other $13,200 came from donations from the Rockville Rotary Club Foundation, Wheaton-Silver Spring Kiwanis Club, CVS Pharmacy and private donors.

“I think people really saw the difference this would make for children in the community,” said Dr. Pat Ritter, the center’s executive director.

Such environments still are relatively unique; the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore — which has a Rockville campus — and Carroll Manor Elementary School in Adamstown feature similar rooms. Hidden Angels has helped fund 35 other rooms, Baker said.

The concept of multisensory environments began in Europe in the 1960s, and took off in the U.S. about 35 years ago, Baker said.

“Through the research, we know that it works,” Baker said. “But we need to know the empirical information of why it works.”

Mostly, the rooms serve to relax overstimulated children, said Linda Messbauer, an occupational therapist and founding member of the American Association of Multisensory Environments.

When used correctly with a therapist guiding the child’s activity, the room serves to empower and calm.

“The joy and pleasure chemistry cannot coexist with stress chemistry,” Messbauer said. “As one goes up, the other goes down.”

Children with autism, cerebral palsy, chronic pain syndrome and other developmental disabilities can benefit from such spaces.

Treatment and Learning Centers serve about 200 children in occupational therapy. About 75 percent of those children will use the room. Patient ages range from 1 to 13 years old.

Jennifer Natalya Fink and Sarah Sohn’s 5-year-old daughter, who was diagnosed with autism at 2, spends time in the new room as part of interactive group therapy. Her parents say she loves it.

“She took like a fish to water here,” said Sohn of Washington Grove. “I think that really speaks to their willingness to meet the kids where they’re at.”

Their daughter receives intensive speech and occupational therapy.

One in 88 children have been identified with an autism spectrum disorder, according to a 2012 community report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of September, 3,410 children were on the waiting list to receive state and federally funded therapeutic services, respite care and other support programs in their community and at home instead of an institution-type setting. Of those, 673 live in Montgomery County and 196 children receive those services. The waitlist is about eight years long.

“There’s a period of coming to terms with it and accepting,” Fink said of her daughter’s diagnosis. “She’s an individual. She’s a great kid and we try to focus on that.”

Fink and Sohn celebrate milestones, such as their daughter drinking from a cup without a straw and lid. And they note the child’s ability to key into the joyful dimensions of life.

“Social difficulty doesn’t mean you don’t have the capacity to be loving and warm,” Fink said. “They all do.”

abryant@gazette.net

The simple pleasures and joys that children experience running, playing and enjoying a sunny day are sometimes not available for children with special needs. Due to limitations, they don’t experience or are unable to interact with their surroundings, limiting their sensory experiences.
Multi-sensory stimulation is as necessary for survival as food and water. Isn’t it our responsibility to help every child feel included and offer them an environment where they can experience simple joys in life?
About CDHAF

Inside a Multi-Sensory Room

PBS Special - The Hidden Angel

Christopher Douglas Hidden Angel Foundation

The Christopher Douglas Hidden Angel Foundation (CDHAF) was created in honor and recognition of Christopher Douglas Fornes and Joyce Baye. CDHAF enriches the lives, health, and social well-being of people with cognitive, emotional, and physical challenges through the use of our Multi Sensory Environments™ (MSE). Our focus is on the design, development, implementation and education of our Multi Sensory Environments™ with the aim to enable productivity, inclusion, independence, and self-determination. Our approach is based on well-documented studies of neurological cognition and emotional development. We offer advisory and financial support for the establishment of integrated, publicly accessible Multi Sensory facilities and for basic research and … Continue Reading

 
  • Colisano Children’s Hospital
    Syracuse, NY USA
    2011

  • Miami Lakes Therapy Center
    Miami Lakes, Florida
    2010

  • Anne Grady Center
    Holland, OH USA
    2009

  • A Society for Treatment of Autism
    Calgary, AB Canada
    2008

  • Southeastern Elementary School
    Rome, GA USA
    2008

  • Portage Collegiate Institute
    Portage La Prairie, MB Canada
    2009

  • Centre de Readaptation
    Montreal, QB Canada
    2009

  • West Montreal
    Centre de Readaptation

    Lachine, QB Canada
    2007

  • Children’s Home RTF
    Chenango Forks, NY USA
    2007

  • Alternative Day Programs – Centre de Readaptation
    Kirkland, QB Canada
    2009

  • Augusta Evans Special School
    Mobile, AL USA
    2007

  • Miami Jewish Home and Hospital
    Miami, FL USA
    2007

  • Central Wisconsin Center
    Madison, WI USA
    2009

  • Miami Jewish Home and Hospital-#2
    Miami, FL USA
    2009

  • St. John’s Nursing Center
    Ft. Lauderdale, FL USA
    2006

  • Extreme Makeover Home Edition
    Austin, TX USA (O’Donnell Family)
    2006

  • Southern Alberta Child and Youth
    Health -FLAMES House

    Calgary, AB Canada
    2009

  • Extreme Makeover Home Edition
    Hondo, TX USA (Craft Family)
    2006

  • Daytime Enrichment Activities
    Recreation

    Portland, OR USA
    2010

  • Cleveland, Tennessee Jr. High
    Cleveland, TN USA
    2010

  • Hondo, Texas Special Education
    Hondo, TX USA
    2006

  • Miami Cerebral Palsy Residential Center
    Miami, FL USA
    2006

  • Scarborough Village Alternative School
    Toronto, Ontario Canada
    2010

  • Anne Grady Center Pediatric
    Toledo, OH USA
    2010

  • AHRC – Seiff Educare
    Boemia, NY USA
    2010

  • Jewel C. Wietzel Education Center
    San Antonio, TX USA
    2006

  • Hospital Rivier-des-Prairies
    Montreal, QB Canada
    2006

  • United Cerabal Palsey – Birmingham
    Birmingham, AL USA
    2010

  • St. Peter’s Academy
    Benoit’s Cover, Bay of Islands, NL Canada
    2010

  • Lake Asbury Jr. High
    Green Cove Springs, FL USA
    2006

  • Allegany ARC
    Wellsville, NY
    2013

  • MCFI – Milwaukee Center of Independence
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA
    2012

  • TLC – The Treatment and Learning Center
    Rockville, Maryland USA
    2012

  • M.O.R.G.A.N. Project
    Melbourne Beach, FL USA
    2011

  • Baycrest Hospital
    Toronto ON, Canada
    2011

  • Baycrest Apotex
    Toronto ON, Canada
    2011

  • EGF Polk County DAC
    East Grand Forks, MI USA
    2011

 
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Evolution of the Legacy of a Hidden Angel

We are extremely proud of the pioneering role we played many years ago in bringing multi-sensory environments (MSE) to North America and raising their profile since 2005.  Today throughout North America, more and more organizations are implementing multi-sensory stimulating environments for individuals with special needs.  We are excited that this will allow us to be more proactive in providing guidance and training in MSEs.  Thus, we are proud to provide our MSE online training course free of charge for those wishing to learn more about this recreational space that provides therapeutic and educational benefits.  You can access the training at www.msetraining.com

Over the years our namesake, Chris has been the driving force behind the numerous initiatives to enrich the lives of individuals with special needs by providing:

• Design and financial support for over 100 MSE rooms
• Intellectual property for the development of a program for premature babies
• Equipment and expertise for the use of MSE with seniors challenged by dementia / alzheimers
• Online training focused on MSE methodology and best use practices
• Donations to support food for special needs children in impoverished areas
• Formation and co-management of an unprecedented program to train first responders in dealing with individuals with special needs
• Developing companion pets through sensory stimulation and life experiences
• Design and construction of the first MSE environment designed for individuals with special needs that incorporates life without limits and nature as the sensory component
• Ongoing support for a playground designed for individuals with special needs
• Provided Multi Sensory Room on Extreme Makeover Home Edition to the Craft Family (Hondo, TX)

The preceding and the following illustrate the multifaceted legacy of an extraordinary young man who, to quote Kubler-Ross – “taught us love is the true meaning of life”.

As we move on from the funding and installing of multi-sensory rooms (as the support from others grows), the foundation will continue to exist as an open knowledge-based organization providing guidance to facilities wishing to implement a multi-sensory environment (MSE) for children and adults with special needs.

The Foundation website will become an informational and training tool to provide research-based methodology and information, including MSE concepts, MSE designs, equipment uses, MSE benefits, and operational training. Organizations looking for funding will be directed to other charitable organizations that support the use of multi-sensory environments in education, recreation, and therapy.

In addition it will provide a free online training program to provide knowledge on best practices and the overall philosophy of MSE based on decades of hands on experience.


The sister organization to CDHAF, Hidden Angel Companion Pets will also be providing information on the benefits of companion pets for children with special needs and best practices in raising a pet to be a natural companion animal. Pets provide therapeutic benefits such as companionship, love, humor, play, exercise, a sense of power and outlets for displacement, projection and nurturance; Talking to animals and the tactile experience of petting animals reduces stress and enhances physical health (including lowering blood pressure and reducing heart rate) and longevity; Animals enhance psychological development, improve social skills, increase independence, and increase self-esteem; Animals can be a source of comfort and contribute to ego strength among children; The human-animal bond supports empathy development, the ability to form and express attachments, and the reaction to grief and loss; and Dogs help increase activity among those with disabilities, prevent childhood obesity, promote recovery after a heart attack, and encourage walking in the elderly.

Looking ahead, those of us committed to Chris foresee many more initiatives reflecting his life and impacting the lives of others.