Growing Through Discovery and Action: The Use of Sensory Rooms in Meeting the Needs of School-Aged Youth

(March 2020) Currently 38 children are enrolled in the Growing through Discovery and Action program at one Winchester, KY elementary school. Youth who experience wide range of mental illnesses and stressful life circumstances were referred by teachers, school staff, parents or guardians in search of in-school support and guidance. The Growing through Discovery and Action program was created through the use of several evidenced-based components of mental health treatment, founded insight on youth’s neurological development, by professionals credentialed in counseling and teaching elementary education. Upholding a philosophy that students will demonstrate the most significant growth when they are placed in a safe environment where they can learn and implement skills, children in the Growing through Discovery and Action program receive individual and group therapy in a sensory classroom that promotes emotional regulation, social skill building and relational guidance.

NYAP professionals collaborating to implement the Growing through Discovery and Action program, complete a Daily Living Activity (DLA-20) assessment for each child participant. The DLA-20 is an evidence based assessment that provides a reliable and valid measure of the students’ levels of comprehensive functioning across 21 daily living activities. A brain mapping metric from Dr. Bruce Perry’s Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics is also completed for children who present with extensive trauma histories. School staff are providing data about behavior referrals, changes in academic functioning, and completing assessments about the social skills functioning of each student. It is predicted that because of the principles of Growing through Discovery and Action program are rooted in evidence based trauma treatment, it can be put into practice, with adjusted interventions for developmental variance, for effective regulatory intervention at the preschool, elementary, intermediate, junior high and senior high school level. Outcomes of the program are being gathered and reviewed through January 2021.