Snoezelen: children with intellectual disability and working with the whole family.
Snoezelen, or controlled multisensory stimulation, was first introduced in Israel in 1993. This paper presents a new concept of working with the whole family in the Snoezelen room with the participation of a social worker. The purpose was to facilitate family encounters with the child, to enable parents and siblings to become better acquainted with the resident through his/her strengths and special abilities, to encourage parental involvement in the care, to encourage increased visits, to improve quality of life (QOL) for the resident, and to reinforce a better relationship between resident, family, and home. Sessions were divided into two major parts. The first segment (duration 20-40 min) was free activity and the second was more structured (duration 15-30 min). Case stories are presented to illustrate the positive effects of this approach. Snoezelen can be used with the entire family with the participation of a social worker and can add new dimensions to communication.
Nasser
Karim
K
Lev Hakadosh, Residential Care Center for Children, Haifa, Israel. soad1@netvision.net.il
Cahana
Carmit
C
Kandel
Isack
I
Kessel
Shlomo
S
Merrick
Joav
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000628:therapy*; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000628:therapy*; D007557:Israel; D016239:MEDLINE; D008297:Male; D009679:Nuclear Family; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010812:Physical Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D039781:PubMed; D011788:Quality of Life; D026421:Sensory Art Therapies / Q000639:trends*; D012801:Sibling Relations