Snoezelen Room

So Rory...

In a constant effort to make our home as comfortable as possible and "safe" for Rory as possible, we are thinking of turning a portion of our finished basement in to a "Snoezelen Room."

Snoezelen comes from 2 Dutch words, meaning "sniffling" and "to doze/snooze." Snoezelen rooms are "controlled multisensory environments." They are much more common in Europe. Basically, they are "calm" rooms that appeal to multiple senses at once. They use a lot of light therapy, white noise, comfy spaces, even scent therapy at times.

Rory had a great response to the CME Room at therapy last week. To be honest, I loved the CME room myself!! :) I can only imagine the benefit having a small one in our house would be for both her and Trace. Who doesn't need a safe space, designed specifically to help you calm down, relax and quiet your mind? With both kids facing major life changes (kindergarten anyone?!) in the next 3 years...yep, seems like a good idea to me. (Also, sidebar, if you are ever looking for me once we install this...check the corner with the fluffiest bed near a bubble tube. ;o))

Here's my dilemma...CME Room equipment is expensive. I mean EXPENSIVE. Rory was particularly drawn to the bubble towers in the CME room...

(via 1047.connectradiio.ca)

Beautiful, right?

Ugh.

Anywhere from $350 to $1000. Per. Column. YIKES. Even table top ones will run you a couple hundred...

I've found some smaller things, like a lava lamp, speakers that respond to music with light/water (that'd be good with quiet classical music, I think), a small fountain...that would get us started on the visual sensory elements.

Auditory elements are easy...a white noise machine and a small CD player to play classical music. Easy peasy.

Tactile elements are up next...there has to be comfy places for her to relax and recline. The CME Room at therapy has round platforms, cushioned entirely, with white netting encasing it. I don't think that'd be too hard to make...my dad is pretty handy. I think we could cut a piece of plywood into an appropriate size (Small is good, because it encourages comfort and implies safety) and just put a couple wooden blocks on the bottom for a little height. You can order round mattress that aren't very thick. Then we could add foam padding around the wooden base and "upholster" the whole thing in a comfy fabric...

Holy moly. I just worked that out right on my blog. Well that will be my dad's next project...after he's done with their kitchen renovation!

As far as the tulle "casing" goes...I can make that like a boss. Gimme a bolt of white tulle and a hula hoop, a hot glue gun and a couple episodes of Grey's and BAM. Done!

Oh how I wish these kinds of things were covered by insurance. But no. I am a hard working, contributing member of society who faithfully pays my taxes. My husband is the same. It's extremely frustrating...

I'm rambling, I know. It's late and I'm tired. But I'm motivated. I'm motivated to give my kiddo the tools she needs to lead a happy life to the best of her abilities.