School Resources

Jacuzzi

One of the featured services offered at our centre is the use of the Jacuzzi. Whilst normally associated with relaxation, sitting in a Jacuzzi for a period of time has a number of benefits, both physical and mental. The properties of water-buoyancy, viscosity and hydrostatic pressure provide muscle treatment, especially for the neck, shoulders and back. The buoyancy obtained in a Jacuzzi along with light exercise performed underwater, can increase mobility and strength. Buoyancy allows the body to reach almost weightlessness, thus unloading the muscles, tendons and joints. Jacuzzi also allows the implementation of specific stretching exercises in water that improve balance and increase body strength. Light exercise which includes circling of shoulders and arms under the water can significantly contribute to functioning of the heart and lungs whilst the jets also provide something akin to a deep tissue massage, soothing aches and pains. Our Jacuzzi room is equipped with a shower cubicle where students are showered before and after their Jacuzzi session and a changing area, all of which are made easily accessible by the use of a ceiling hoist which facilitates the carrying raising and lowering the students for one area to the other. Back to Top

Multi-sensory Studio

Our centre is also equipped with a multi-sensory studio where our students can explore and develop their senses and skills. The multi-sensory studio offers many different features ranging from padded floors and walls to interactive equipment which make dramatic changes to the room environment using sound, lighting and fragrance. Here the overactive can be calmed, the inactive become interested. The studio is equipped with such equipment as bubble tubes, uv lighting, optic-fibre curtains, a sound-light screen and a vibrating floor, together with projectors, sound systems and even a water bed. Here the students can participate in activities which range from following bright lights, shapes and patterns with their eyes to using simple switches or pressure pads to make the sensory room change colour or even change colour to music, thus engaging them to become interested in their environment. Back to Top

Motor-sensory studio and Gym

Movement experiences are fundamental to the development of all children but are particularly important to students with disability who often have difficulty in sensing movement and body position as well as in relating to their own bodies and to other people. Two of the most difficult experiences for the majority of students with PMLD are the experience of strong movements and fast free flow movement. Hence motor-sensory stimulation is important for students who have sensory integration disorder, or difficulty processing information. To cater for these needs the centre is equipped with a motor-sensory studio and a specialized gym where the student is guided through activities that challenge his or her ability to respond appropriately to sensory input from the environment. These sensory experiences, combined with meaningful activities, enhance sensory integration in the brain, improve learning, promote organized play, and help with regulating movement and emotions. Students are encouraged to experience, anticipate and hopefully initiate a particular experience or movement. Motor sensory activities are imperative in helping our students improve in the areas of coordination, balance, language, attention span, self-concept, self-confidence and social skills. Regular sharing of routine movement experiences also enables students to develop a greater movement vocabulary and indicate through smile, vocalisation or eye contact or objections, preferences or dislikes. Back to Top

Our new Vibroacoustic Lounger Chair in the Gym.

This deep-seated firm-backed lounger has very soft edges which makes it ideal for snuggling down and feeling the resonance and vibrations from the built-in vibroacoustic speaker. These vibrations compliment the music played and can be controlled by the student through a switch.

Sensory Wall and Playground

The Horticulture Studio

Last scholastic year, the Centre invested in the creation of a horticulture studio next to the Centre’s Sensory Garden as part of the services offered to both full time and part time students. Gardening is very effective in providing therapy to students experiencing various kinds and levels of disabilities. Horticultural therapy involves the use of the natural environment and related activities as means to promote healing and rehabilitation. The general purpose of horticultural therapy is to improve a person's physical and mental well-being.

With the help of the Gardening Teacher provided by St. Benedict's College and the Centre's Resources' Coordinator, activities held in this studio and adjacent garden include:

Sensorial activities with various crops / herbs
Exploration of different materials such as soil, stone etc…
Entrepreneurship activities linked to the Princes’ Trust Programme including harvesting and packaging of product
Seeding and maintaining plants for Centre’s sensory garden and general embellishment
Working partnership with Malta Parks to sow indigenous trees and plants at the Centre to be re planted around the Maltese Islands
Teaching of scientific concepts and enhances participation in the Eko Skola Project
The cultivation of edible products to be used for cooking sessions in classrooms
Cultivation of flowers and domestic plants for therapeutic reasons
Enjoying the general garden environment for social activities
Maintenance of a compost bin to be reused during horticulture sessions

We recognise bees as the world's most important pollinator of food crops. It is estimated that one third of the food that we consume each day relies on pollination mainly by bees. For this reason, as a Centre through the horticulture studio, we embarked on a project to help in this area by providing families with appropriate bee homes to try and increase the population. These resources and activities help our students to develop holistically while keeping alive the contact with the Local Council and the community in general, both in Qrendi and beyond.

ICT Lab

ICT is a powerful resource when it comes to the support and enhancement of the curriculum experience, especially for students with disability and this in turn encourages motivation and the development of skills. There are often ways of using familiar equipment, as well as using additional or different resources, to create activities that enable the individual learner to respond more effectively to the demands of the curriculum. Devices such as switches are used to support all learners who have difficulties in accessing the computer or have poor fine motor control. A wide variety of switch designs is available, success depending on finding one which the student can activate with the part of the body which can be controlled best. By pressing a switch attached to the computer, students can control what is shown on the screen. Using switch-operated software they can turn a sound on and off, match pictures, or choose a particular cell. Touch screens and IWBs allow students to make a direct link between a hand or pointer and what is happening on the screen/board. Trackballs are alternative methods of access instead of the tradition computer mouse. Multimedia technology which can present sounds, photographs and video, as well as text and graphics on the screen, gives new directions for working with students without having to be dependent on the written word. The development of literacy and numeracy is aided by the use of supportive software designed to encourage memory work, logic and thinking skills, decision-making, organisational and planning skills for students with different levels of difficulty. Thus ICT provides students with the opportunity to practise newly found skills and to extend their thinking skills in a practical setting with immediate feedback learning across the curriculum in new situations. Back to Top

Art Room

Art and Crafts for our students is a mean to teach new skills and reinforce learned concepts. Art and crafts is of great help to develop the students’ fine motor skills like holding a brush, crayon, sponge or scissors. It proves to be great for tactile and visual stimulation. Students can feel the properties of the medium in use. It also stimulates the brain for more concentration and somewhat it can develop their attention span. It can also serve as a bridge towards other subjects as students can learn to sort by colour, shape or size and can even learn to count and match.

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