The Sensory Path™ is a decal system designed to transform a school space into a child friendly, thematic, and safe area for movement which provides appropriate proprioceptive and vestibular sensory input to help decrease sensory seeking behaviors and increase cognitive function.
The Sensory Path™ is a woman owned and operated business. We create everything in our large-scale printing facility in Houston, TX. We are proud of the work we create. Our mission is to improve sensory experience for all children at every educational level. We have created an intentionally designed product that aims for a more inclusive sensory experience to improve the educational outcomes of students across the world.
What is a Sensory Path?
The Sensory Path is designed to target sensory seeking behaviors. Holly Clay, founder of the Sensory Path and lifelong educator, researched and collected data or 9 years on movement and the effects on the neurological system in children with Autism in the educational environment while working as a Special Education Teacher. She consulted with Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, Orthopedic Physicians, Pediatricians, Educational Psychologists, Autism Doctoral Fellows, BCBA Therapists, Speech Language Therapists, and Autism researchers to determine how to provide proper proprioceptive and vestibular sensory input through a series of movements that are designed to target key areas of the sensory nervous system. Using these specific moves, The Sensory Path helps the child’s body realign the sensory signal pathways that have become misaligned due to external environmental sensory stimuli.
The Sensory Path™ products have been installed in schools, medical clinics, youth services facilities, military bases, museums, hospitals and orphanages across America, and 13 foreign countries and counting. Since the launch of our product into the consumer market, we modestly estimate that our product has reached well over one million users, as most customers have found that The Sensory Path™ is also beneficial to other children who are struggling with sensory issues or self-regulation.
How does The Sensory Path Work?
The Sensory Path uses a series of moves, identified through research, that help the body get sensory input through proprioceptive and vestibular moves in a specific formula designed to target specific muscle groups and joints to help realign the internal sensory system and remove “roadblocks” that are causing the misfiring and redirected sensory signals. As the body’s sensory pathways are realigned, the brain and body can process academic information better because the signals are aligned. When sensory seeking behaviors decrease, cognitive function increases, which results in a snowball effect of increase in social and emotional learning.
What makes The Sensory Path™ unique?
As a special education teacher, Holly Clay, the founder of The Sensory Path™, served a large percentage of students with autism. She noticed when a child started losing cognitive functioning during the learning process, it helped to give the child some sensory input. She began studying which series of movements seemed to offer the child the necessary proprioceptive and vestibular input to help the child regain focus and control, which ultimately increased cognition and retention of new information. She saw a huge reduction of sensory seeking behaviors and an increase in cognitive functioning. The Sensory Path company is the only company offering research based Sensory Paths. The Sensory Path is proud to be the only company offering Sensory Paths that have been reviewed by The International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards and received the Certified Autism Resource distinction.
We now have repeat customers who have placed a significant value on the use of The Sensory Path products in their schools. Our product was initially designed to help with self-regulation and the sensory system in children with Autism, but schools have found it to be a Universal Educational Tool that promotes inclusion. Students of any ability can find the use of movement a powerful tool to help their brain and body connect.
The Sensory Path products are now being used by children with Autism, children dealing with Trauma, children with ADHD, children in Physical Therapy, and as a movement space for peer social development.
Further Understanding
Children with sensory processing disorders experience a sort of “roadblock” in their internal sensory system when in the academic setting. These sensory “roadblocks” occur when they are tasked with following social protocol while also trying to learn. Their bodies are being bombarded with sensory signals from their environment by sounds, sights, smells, temperature changes, barometric pressure, and believe it or not, the stages of the lunar cycle. As the child’s body is absorbing these different environmental stimuli, the energy and information is stored along their internal sensory system. As the student transitions from one task to another, such as whole group listening to small group performance, without the opportunity to move and “reset” the sensory system, those “roadblocks” that have been created start misfiring and redirecting the internal sensory signals. This redirection begins affecting how the student’s body can process academic information and eventually how their body responds. Sensory seeking behaviors increase due to these redirected sensory signals. These “behaviors” can be subtle or very disruptive, some examples are as follows: disruptive and loud vocalization, inattentiveness, defiance, grabbing another student’s paper, lack of coordination when grasping a pencil, or ability to sit in the chair, decrease cognitive processing speed, decrease in listening skills, fight or flight behavior, inability to follow simple instructions, appearance of being lost or “zoned out” and lastly complete and total meltdown.
Kids with sensory processing disorders can’t just simply turn off the radio of their brains. They need a brain break. Their neurological pathways have essentially jammed and must be cleared. By taking the sensory overloaded kid to our Sensory Path™, they will complete a series of movements that are designed to release the child’s internalized tension and allow their body and brain to refocus.
More than a Path
The Sensory Path™ is more than just a playful area in your building. There’s actually a lot of research and intention behind each and every movement in our packages. Developed over years of experience in the classroom, The Sensory Path is a creative solution to a major problem. Sensory processing disorders are extremely common and have always existed. We are committed to providing the resources teachers, therapists, and administrators need to manage the sensory needs of ALL students. We have consulted with Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, and autism experts about the movements that our Sensory Paths must include to reduce sensory need and not overstimulate the child. Our research has taken years to perfect and our products are the only ones on the market that are masterfully and mindfully sequenced to provide appropriate sensory inputs without over-stimulating your students. The Sensory Path™ KNOWS sensory!
Here is some more information on the research out there about Sensory Integration!
Vestibular System and Proprioception: The Two Unknown Senses
https://blog.ochsner.org/articles/vestibular-system-and-proprioception-the-two-unknown-senses
SENSORY INTEGRATION
https://www.autism.com/symptoms_sensory_overview
More About SENSORY INTEGRATION