“I want to paint the room blue – like the sky. Sky blue.”
“Do you want to feel like you are a cloud floating around your blue sky while you are sleeping?” I asked Bobby, the requester for a sky blue room.
“Yeah, that sounds cool!”
We live in a three bedroom house. When we finally figured out that we would sleep the boys in one room and Cate in her own, we allowed each to pick a paint color for their room.
And little five or six-year-old Bobby was overjoyed to think about being a cloud flying around a sky blue room. So sky blue it went.
Eventually we began to realize Declan had different sensory needs. And if you asked me then what was one of the biggest challenges we faced with Declan?
SLEEP. Or lack thereof. And it effected us all.
Through the years we have tried NUMEROUS things to help get Declan to sleep (and therefore all of us) peacefully through the night.
One of the biggest aids we have acquired was his weighted blanket that my mother so thoughtfully made for him.
Wherever we go, this 10 pound blanket travels with us to help relax Declan by giving his body the sensory input it needs – while he sleeps!
And I learned there are other ways you can help create a space to help your sensory child find clam and peace.
After reading the list below, I was thankful Bobby chose a sky blue room – and that their room is carpeted and that the lights are lamps we control the wattage of.
If we wanted to change something big – like the floors or ceiling, we would not be able to afford something like that. I clicked the link and I found some more information about how to create a calm space on a budget – something I COULD do. Easy! De-clutter the room.
Autism Parenting Magazine provided me this infograpic about was to create a peaceful and calming environment for those with different sensory needs. Click on the infographic to be taken to their blog – and learn some more useful information on the topic.
Check it out!
This is a really interesting post Robyn, it’s so strange about the sensory side.
When l was younger l had to have a very busy and overstimulating decor [and l never knew until much later as you know that l was on the spectrum], but back then, l remember l used to have really bizarre wall papers as l founf plain walls unstimulating. My walls used to have shelves upon shelves of books, and that made up a huge feature to my space, one wallpaper was like a chessboard but with many black, white squares on it, that drove my parents nuts.
Another bedroom and l adorned all the walls with swords, the busier the better, and yet if l had to have plain walls, l had to have them in very brash colours. This lasted with me till literally a few years ago, and by this l mean till around 2015.
When l first met Suze l was living in a house in Lincolnshire and l had bright red, brightest yellow, and brightest orange walls with murals l had painted on them. Now Suze having her own house in ‘magnolia’ drove me insane and yet she found my walls seriously disturbing ha ha, especially the black room, which was a small room completely black, which l used a quiet room for reading.
Now l live with ‘magnolia’ walls, but have a space of my own, big mans’ cave, or den, but it is filled with stimulation and things that l need to make me feel relaxed.
Really interesting article 🙂
Rory
Thank you for sharing, Rory 🙂
Pleasure Robyn 🙂
Nothing is more calming than florescent green walls (paint was on sale- apparently)! That was the room me and my 2 little brothers shared for years. Finally, after I got tired of waking up in piss soaked sheets and went to sleep on the front room couch several nights in a row, my parents finally got a clue and let me move out to what would become my room. Yeah, room leaked air like a sieve (used to be the back porch) but at least I woke up each morning DRY!
I don’t blame you – I would choose the porch too!
I love that blanket. The way it looks and what it does