Proposed Business Plan

This Multi-Sensory Environment location will serve as an atmosphere for at-home Applied Behavioral Analysis Therapists, Occupational Therapists, and Art Therapists to conduct therapeutic sessions outside of the patients’ home environment. It will allow therapists access to tools that typical families cannot install in their homes due to space and finances and will in-turn provide a location for more effective therapy sessions. Both to Miller & Fuller (2006) and Beil et al. (2009) discuss the necessity of maintaining the Sensory Integration Therapy Diet on regular intervals to keep the body regulated.

This project explains how Multi-Sensory Environments and their design helps people with ASD, SPD, Dementia, and other psychological complexes. It has reviewed what Sensory Processing Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder are and how Sensory Integration Therapy can be to individuals with sensory processing needs. As a Registered Behavioral Technician, I have developed relationships with Occupational Therapists, ABA therapists, and families of kids with autism and sensory input needs. ABA therapists and Occupational Therapists review and demonstrate treatment plans with the families and expect treatment to be followed through in the home environments. According to those families and therapists, families rely on the tools that they can afford and have the space for in their homes for. To install a Multi-Sensory Environment in one’s home the cost can range from $8000 for basic materials to $30,000+ and a room to install it in. If the home environment included a swing for vestibular sensory input the ceiling would need to be a minimum of 9 foot and higher ceilings. By providing an environment for families and therapists to engage in, the business will enable interaction with materials and tools that they would not otherwise have access to. Families would also have access to the facility without a therapist present to implement instruction provided the therapist. The business will be designed to provide Multi-Sensory Environments for Sensory seeking individuals as a means to help regulate sensory integration.

As mentioned in the Literature Review under tab Environment Design and Physiological Effect in paragraph 6, “MSE spaces house a variety of engagement tools to help stimulate and regulate one’s senses. Material, lighting, and sound are used to create the most effective space to help enhance the senses. A careful planning of the space environmental design, the lighting color and LED sensory tools will need to be considered to help the overall results for the participant in each space.” The materials used within the space will need to consider a balance of the eight senses. According to VanMuers-Juergens (2016), vestibular input from swinging in a swing for fifteen minutes can last in the central nervous system for eight hours. Compression swings predominately stimulate the proprioceptive system and the vestibular system. The compression and slow movement of the swing once sitting inside of it allows the body and brain to relax. In the hanging of the swing, a 360-degree rotational device should be used to allow a slow soft continuous movement around the tether avoiding tangling and a reversing rapid jerking motion to untangle. Yaron Ginsberg published a list of SIT ^[1]diet activities (view list on table h.) according to the body system that they stimulate.

This plan will include a minimum of 3 types of rooms specific toward the sensory input that is needed. An activity room (example image below (j.)) would include a ball and/or foam pit, monkey bars, Jungle gym, climbing wall, trampoline, balance beam, large foam blocks to satisfy the vestibular and proprioceptive sensory input. The Calm room (example image below (j.)) would include weighted blankets, a compression canoe, various swings (table g.) crash pad (for jumping on or laying down), bubble tube (visual system), led light strands (visual system), squeeze machine (proprioceptive). The deep pressure and compression tools like the compression canoe and the weighted blanket would satiate the sensory input to the proprioceptive system. The Tactile room (example image below (k.)) would include water play, Lego station, finger paint, chalk board wall, sensory table play (rice, sand, putty, oatmeal, playdoh), bubble tube, led light strands. This would indulge the input necessary for the tactile system.

Environment Design and Physiological Effect section in the Literature Review examined Ziegler’s (2015) findings on the effectiveness of lighting design and the ability for controlling the lighting individuality to adjust for color and intensity to help reduce stress. Color theory has long subscribed to the notion that long wavelength colors (warm colors) are arousing, and short wavelength colors (cool colors) are calming (Elliot & Maier, 2007). The space execution and lighting design will be a vital component of the visual system sensory experience.

Sound within each space should be controlled by the participant within the space. Every person is unique as to what their Auditory system will handle, some prefer loud over quiet, and some may prefer no sound to a sound machine. The option will be made available through an installed sound system in each room and controlled by an iPad sound machine app. The multi-sensory environments will need to stay clean and have air purifiers to reduce odor that may compromise the individual’s Olfactory system. The cleaning products will need to be non-toxic as well since some participants may have oral tactile sensory needs. This means they mouth and chew on objects, in which, the rooms should have new mouthing and chewy tools for each individual.

The Multi-sensory Environment location will also have a section for retail to sell and experience sensory-based products like: (vestibular) Swings, Balance tools -walking tiles, Gel tiles; (Proprioceptive) Compression Materials -Weighted vests, compression, clothing, weighted blankets and tools, Fidget toys; (Interoceptive) Essential oils; (Tactile) Textural materials, Water play objects – water beads; (Olfactory) Scented products– putty, writing utensils, Essential oils; (Visual) LED light tools; (Gustatory) Chewy and mouthing toys; (Auditory) Sound machine players. The main location to purchase therapeutic tools is online, however, this does not give the purchaser the ability to engage in the product prior to purchase making it difficult to know if the product will be effective for its intent. I would like to provide a retail space to allow the buyer to utilize the tool before committing to the purchase, allowing them to buy the product that works for their needs.

^[1]SIT Diet is referenced in the Introduction on Capstone Prospectus page: Sensory Integration Therapy (SIT) helped combat its symptoms for the child to live a more neurotypical lifestyle. A large part of SIT diet (not a food diet but rather a sensory simulative diet that satisfies the brain) includes deep compression therapy that activates the senses and releases calm inducing serotonin to the brain. (Miller & Fuller, 2006)

This project proposes that Occupational Therapists, ABA Therapists, and families can utilize an individual MSE space in five-minute intervals with a maximum of a 30-minute session. An additional $10 per child will be charged if they have more than one child using the space. Monthly passes will also be available for purchase and a therapist who buys a pass can bring up to 6 clients per pass.

Companies are becoming more aware of people’s sensory sensitivities by creating “sensory friendly” events for families to attend in a less crowded, quieter, and less visually stimulating atmosphere. For example, Chuck E Cheese’s has a sensory friendly event where families can participate with the games without sounds and lights on. My project proposes a sensory friendly space at all times. It could be made available for sensory friendly birthday parties, events, social groups, and classes. There would be a parent group to socialize with on scheduled event days and a social media group to communicatewith. The MSE center will also have Autism community involvement such as the Autism walk sponsorship and support donations to Autism Speaks.

Multi-Sensory Environments have been proven as an effective therapeutic tool to ease behavioral symptoms in individuals with developmental disabilities and autism if the function of behavior is automatic/sensory based. This paper discusses the effectiveness of environmental design on an individual that is sensory seeking, including the physiological effects of lighting and color theory on the participant in a space, as well as, Multi-Sensory Environment equipment that would provide sensory input to those interacting with the space. Designers and artists such as Turrell, Hamilton, Sewell, and Eliasson have been using sensorial experiences and physiological effects through the use of color, light, sound, smell, and textures in their work to transform how people feel when immersed within their created environments. Their work is intended to enhance the viewers perception and emotional state within the environmentin order for the space itself to evoke a reaction from the user, in a similar way MSEs allow sensory input that calms the nervous system and allows the body to stay controlled.

This paper proposes a need for and a plan to create a center that has several Multi-Sensory Environments that can serve as a location for in-home applied behavioral analysis therapists, occupational therapists, and art therapists to conduct therapeutic sessions outside of the patients’ home environment. In-home therapists rely on the tools that they can transport themselves or supplies that parents have in their house and due to space and financial constraints of Multi-Sensory Environment equipment providing sensory input can be a challenge for therapists and parents to accommodate.This plan includes a location that houses a minimum of 3 types of rooms, such as, an activity room (example image (j.), a calm room (example image (i.)), and a tactile room (example image (k.)). Each room designed to fulfill specific sensory input that is needed. The space would also serve as a community where ASD and SPD families could come together in a “sensory friendly” atmosphere for events in a less crowded, quieter, and less visually stimulating environment. This space will allow in-home therapists access to a location for more effective therapy sessions.