Атты VII халықаралық Ғылыми-əдістемелік конференция жəне қазақ психологиялық ҚОҒамының І қҰрылтай съезінің

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institution began using it independently in the psychological and pedagogical practice of rehabilitation of 

children and adolescents with disabilities. 

The use of the interactive environment of a dark sensor room for a child is determined primarily by his 

needs and understanding that this environment should not harm the child but will allow the psychologist with 

the maximum opportunity to use the room equipment to protect the child's life and health, to overcome the 

disturbances of psychophysical development. The position "the child is important" determines the emphasis 

in the work of the psychologist in the sensory room and its provision. 

According the principle of work in a sensory room we distinguish external (process-technological) and 

internal (personal-realizing) organizational and methodological conditions for the work of a psychologist in 

the sensory room. At the same time under the external conditions of work we mean the conditions that 

regulate psychological and pedagogical activity presented by various legal documents, orders, material and 

technical base and conditions that reflect the methodological development of psycho-corrective technologies 

for children with disabilities. 

Internal conditions of the psychologist's work in the sensory room assume both the conditions 

influencing motivational basis of a psychologist's activity and the conditions ensuring professional readiness 

of a psychologist to work with the interactive equipment of the sensory room. 

External, process-technological, working conditions of the sensory room assume special requirements for 

the room, material and technical equipment of the room, preparation of its equipment, including 

methodological materials, documentation. 

The optimal size of the sensory room should be 15-20 m2.Due to the area it is possible to divide the 

space of the room into different environments (soft, visual-sound, tactile and smell zone or air), as every area 

has a specific purpose and appropriate equipment. And also the possibility to holdnot only individual lessons 

but group meetings. 

Safety of children in the sensor room is provided by a soft environment which presupposes the presence 

of wall and floor mats, soft coverage of the premises. This is also important for the development of the so-

called "children's territory" in the sensory room. Between the mats there should be no gaps, the mat-free 

floor is covered with a soft coating (carpet, etc.). 

When coloring the design of the room, the color of walls, floors, curtains is selected according to the 

principle of using calm and neutral tones that do not cause additional excitement or irritation. Windows 

should be closed with light-tight material (curtains, paint, etc.) 

Another external condition for the work of a psychologist in the sensory room is the music library of 

specially selected music programs. Music in the sensory room should be a subdominant stimulus which can 

be adjusted by the strength and timing of the sound. The maximum sound volume should not exceed 30 dB 

and total duration of sounding is from 15 to 30 minutes. 

Children with disabilities are characterized by a diversity of manifestations of individual development 

opportunities and each organization has its own material and technical base of a dark touch room. Therefore 

the organization of the correction-development process should be variable taking into account the 

capabilities and needs of children with disabilities and potential of the organization. When organizing the 

activity of children in a dark sensory room a psychologist needs to fulfill the following basic requirements. 

Classes conducted in an interactive environment of a dark sensory room should take into account the 

individual needs of the child, be based on the gradual inclusion of sensory sensations, the individuality of the 

selection of sensors and at the same time be aimed at achieving the goals and objectives identified by the 

team of specialists working with the child. It is important to consider the child's desire to be in the room. If 

the child does not enter, he stands and watches the threshold for playing light, color, music, do not rush it. 

The desire to enter the room and communicate with it should appear itself. You can not forcibly leave the 

child in the room, in some cases, special preparations should be made for the child to visit the dark sensor 

room. Before entering the room (or a few days before the visit), children are told that they will go to the 

magic room so that the magic does not disappear you need to carry out assignments. 

During the classes one should use no more than three types of equipment in a dark touch room. It should 

be remembered that all light-optical equipment can not be turned on at the same time (except the first 

acquaintance with the room). Light-optical equipment is used alternately in the structure of the plot line of 

the lesson. During the relaxation session all the light-optical equipment of the sensory room (the carpet 

"Milky Way", bubble columns, light cascading tube "Merry Fountain", a bundle of fiber optic fibers with a 

side luminescence "Starry Rain"), it is necessary to turn off or use only one type of equipment, for example, 

panels "Fountain", panel "Rotating wheel". 

Beginning with tactile and kinesthetic sensations as skin-kinesthetic sensation is the basis for the 

formation of visual, auditory perception and all kinds of movements. 

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After classes, the child should feel peace and relaxation, especially if the goal of the exercise was to 

normalize the psychoemotional state. 

One of the methodological conditions for building corrective-developing work in a dark sensor room is a 

phased organization of the class. At the first stage classes with the child are built in the form of individual 

classes, the tasks of which are familiarity with the rules of work in the room with interactive equipment and 

methods of using them. A psychologist can involve parents of a child whose joint stay in the room will 

provide the child with safety and psychological and emotional stress reduction.Their further participation 

will depend on the individual and typological features of the development of the child and his development 

needs. One of the goals of individual classes is to increase motivation for activities stimulate interest in 

independent research activities in the child.  

We determined the duration of sessions in the sensory room which varies from 10 to 45 minutes. For 

excitable children the duration of the session should be shortened. When using a medium of a dark sensory 

room for psychotherapy the time of the session is determined by the therapist individually. 

The transition to the second stage of work in a small subgroup of 2-4 people is assessed to improve the 

overall and emotional state of the child, reduce excitability, increase the threshold of sensory sensitivity and 

increase the amount of sensory knowledge. The group is formed on the basis of the initial status and age of 

children, the composition of the group should be made permanent. During classes in the sensory room we 

recommend the use of ritual exercises and rules, the implementation of which must be rigorous throughout 

the entire cycle of corrective activities, modified depending on the main tasks of correction and 

rehabilitation. 

The second stage of thework is characterized by the conditions not only for greater free activity of the 

child but also for the formation of social interaction skills, playing next to another child while building 

cooperation with him. 

The third stage of the work in a large group is typical for conducting classes in the form of training. The 

number of people is determined by the goals of the work, the age involved and the size of the room. 

When planning a correctional-developing process the psychologist should go from the child, based on his 

individual needs, predicting the content and expected result of the correction. 

When considering the internal conditions of a psychologist work in the sensory room we distinguish the 

following organizational and methodological conditions for the development of the teacher's 

professionalism: 

-forming the teacher's readiness for personal and professional development, the development of 

pedagogical self-awareness and self-improvement; 

- Theory-methodical awareness of the teacher about possibilities of interactive equipment of the sensory 

room; 

- Possession of the knowledge system and understanding of the principles of the dark sensor 

roomworkorganization, forms and methods of work; 

- the manifestation of activity in the organization of classes using interactive equipment of the sensory 

room, the internal need for planning and organizing classes in this room; 

-a good condition of the physical, emotional health of the teacher; 

- Providing children with the greatest possible independence, activity, initiative; 

- the development of emotional interaction between the adult and the child which will support the 

stability of the child's actions and the direction of his interest; 

- cooperation of the teacher with specialists of different profiles and parents of children. 

Dedicated conditions determine the need for a sufficient level of training psychologists to work in a 

sensory room that would contribute to the effectiveness of the corrective-developing process. This, in turn, 

would determine the creation of an enabling environment for correcting violations in the psychophysical 

development of children with disabilities in general. 

Thus, the competent and systematic creation of the necessary organizational and methodological 

conditions for the work of a psychologist in a sensory room will contribute to an improvement in the level of 

the correction and development process and a change in the status and development of children with 

disabilities. 

The component of the corrective process in the conditions of a dark sensory room has a certain algorithm 

and its specificity, which requires the teacher-psychologist to constantly improve their professionalism. We 

identified some basic organizational and methodological conditions, content and requirements for the 

organization of classes in a dark sensory room, however, this does not limit psychologists in their work. The 

specialist uses in his work different approaches and forms of work in accordance with the individual needs of 

the child, leading to the achievement of the set goals and objectives.