Everybody knows about the five senses: sight, touch, smell, hear, and taste, but what many people do not know is that we actually have two more senses: vestibular and proprioceptive. Vestibular sense is the sense of body position, balance, and movement. Everybody experiences vestibular sense in a different way and some people do not like it. For example, some people love the fast spinning motions that they experience on roller coasters, while other people get sick while simply riding in a car. The proprioceptive sense processes information caused from stretching your muscles, bending, straightening, pulling, or compressing joints between bones. These types of motions and actions help us to focus and relax.
The Orton-Gillingham approach is an action- based learning style. There is a constant interaction between the teacher and students; speaking, listening, reading, and writing are intertwined throughout all aspects of instruction to reinforce learning. Maria Montessori is another advocate for sensory integration. She believes that students learn best when their senses are activated. Montessori also believes that students should take control of their learning and that is the teachers job to facilitate, not dictate the learning. She believed that a child centered classroom is the ideal learning environment; she states that children should have the opportunity to walk around and work independently on activities that interest them. A Montessori classroom should be calm, organized, and chaos free. The materials should be child sized and children should be taught to put their materials away. Montessori also believed that children should interact with nature and not be confined to the indoors. There should be live plants and animals included in the classroom as well as shells, stones, and nests for the children to examine.
In my future classroom, I will have an open layout that is free of clutter. An open layout allows students to work in groups easier and gives them plenty of space. An organized, clutter free room eliminates many distractions for students. I also love the idea of flexible seating and having a sensory spot. Flexible seating involves having chairs, stools, and floor seating, with a variety of textures, heights, and levels of firmness. By having different textured and comfortable seating the students are more comfortable, so they will be more focused . The sensory spot provides students a safe outlet for their stress and frustration. If students get overwhelmed and need a moment to decompress, it is the perfect place for them to go.
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