Sensory Stories are adapted stories which use sensory stimuli to support, enhance and tell the story. Sensory stories are a great way to encourage communication, through expressing preference, understanding vocabulary and developing responses.
I have provided links to a number of sensory stories written by a variety of different organisations for you to explore. In addition a quick guide to creating your own sensory stories can be found below (a link for a downloadable version is provided to the side).
P Group Sensory Stories
Creating a Sensory Story
- Choose your story – This could be a book, family tale or news story
- Summarise the story – Create a summary of the story using between 8 and 10 simple sentences, highlighting words or concepts
- Find props – Find items which represent the key parts of your story. Make sure you have resources which can be explored through each of the different senses. Use your imagination – fairy lights for example can be used for stars or fire flies or just to illuminate netting to make a ghost
- Tell the story – Read your story, supporting your learner to explore each of the props as you reach them. Take your time, exploring the prop in different ways, observe how your learner responds and adapt. Encourage independent exploration where possible.
- Repeat the story and then repeat it again! Repetition is a really important tool. Your learner may begin to show consistent responses over time, demonstrate learned responses and may start to anticipate various stimuli .
A good example of how to create and deliver a sensory story can be seen in the video below.