Hoomie Sweet Home: A Qualitative Study on the Small Multisensory Space ”Hoomie” for Inclusion of Autistic Kids in a Primary School

Abstract

Multisensory environments (MSE) are thought to promote relaxing experiences and learning opportunities for children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD), especially autistic kids. However, there seems to be a lack of proposals tailored to school with relaxing goals that address autistic kids’ anxiety, while answering support teachers’ needs. This paper presents Hoomie, a small relaxing multisensory space. A qualitative study with eleven NDD students and their support teachers was conducted to understand what elements should be taken into consideration to allow as much flexibility as possible to children and teachers, in order to be accessible for the kids with sensory processing dysfunction and adoptable in teachers’ routines. Findings suggest that by providing a wide range of possibilities in a few touchpoints, a small multisensory space can keep motivating the children’s interaction, while flexibility in activity management, activity parameters, and work method can answer teachers’ needs for adoptable tools.