Memory and standing balance after multisensory stimulation in a Snoezelen room in people with moderate learning disabilities

Abstract

Accessible Summary• Multisensory stimulation improves attention, which can also improve memory and standing balance of people with learning disabilities, even at a high age.• Improved standing balance and body awareness may help reduce falls in people with moderate learning disabilities.• Therapeutic treatments could be more effective if preceded by multisensory stimulation. AbstractBackground: The Snoezelen room provides a multisensory environment for people with learning disabilities.Method: Thirty-five residents were recruited from a convenience sample of people living in a residential centre. A repeated-measures, within-subject design was used to evaluate the participants during three conditions: a) Snoezelen room, b) control period and c) watching television. The outcome measures were digit span memory tests and Romberg balance tests. One-way repeated-measures ANOVAs and pairedsamples t tests were performed on the data. Results: ANOVA results show that there was a significant effect over time in the amount of digits remembered and in balancing ability between the three conditions (p < .0005). T tests confirmed that the Snoezelen condition was responsible for the significant improvements in memory and balancing ability. Conclusion: Participants performed significantly better with memory tasks and balanc-ing skills after having attended multisensory stimulation in a Snoezelen room. This may be due to improved mindfulness, which is correlated with improvements of concentration, learning ability and motor skills caused by neurophysiologic changes of the brain. K E Y W O R D Slearning disabilities, memory, mindfulness meditation, Snoezelen, standing balance

Multisensory Interaction and Analytics to Enhance Smart Learning Environments: A Systematic Literature Review

“…[62], [49], [51], [57], [74] Information is given by technology through an intentional vibration by a particular area such as an object.…”

“…Information is given by technology through various effects such as bubble, wind. Exteroception-Vibration [62], [49], [51] Information is given by technology through an intentional environmental vibration stimuli acting on the human Exteroception-Movement [62] Information is given by technology through an intentional environmental movement acting on the human. The dominant application 1 field of the selected studies was therapeutic (n = 10 studies), followed by STEM (n = 7 studies), spatial learning (n = 6 studies), memory (n = 3 studies), social science (n = 3 studies), humanities (n = 1 studies), and language learning (n = 3 studies).…”

“…All the identified systems provide visual stimuli, usually conveyed through images and written texts [49], [52], [60]. Some technologies also support video and lighting [19], [71]; for example, Gelsomini et al developed a collaborative game with portable lights in which children learned colors by associating them to a particular element [48].…”

“…Lastly, physical and exteroception stimuli were present in a few studies [49], [51]. In these settings, information is provided by technology through a deliberate physical (through a specific area, such as an object) or environmental vibration or movement.…”

“…All the studies aimed to improve the cognition skills and the autonomy of the participants involved, for instance, to treat their dementia [47], [62] or encourage self-efficacy [46]. Moreover, a combination of audio/visual and olfactory stimuli was used to improve participants' memory [49]. Some studies also used physical stimuli with environmental vibrations [62].…”