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Brief: A Sound Path Helps Students with Special Needs An outdoor play area can be very daunting for children with special needs, particularly children who are blind. This is because children who are blind need help managing large, undefined spaces. One way that blind children can navigate large play spaces is through the implementation of a "sound path." Music therapists created a sound path at one child care center using drainage pipe that was looped around the perimeter of the play area. About two-thirds of the pipe was submerged, allowing children to walk on it. The pipe had ridges on it similar to the guiro, a Latin American percussion instrument that makes sound when rubbed with a stick. As the blind child moved along the path, he pushed a cart that scraped along the pipe and produced sound. The pipe connected six different stations, each of which contained handmade instruments. Prior to the construction of the sound path, this child spent most of his time with a teacher. The path gave the child the freedom to explore the play space on his own, without the assistance of a teacher. It also provided opportunities for the child to interact with other children and build social skills. While the sound path was added to the playground specifically for the blind child, the feature benefited other children with and without special needs. For example, one child with cerebral palsy used the horn in one of the musical stations to develop his motor skills for grasping and releasing. Also, a child with autism worked toward his goal of understanding cause and effect by hitting sound pipes with a dowel. In addition, music crosses cultural and linguistic boundaries. The sound path provided opportunities for children from different backgrounds to play together. In this way, the sound path facilitated social-emotional development for both children with disabilities and typically developing children. Source:
For
more information: Facts in Action, May/June 2003 |
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