Skip to content

Sensory Clinics

About the Clinics

Sensory Clinics are tailored to the need at the time.  They can range from a 2 or 3-day weekend Clinic (See Below), or they can be a one day clinic where the children rotate through the stations with their Intervenor, or the Sensory Tent can be taken as a stand-alone clinic to special events for an afternoon,  such as our Annual General Meeting, Bowling Fun Day or The Vancouver School District Sports Day.   

A young boy with blonde hair wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt with GAP on the front is sitting in the lap of a woman with brown hair and glasses wearing a grey long-sleeved shirt and black pants. She is holding a toy with a horizontal ring of moving coloured bells and the boy is touching the bells to spin them.
Playing with musical toy at Sensory Clinic with Intervenor.

Weekend Sensory Clinics

Our sensory clinics range from an afternoon to a weekend and provide a sensory-loaded experience for children with deafblindness, as well as training and information for their families. Our Sensory Tent offers an on-the-spot opportunity for sensory exploration, allowing children with deafblindness to use their senses to the best of their ability. Clinics are held in two central locations in the Province. One Sensory Clinic being held on Vancouver Island for the Island families and one Sensory Clinic on the mainland for the mainland families.

Who It Supports

The primary purpose is to bring families together to network in a secure, safe, and relaxed environment. A setting where parents can get the most out of the clinic experience without feeling consumed by having to also attend to their deafblind child and siblings.

What Our Team Does

Our Team provides networking, educational and training experience for the parents, the children with deafblindness, the siblings, and the Intervenors. We create a comfortable deafblind community where everyone can feel safe and at home.

How the Program Helps

Providing many social opportunities for everyone so that they have a take-away experience that will be sustainable. Parents connect with other parents and Intervenors. For some families this may be the first time out at a social event.

A young boy with short dark hair and hearing aids wearing a red and black checked shirt is sitting in his wheelchair. He is looking at a blue book titled, “Emma Bear’s Day”. To his right is a woman who is holding the book and looking at the book with him. On his wheelchair tray behind the book is a silver whisk.
Reading at Sensory Clinic with Intervenor

How the Clinics Work

The clinics are set up to provide sensory opportunities for children and their families. Intervenors work with the children experiencing novel activities such as the resonance board, the sensory tent, along with switch activities. Parents have the opportunity to observe Intervenors working with other children and their children interacting with other families.

Educational Sessions

During weekend-long Sensory Clinics, the parents participate in educational sessions and Parent Panels.

Guest speaker sessions can include…
The Ear – The Impact of Hearing Loss on Communication and/or
The Eye – The Impact of Vision Loss on Communication.

The parents have the opportunity to ask direct questions about their own child’s vision and hearing. The parents express that learning more about their child’s vision and hearing needs, as well as the overall function of the eye and the ear, gave them a better understanding of deafblindness as a unique disability and the importance of having a communication system in place.

Sensory Learning Room

In the Sensory Learning room, the siblings and the children with deafblindness are also in educational sessions with their deafblind Intervenors.  The child’s job for the day is to rotate through the sensory stations using, Hand Under Hand exploration. The Intervenors are instructed to present an enriched learning environment, which includes having the children come out of their wheelchairs and also participate in floor activities. As the children rotate through the various stations; the sensory tent, the resonance board, the cause and effect concept table, the coloured sensory bags table, the music table and the sensory kit station, the child would collect items, to later use to make their experience book. Doing With, Not For, each child made their ‘own’ unique Experience Book with the support of their Intervenor. The experience books were shared with the parents at the end of the day and then taken home to be enjoyed for years to come. 

A photo of a table with a clear bin on it labeled “Emma’s Sensory Treasure Chest”. On the table are many colourful sensory items, such as a large roll of orange twine, a dish of coloured pom-poms, pink ribbon, purple feathers, silver and white measuring spoons and a yellow squeeze bottle.
Emma's Sensory Treasure Chest

Workshop Feedback from Parents

“I wish there was more time, it was so awesome to see kids get together and play & learn at the same time with the help of the Intervenors."
“We enjoyed every minute of it. We would like to thank the ministry and the people who came up with this idea and made it happen. Thank you all.”
“This was our first experience doing a workshop like this. I would 100 % do it again. We learned more than ever imagined and would love to learn more to help our little angel.”

Workshop Feedback from Intervenors

“Watching the parents’ reactions while they watched the slide show on Sunday.”
“I had a great time, thank you for taking me in. I had a great experience tending to a cute, lovable, adorable girl. It was a big change coming from an adult to a beginner. Great, great, Great day ever. Thank You! “

Pictures from Past Sensory Clinics

Other Programs

For almost three decades, the CDBA Chapter in BC has been dedicated to providing support and services to the individuals who are deafblind and their families. Some of the support and services provided include:

A laptop shows a picture on its screen of a boy with short dark hair in a long-sleeved white shirt looking forward. To his left is his mother with a long-sleeved black shirt pointing her hand in front of him and also looking forward. In front of the laptop is a hand holding a ball of dough, holding it up to the computer to show the boy and his mother. To the left of the computer is a yellow bag of Robin Hood flour.

Intervention Program

Children and youth with deafblindness, ages 2 -19 years, are supported to interact within their home and community environments during the spring, summer and winter school breaks. We provide funding for the family to hire an Intervenor to work with their child.
Learn More
A young girl in a walker wearing a mauve shirt and a bone conduction hearing device is with a laughing woman with long hair and a green, blue and purple striped shirt. They are looking to the left for the photo and standing at a chain-link fence in front of a brown horse.

Summer Recreation Program

Provides opportunities during the summer months for our members to explore new activities and venues and to develop social relationships with other individuals who are deafblind. This program is available to all members.
Learn More
A young boy with dark hair in wheelchair using a large red switch. He is laughing and looking at a wooden clown hanging in front of him, while an adult signs ‘more’ in front of him.

Early Intervention Program

Through direct family service, families and their teams are introduced to the unique world of deafblindness, while learning communication methods and deafblind intervention skills that support the child’s development during the early years.
Learn More
“Materials we use for language development will need to be real. Touchable things – Things the children can act on.”
Carol Crook and Barbara Miles
Remarkable Conversations