Sensory “Bubble Wall” Soothes Boy with Nonverbal Autism and Motivates Him to Begin Talking
Chrissie Render’s son Zac was diagnosed with autism and global developmental delay shortly before he turned three. Since then, and before, Chrissie has looked for things that could calm her son, enhance his educational experience, and stimulate him to communicate verbally. Now the family seems to have found a helpful tool to do this.
A few years ago, Zac, now five, was fascinated by a wall of blisters that the family saw in a restaurant while on vacation. It was just a simple system of pumping bubbles through plastic tubes and illuminating them with color-changing lights, but it was incredibly calming for Zac.
With the help of Charity Children Today, Chrissie was able to install a similar bubble wall in the kitchen of the family home so that Zac can see each other more regularly.
Chrissie says her son was “beside himself with excitement” when he got home the day the bladder wall was installed.
For Zac, who can use a few words but is still mostly non-verbal, the wall of the bladder was a good motivation to get him talking. Almost immediately he started listing the colors he saw in the bubbles.
“Although he’s started using some words recently, he’s usually non-verbal. But as soon as we connected the devices, he immediately started calling out the different colors when they changed – “blue, red, green!” “Says Chrissie. “I couldn’t believe it as Zac normally relies on picture cards to communicate. It was so nice to see him come out with words he had never spoken before. It was so emotional to see how much he loved it. “
Charity Children Today says the bright lights and bubble sounds can be both calming and stimulating for people with autism, and can really help them manage their condition. Simple items, the charity says, can have a profound impact on people with the autism spectrum.
“Overstimulation can be very distressing for children with autism, and unfortunately, bladder tubes and other sensory devices that can help are prohibitively expensive for many families,” said Emma Prescott, director of Charity Children Today.
“It’s just different colored bubbles going up and down, but it’s really comforting. It really helps him, ”says Chrissie. “It made life a lot easier, which affected us all.”
We are very excited to hear that the Render family has found something that works so well for young Zac and will hopefully keep him learning, communicating and calming down for years to come! Any family with a member of the autism spectrum should have the chance to make a simple change like this that will have such a profound impact on their family.
