Sensory Awareness Exercises for the Visually Handicapped

Abstract

A set of six sensory awareness exercises lasting 30-90 minutes are described that help visually handicapped individuals appreciate and become more aware of their other senses, thus building confidence and enabling them to better deal with their environment. Clients were first taught a muscle relaxation technique to make them more aware of their whole bodies before concentrating on different sensory modalities. Exercises involving touch, taste, smell, and hearing were conducted in a dark room so as to occlude whatever visual capabilities the clients had and to help maintain concentration on the exercise. Various objects that required the use of a particular sense were distributed to the participants who then described and identified them. The purpose of the final exercise was to integrate past activities in a sensory treasure hunt, whereby blindfolded participants experienced tactile, olfactory, gustatory, and auditory clues then decided as a group where to find the next clue. Client feedback and instructors’ subjective impressions seemed to confirm the usefulness of the program.