About Multisensory Therapeutic Environments
In the hands of a skilled and enabling practitioner, a controlled multi-sensory therapeutic environment (MSTE) offers a powerful therapeutic tool for people who experience sensory dysregulation that may be rooted in anxiety, trauma, learning disabilities, brain injury, mental health challenges, developmental delay, autism or the elderly.
The room can relax, energise, stimulate or calm a person, according to that individual’s specific needs, if used correctly.
Originally developed in the 1970s in the Netherlands, multi-sensory rooms have been established in institutions all over the world. At Bellavista School, South Africa, such a room is used in a multidisciplinary context and has therapeutic purpose for children of school going age who experience barriers to learning.
The intervention is not bound by a specific professional discipline, therapy, facility, or client profile. It enhances our commitment to the Ayers Sensory Integration model.
The MSTE is tool and resource utilised to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities and other limiting conditions.