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WHAT IS SOUNDS LIGHT SENSORY?

 

Hi my name is Kev Biggenden and I run Sounds Light Sensory. I provide a multi-sensory music and light show experience for children and adults with additional support needs using state of the art technology and professional lighting. 

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I have 30 years of experience in the field of music playing in bands as a guitar, bass and mandolin player. For the past 7 years I have been studying music recording and production using Logic Pro X software and a variety of instruments and midi equipment..

My care/support experience is varied, spanning a period of over 30 years both personally and professionally. I have worked as a nursing assistant in a psychiatric hospital, as a community mental health support worker and as a service manager for community mental health services. The past 8 years have been spent as a Day Centre Officer supporting adults with additional support needs. I now run Sounds Light Sensory and work part time at Linn Moor school as a support worker. 

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For over 3 years I have been learning how best to use the soundbeam and the skoog with children and adults with learning disabilities. In my previous position as Day Centre Officer I regularly gave 1-1 Soundbeam and Skoog sessions to service users with more profound disabilities, the benefits of which were remarkable. One of the individuals has shown a remarkable shift change in her ability to communicate with those around her. For years she has been a significantly isolated individual. Since starting her 1-1 Skoog sessions, she is now able to concentrate for extended periods of time when using the Skoog and actively communicates with her 1-1. We can now recognise when she is laughing and enjoying an activity. These are major breakthroughs that have enhanced her quality of life and her ability to actively communicate with others. The joy that music can bring is endless.

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WHAT IS THE SOUNDBEAM? It is an amazing and unique musical instrument which uses motion sensors and switches to translate body movements into music and sound. You don’t have to wear special gloves, operate a controller, or wave a wand or bat in the air. Simply move in a way that is comfortable for you and the soundbeam will do the rest.

Unlike a lot of resources which are sometimes considered suitable for individuals with special needs, Soundbeam encourages active engagement and communication, and the sensitivity of the interface makes this possible – even for individuals with significant physical or cognitive challenges.

It has become the ‘must have’ resource for music therapists liberating participants from both the expressive limitations and the potential physical challenges of more traditional percussion based approaches. In special education too, teachers consistently comment on the unlocking potential of Soundbeam: the revelatory changes in behaviour, mood, engagement and capacity to learn which can be seen when people with special needs are given something they can do. Soundbeam

has been extensively evaluated and documented across a wide range of disability and age from very young children at the most profound end of the disability spectrum, to adults approaching the end of life and facing the challenges of dementia and affective conditions. http://www.soundbeam.co.uk 

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Sounds Light Sensory has provided sessions at all of the adult learning disability day services in Aberdeenshire , St Andrews, Woodlands, Hazelwood, Linn Moor, Westfield,and Anna Ritchie schools, Aboyne Academy, and the Shared Lives annual weekend Glenmore break. I also do weekly 1-1 sessions at individuals homes and  sessions for Pamis, Inspire, Charlie House & Me Too . The sessions have been extremely well received by all with repeated requests for more regular visits.

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Some of the benefits for the people we support –

  • Confidence building and increasing self esteem

  • Enhancing communication

  • Relaxation

  • Promoting and enhancing creativity and expression

  • Fun

  • Team working and relationship building

  • Lower levels of challenging behaviour

  • Peer support

  • Quality 1-1 personalised sessions

  • Fitness

  • Improved co-ordination 

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