CALVIN Lawrie, an occupational therapist based at the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre, is continuing to make a difference in the lives of children with disabilities, especially with his idea to design a sensory smart room at the facility since his posting there earlier this year.

The idea to create such a room sprang from a final-year presentation he did as part of a group at the University of Guyana in 2017, based on sensory integration for children. The exercise made him more conscious that while much attention was given to children’s physical ability, nothing specific was being done to enhance their sensory abilities.

So Calvin began working on creating a sensory room and has already made significant progress in finding a spot and equipping it with some of the items needed.

“We’re building as we go along, trying to accumulate more stuff for the room. It’s not quite there yet; it has a far way to go, but we have the basic things in the room, and we are improvising and making much of what we have,” he shared in an interview with Pepperpot Magazine recently.

“We are catering for children with sensory delays to stimulate their senses, so they can achieve certain milestones. Not every child would learn in a regular setting. A lot of times, you have to adjust the setting and children would learn through their senses,” he explained.

The idea behind the room is to cater to every child with every disability, especially for children with Autism who might be more sensitive to noise or light, or may simply not like the texture of the ground.

The room is a very simple one with a lot of puzzles, soft toys, grass mats, magic sand, play-doh, tumble and exercise balls. It is also equipped with sensory toys such as those that are musical, light up and make noise. There is also a special chair in it for children with poor sitting balance.

“The sensory room is a holistic approach. It’s not just for occupational therapy. We would have some children from speech and language therapy that would be referred to the sensory room. We would also have children from physiotherapy,” Calvin explained.

Having been around physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech and language therapy, nothing beats paediatric occupational therapy for Calvin. He’s long had a passion for working with children with disabilities.

“I’ve always had a love for this because I’ve been around children with disabilities for most of my life, and I find that ‘Ptolemy Reid’ is a part of me. I just love working with children and I’ve come to see that working with children has a lot to do with play. It’s therapy through play. So I basically teach children how to play and how to play properly and I don’t ever get overwhelmed, because I love it,” he expressed.

Calvin’s dad, Anand Mangru, has been the headmaster of the Harold B Davis Special School for many years and still serves in that position. So growing up, he’s always been exposed to children with disabilities as many days after finishing school, he would make his way over to his dad. It was here that Calvin believes his love for this field of work developed.

He derives great satisfaction from seeing his patients’ progress, moving from one stage to another and becoming independent enough to do things for themselves that they simply could not do before.

A few donations have helped Calvin and his team start up the sensory room at the centre, but they still need a lot more sensory toys and other items. Anyone wishing to contribute to the room can do so by first getting in touch with the centre.