Every school should get device making “real difference” to children with anxiety, MP says
Every school should have a revolutionary new device said to be making a “real difference” to children with sensory and anxiety issues, an MP says.
The call came as the man behind the Cubbie visited a North Belfast primary where the photo-booth sized machine has been helping pupils “decompress” before heading to class better able to learn since the end of 2021.
Teachers and parents have hailed the appliance which allows young people to immerse themselves in a visually calming or invigorating soundscape to help ‘regulate’ a range of symptoms or behaviours associated with children who have special educational needs. The Cubbie’s apparent success comes against a backdrop of one in 20 schoolchildren in Northern Ireland having an autism diagnosis, according to Department of Health figures. Add to that Education Authority figures which show a 50% rise in the number of children with a statement of SEN since 2018 and a 25% increase in pupils in special schools.
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More than 68,000 pupils in Northern Ireland have some form of special educational need - around 20% of the school population. Nearly 27,000 have a statement of SEN, a legal document setting out a child’s needs and the support they should have in school.
Speaking during a visit to Mercy Primary on the Crumlin Road last week, Sinn Féin MP Pat Cullen “every school in the north deserves to have a Cubbie”.
The Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP added: “We owe that to the pupils, we owe it to the teachers, we owe it to society at last. So what I would really love to see is right across the education system that every child has access to Cubbie. But there also is a real need for Cubbie to be within our mental health services, particularly our child and adolescent mental health services for those children that are sitting on waiting lists, waiting on a diagnosis as well.
“My goodness, if they could have access to a service and a facility like this, it will have a really positive impact on their lives and positively impact on their families also.”
The Cubbie Sensory Hub was developed by David and Diane McIntyre ‘to give their child a chance of a mainstream education’.
Speaking at Mercy Mr McIntyre, from Mayo, explained how the system works.
He said: “Cubbie is a solution for people with sensory processing issues. What happens with people with autism and sensory processing issues is that it can be painful, for instance, light can be blinding, even dull light can be blinding, touch can be sore, or noise can be deafening.
“And over time, in particular, short periods of time in school, it becomes overwhelming and they have what’s called a ‘sensory overload’. This sensory overload really diminishes their ability to participate in the school day. And what Cubbie does, is it regulates and, or it balances that sensory need for the person very quickly so that they can go back in the classroom and participate with their peers.”
Mercy Principal Elaine Loughran said the Cubbie has been a success story at the school.
She added: “The child has a pre-programmed occupational therapist program and they’re able to select it themselves. So it’s a very easy interface, very easy to use and take control of, and the child can choose a program that suits their needs as well, so they can change to their favorite color, video, and the movement that they would like to see and hear.
“It’s timed, a child’s very safe inside the Cubbie, and it gives them a chance to regulate their their senses to calm down if needed and to take a little bit of time out. So we find it’s a very, very effective program. It makes a real difference for our children. It makes a difference that they can actually go back to class and be settled and ready to work again.”
Alisha Varndell says her daughter Georgia benefits from using the Cubbie. She said: “She absolutely loves it. Without that machine we would be absolutely lost. The ten minutes a day make a big massive change every single day. Like even at the weekends because she doesn’t have the access to the Cubbie, you can see a different person from the weekends to the child during the week. Where if she was to have that every day, like it would be amazing, but the fact is that she does have it, and we are so grateful of it.”
Éamonn McKermott, the school’s Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator, or SENCo, said they began to see “an increase in self-regulation and a decrease in anxiety” with the children using the Cubbie soon after it was introduced in October 2021.
Initially, he says, children with a statement of need used the Cubbie, but that was quickly expanded when staff realised how affective it was. Questionaires sent out to parents brought back “overwhelmingly positive” with one parent commenting: “My child enjoys having her time out in the Cubbie. It helps calm her when she is overanxious, and she enjoys playing the music to help her relax.”
Mr McKermott added: “We continue to have very positive feedback from parents with some contacting the school especially to see if their child could have a slot due to worries at home concerning social and emotional issues. Staff have also reported a positive impact on their children who use the Cubbie.
“It allows children a very important break from the classroom to decompress and regulate. The children then return to class refreshed and focussed to complete teacher assigned tasks.”