School Counselor’s Innovation Leads to Sensory Path

A Creative Reset for Young Children

Canterbury School’s new Sensory Path was created for Lower School students to use movement and poses to reset their bodies and minds when they are having a big feeling, they feel stuck or unfocused, or when they need to change their energy level.
Located in the covered walkway across from the Frank L. Romano Performing Arts Center, the sensory path is an ideal space near the Lower School and playground that encourages students to interact with the path on both the columns and the cement floor. Ms. Evonne Clapper, our Director of School Counseling and the leader behind this project, explains, “Ideally, we wanted it near the main playground should a teacher direct a student to reset themselves during recess. It was important to position it where students do not normally walk. That allows it to maintain its novelty.” Each time the children interact with the path, they can choose a new variation of movements. They can jump three times, pat the wall, leap like a cougar from one point to another, or count 1,2,3. 
 
The Sensory Path project began after Ms. Clapper read a publication about a local public school’s success with a similar sensory path. She collaborated with that school’s social worker, Dolores Loftus, as well as Dr. John Edwards, a local pediatric chiropractor, to discuss the best sensory input and movement options for the path. Ms. Clapper also consulted Mrs. Singh for the art design of the project. From there, she recruited Mrs. Thomas and some passionate art students, Marina C. ‘20, Josh B. ‘20, and Stori M. ‘20, to paint the path in the spring of 2020. Ms. Clapper would like to thank everyone who helped her for actualizing this amazing new space.
 
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