Snoezelen – in action

“Snoezelen” has become a magic word. Its extensive use of the sense of smell and relaxation, which takes place in an environment filled with interesting aromas, is described as a pleasant experience by the users of the room. They look at the bubble tubes brings them to a state of relaxation by the restful music. The special ambience with all of its electrifying light and sound effects and various seating and lounging facilities have a positive and stimulating impact on a person’s mind. The specially ed rooms induce favourable emotions, i.e., satisfaction, inner calm, contentment or joy. These surroundings arouse memories and support self-reflection, and enable a person to gather strength and develop ideas. The intervention concentrates mainly on the effects of visual, tactile-haptic, kinaesthetic, proprioceptive, olfactory and acoustic stimuli which, used alone or in combination, help people to calm down, to pull themselves together and to get organized. The variety of stimuli – organized according to didactic-methodological aspects – help people to remember, to compare and to (re-)organize themselves. In this sensory integration process, the contact senses (taste, smell) including the tactile-haptic, kinaesthetic and proprioceptive senses (feeling, sensing) and the remote senses (sight, hearing) have to cooperate.