Abstract:

This article summarizes an experience carried out jointly with the team of Gifted Children of the Region of Murcia (Spain), aimed at the development of a service-based learning project, dedicated to the development of a sensory stimulation device for an association of disabled people.

This proposal focus on sensory stimulation in early care (0-6 years) and school ages (6-16 years) of disabled children.

From the point of view of schooling, this type of children require a very specialized attention, since their abilities and their rate of learning are different to most of the school population and their educational needs are different.

In this context, Multisensory Stimulation takes on special importance because means another way of approaching work with people with severe and multiple disabilities. People who have closed some sensory doors find other ways of relating to the world, to feel pleasure, to recognize their arms and legs, in a space of multisensory experimentation.

The objectives associated with this proposal are the following:
a) To allow gifted students that participated in the initiative to apply the knowledge they acquired in subjects of the curriculum in order to develop a device with a social utility. In particular, much of the technical concepts acquired in subjects such as Physics or Technology were used.
b) To promote social inclusion, bringing disability closer to the participants in the program. During the development of the proposal students met the people for whom the products to be developed will be destined, so affective bonds emerged between participating students and disabled students who were the final users of the products.
c) Stimulate social skills. The participants had to work in teams and had to propose product ideas, discuss them, improve them and develop them collaboratively. They also had to interact with the end users of the products, in order to confirm that the design is useful for them and to consult them on possible improvements.
d) Enhance creativity. The participants worked on the design of a product that they had to design in a creative way to awaken the interest of the end user. This required not only the application of intellectual and technical skills, but also the musical skills for the development of attractive products from the point of view of auditory stimulation, along with artistic skills, applied to the visual design of the final products
e) To contribute to the development of the basic competences marked by the Compulsory Secondary Education curriculum in the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia.
f) To improve self-esteem and personal satisfaction, as long as the participant considers that his or her talent is useful to other people.

Keywords:

Gifted children, service-based learning, electronics, sensorial estimulation.