Special Needs Australia was created with a commitment to provide educators and parents with an essential range of special needs equipment ranging from wobble cushions, for use at home and in the classroom, to online resources for parents and teaching plans for under pressure educators.

Understanding that children who often lack concentration or are deemed as ‘fidgety’ are searching for sensory input has driven us to put together a collection of resources that are designed to enhance these children’s lives and learning capabilities.

As a parent with significant experience of working with families with children that have special needs, I have first-hand experience of how effective some relatively simple equipment can be.

Our range of special needs toys and tools includes sensory seating equipment such as disc cushions and seating wedges that have been developed to help restless or hyperactive children to stay seated for extended periods. These seats are generally partially inflated which allows the child to have some degree of movement, or wobble, without the continual, somewhat disruptive need to stand up. The seating wedge can also help to improve the posture of the spine which can in itself contribute to less involuntary movements or fidgets.

Other children may seek sensory input through constant movement of their feet and legs which can often be manifested as foot tapping or kicking. To reduce the disruption this can cause in a learning situation and also allowing the individual child a greater level of concentration the Think n Roll foot roller can be utilised. This is a simple to use device, consists of a bar with a roller that can easily be clipped on to the front legs of most standard chairs, and presents the child with sensory input for their legs and feet with a minimum of disturbance.

Along the same lines is the simple but highly effective Deskerciser which is a flexible band that simply fits around the legs of any chair and again provides sensory input as well as muscle conditioning.

Some children crave the sensation of chewing and cause unintentional damage to all matter of items as they seek to fulfil their needs. Our range of sensory chew toys have proven to be highly effective in satisfying this craving in children and minimising the damage caused to clothing, pencils and other items as well as preventing the child from chewing on potentially unsafe objects.

Facilitating a child’s needs for sensory input can help improve their learning potential, assist them manage social situations and generally improve their feelings of confidence and self-esteem. The benefits to classmates, siblings, parents and teachers are also obvious and considerable.

For educators many of our items are available in school packs and we also provide free lesson plans that can help you integrate sensory tools and toys into your classroom. A range of other teacher resources that can prove invaluable are also readily available.