Snoezelen

This popular treatment of child autism involves the use of different multisensory stimulants that help calm down an autistic child. This includes the use of different colored lights, sounds and scents in a controlled environment in order to provoke a positive response from the child with autism.

Snoezelen, or controlled multisensory stimulation, is used for people with (severe) mental disabilities, and involves exposing them to a soothing and stimulating environment, the “snoezelen room.” Such rooms are specially designed to deliver stimuli to various senses, using lighting effects, color, sounds, music, scents, etc. The combination of different materials on a wall may be explored using tactile senses, and the floor may be adjusted to stimulate the sense of balance.

Originally developed in the Netherlands in the 1970s, snoezelen rooms have been established in institutions all over the world. In Germany, for example, there are more than 1200 snoezelen rooms.

Snoezelen might be beneficial to people with developmental disabilities, dementia, and brain injury. However, research on these matters is scarce, with variable study designs.
The term “snoezelen” (pronounced like “SNOOzelen”) is a neologism formed from the Dutch “snuffelen” (to sniff, to snuffle) and “doezelen” (to doze, to snooze).

Snoezelen
Alternative autism treatments
Autism Books
Autism Checklist
Asperger's Syndrome in Laymens Terms. Aspergers Checklist