Specialist play sessions for children with complex medical needs now have the benefit of a range of new sensory equipment to support their work thanks to Rockinghorse funding.
Tracy Brown, the specialist early years practitioner, has been running specialist play sessions for children with complex medical and sensory needs in Brighton for many years.
These sessions aim to help children up to 3½ year of age, and their families, who may have been born prematurely or who have delays to their development, enjoy and learn new skills through playing.
Recently a new area within the Tarner Family Centre in central Brighton was refurbished to accommodate these sessions, thanks to some funding from Brighton and Hove City Council. But Tracy and her team still needed to equip the space with a range of sensory toys and activities to properly run the sessions.
So, Tracy put in a funding application to Rockinghorse asking for the things she needed with the aim of helping children learn and enjoy playing and helping parents feel more confident in supporting all areas of their child’s development. It’s also hoped that having this resource will help parents feel less isolated and will enrich the lives of children in the local area.
These new toys have now arrived at the centre and have already been used in a few sessions prior to the summer break, and so far, they have proved transformational.
Tracy explained, “It’s absolutely incredible, there just are no words really. It’s been phenomenal. The funding that we’ve received has enabled us to replace large pieces of sensory equipment that we wouldn’t have been able to, and what we can do for the children now is just incredible.”
“Originally it was intended that two groups, supporting a total of 16 families would be able to access the facilities. But due to the amazing resources and popularity of the room we have been able to extend the use of the room to nursery and made it available for child who are having supervised contact with family members.
“It has also created a safe space for some older children who are struggling with their mental health. I would say that so far over 50 families have benefited from the use of the room since the resources have been purchased.”
How the project has helped.
There are already so many positive outcomes from the new facility, but Tracy told us about one family in particular for whom it has made an enormous difference.
“A 16-month-old girl with a global developmental delay was referred to the Special Needs Early Years Practitioner team in March 2025, initially for one-to-one support with her play development. The sessions were originally carried out in her home environment but were not very successful due to the little girl being extremely anxious and reluctant to engage with the practitioner. In discussion with her parents, she was subsequently offered a place in the group at the Tarner Centre.
“During the first few sessions she was visibly struggling to tolerate the group environment. When we talked with parents, we agreed that it may work better for her to arrive a little earlier than her peers and start in the calmer environment of the sensory room.
“This worked well for both the little girl and her dad. She particularly found the sensory table and ball run stimulating and independently moved slightly away from dad to reach the resources on the top of the sensory table and place balls onto the ball run.
“Subsequently, when the other children arrived, she would notice them but continue with her own sensory explorations. As the weeks progressed, she became more confident to be away from her dad and accepted support from practitioners to play alongside her peers to share balls for the ball run and spin the bell carousel.
“Dad has said that if it was not for the room and the motivating resources, he would not have felt confident in continuing to attend the group as it would have been too difficult for them both.”
Other positive feedback
Often the children coming to the play sessions have a range of other therapists involved in their care, from physiotherapists to specialist nurses, occupational therapists, and speech and language therapists. Each week a different specialist visits the group, meaning that the children can get a range of support right under one roof.
And if it’s not their specific therapist, they are able to take messages back to their team to share what’s been going on and what improvements the children may have made.
One specialist nurse said, “The sensory room is such an asset at the Tarner Centre, and the evidence is from the children. They love it and respond so well to it. They crawl to it; they run to it they indicate to the parents their need to be there.
“It gives the children a platform to enjoy and just be, to interact and learn to respond to others when they are in their best place and nicely relaxed.
“Thank you so much for giving the children, the parents and the staff the wonderful opportunity to observe the benefits that it gives to the children with those extra special needs.”
And one of the occupation therapists said, “I was delighted to see so many interactive sensory resources for the children to explore. Items such as the sensory table and ball run encouraged the children to come into standing and challenged their balance.
“The room was colourful and invited the children to play. Even the more cautious children were motivated to leave their parents side and explore. Parents have reported in therapy sessions that they really enjoy going to the group and look forward to it every week.”
Find out about the other projects that we fund on our Project page here.
