Next Steps: Sensory Spaces and Kits

UHM Center on Disability Studies has been partnering with campuses across the UH System to offer a free training program for faculty, administrators and staff to increase understanding, knowledge, and skill of accessible and inclusive course design, instructional delivery, and assessment to increase student sense of belonging and postsecondary success. As a part of this broader project we have also installed a 13 item Mobile Sensory Space Kit at UH Manoa in partnership with the Office of Faculty Development and Academic Success. In this presentation we will provide an overview of the benefits of sensory integration, highlights from our research study on the sensory space, and discuss opportunities for what this might look like at your campus.

The Joeten-Kiyu Public Library’s Family Engagement Sensory Corner, a.k.a. Sensory Corner, was made possible through grant funding from the Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC): Accessible Small and Rural Communities—an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA), the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Friends of the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library, and generous donors and sponsors through Educational Tax Credit.

The Sensory Corner provides community engagement and accessibility resources to small and rural libraries to help them better serve people with disabilities. It is located in the Children of Our Homeland Center, a.k.a. the Children's Library, and is filled with stationary activities, learning to go packages, activated technology assistance devices, tablets, noise canceling earphones, kinetic sand, painting, etc. Every Friday, we have designated the Sensory Corner for families with children with autism and special needs from 5pm to 7pm throughout the year. We also hold space for Peer Support Sessions for the Autism Society of the CNMI.

Speakers:

Holly Manaseri is a faculty member at UH, Center on Disability Studies where I teach courses in the graduate Disability Studies program and serve as the principal investigator on three current grant funded personnel preparation projects supporting inclusive practices.

Maria Teresa Houar is a Dance and Disability Studies scholar of Mexican, Portuguese and Haole descent, born and raised in Hawaiʻi on the outer islands of Kauaʻi and Maui. She currently works as a Graduate Assistant on projects in the Center on Disability Studies at UH Mānoa, and teaches the undergraduate course DIS 380: Foundations on Disability and Diversity. She also works and teaches in the UH Mānoa School of Cinematic Arts.

Manca Sustarsic is an Evaluation Specialist at the Center on Disability Studies. She holds her doctorate in Education from UH Manoa’s Department of Educational Foundations. Manca has experience evaluating multi-level educational interventions on Oahu and Maui, working with youth and adult community members. Her research focuses on the experiences of student populations in K-12 and higher education, with a focus on international students, students from low-income families, and students with disabilities.

Louis Montano is a graduate assistant at the Center on Disability Studies.

Erlinda Cabrera Naputi is an indigenous Chamorro woman, born and raised on Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands. She is the Library Director of the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library-CNMI State Librarian, and the President of the Pacific Islands Association of Libraries, Archives, and Museums (PIALA). She is the President of the 670Babes Softball Team and a National Coach for the CNMI Women’s Softball Fastpitch Team for the 2025 Pacific Mini Games. She is also a CHamoru language and culture researcher at the University of Guam.

Websites mentioned:

https://cds.coe.hawaii.edu/campu/
https://manoa.hawaii.edu/library/devi...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/116K8...
https://www.cnmilib.org