Promotion of the understanding of sensory diversity through elementary school class activity

To create a society where all people can participate and support each other, people with various mental and physical characteristics must understand each other. Those with developmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder often exhibit atypical sensory characteristics such as hypersensitivity. Therefore, it is important to appropriately recognize individual sensory characteristics and adjust the environment accordingly to prevent overstimulation. To promote understanding of one's own sensory characteristics and sensory diversity and to promote reasonable accommodation, we implemented a learning program for an elementary school class. First, the children listened to recordings of familiar sounds and indicated their level of concern. These responses were visualized in a "sensory graph" to help the children understand individual differences in sensory characteristics. Second, they worked collaboratively to identify and map pleasant/unpleasant sounds and lights in the school. Through this activity, they developed an understanding of the different perceptions among their peers. Additionally, we introduced this class activity during teacher training to promote lessons on sensory diversity.