Fox River Grove public library starts monthly sensory story time

A tent labeled as a “calming corner” filled with pillows and signs on how to control breathing sits in the corner of the Fox River Grove Memorial Library.

More sensory items such as fidget toys, noise-canceling headphones and light-filtering glasses can also be found at the library.

These items help people with sensory integration disorder or sensory processing disorder, which are neurological conditions that affect how the brain processes sensory information. This can affect a range of people who may have autism, ADHD, OCD and anxiety.

Now Fox River Grove Memorial Library is expanding its services with a sensory story time program every second Monday of the month at 10:30 a.m.

The first sensory story time was last month but library workers are treating Monday, June 10, as the first since last month had bad weather and little promotion, said Dana Fanslow, Fox River Grove Memorial Library’s youth services manager.

Each story time will allow a maximum of 12 children and is designed for anyone from preschool to eighth grade.

The library also offers 13 kits that provide toys, tools and games for sensory sensitive people. Anyone with an Illinois public library card can check them out to use at home.

There are kits that focus on yoga, emotions, fidgeting and there’s also a “calm down” kit. Usually these can be expensive so it’s helpful for parents to try out what works best for their children before buying one of their own, Fanslow said.

Fanslow, who as a child living with ADHD and OCD, worked with occupational therapists and listened to parents’ needs to create the program and figure out what kits would be useful.

The materials were funded by a $3,000 grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation. Even with the kits, games and toys that the library has, “We haven’t even touched the surface of reaching everyone’s needs,” Fanslow said.

Fanslow said an advocacy series for caregivers run by occupational therapists is in the works and hopes to launch it in the fall. The goal is to create a program that can help parents and caregivers with children experiencing sensory disorders.

“We’ve made every single one of our programs inclusive,” Fanslow said. “It’s an ever-growing need we see.”