After five years of sharing the Story Massage Programme in her SEND primary school, teaching assistant, Verna Adderley, has lots of tips and ideas to share. As Verna approaches retirement from Hawthorns School in Audenshaw, Manchester, we are celebrating her creativity and fun with the pupils, most of whom are autistic.
Verna currently runs nine sessions a week, each lasting about 30 minutes. Most of the massage stories and sessions are related to topics or world events as diverse as The Circus, World Donkey Day, Under the Sea, Pirates and Australia Day. The younger children enjoy nursery rhymes. “In all my years of teaching, the Story Massage Programme is by far the best thing that I’ve trained in,” says Verna, “every time the children see me, they ask for Story Massage!”
Verna’s Story Massage Sessions
Verna structures her sessions and adds lots of variety and fun. She always reads the story first to get the children’s attention. Then she invites them give the Story Massage strokes on each other’s backs as peer massage. Some children will give a massage but choose not to receive it, a few don’t want to touch or be touched. These children can join in by massaging a puppet, or watching. Verna ends her sessions with a relaxing self-head massage routine. “I ask a child to volunteer to be my helper and sit beside me. They take it in turns. They all know the head massage routine now.”
Creativity with Sensory Props
“I soon realised that the more visual you can make the session, the more engaged the children will be,’ says Verna, “So I try to be creative. I use a whole variety of props to support the stories – masks and hats are always popular. When it was World Giraffe Day we played Pin the Tail on the giraffe. And when it was a massage story all about Space, we had a space blanket which we wafted over them to give a feeling of being in space.”
Verna’s Crazy Costumes
Verna demonstrates her massage stories on Mr Ted who is dressed for the part! “He has built up a whole wardrobe of costumes,’ says Verna, who also dons a range of outfits including a clown and a caterpillar made out of a sleeping bag! “It makes it fun way of learning,” says Verna.
Rule Boards
Verna has made boards to hold up in class which remind children of the three rules of her Story Massage sessions.
- Get Permission to Touch
- Be Quiet
- Gentle Hands.
At the end of the session, Verna holds up a board to remind them to say: “Thank you for letting me give you a Story Massage.”
Relaxing Aromas
Integral to Verna’s sessions are “smelly tissues”, which the children are always keen to enjoy. “If I forget, they will always remind me,” says Verna. She cuts a piece of kitchen roll into around 12 strips and adds one drop of a chosen essential oil. The children love to sniff these and hold on to them all day. “We always check for allergies and contraindications before we give out our scented tissues,” says Verna.
More about the Story Massage Programme
The Story Massage Programme combines the benefits of positive touch with the creativity of storytelling. Ten massage strokes form the basis of the programme. These strokes have a simple such as The Circle or The Sprinkle, and an easy to recognise symbol making it fully accessible for all ages and abilities.
Would you like to train in the Story Massage Programme?
Are you inspired by Verna’s creativity with Story Massage. Would you like to train to share massage stories in your work or home? We run a popular online training course to teach you how to share the ten Story Massage strokes and use them adapt familiar stories or even create some sensory stories of your own. Ideal for Early Years practitioners, teachers, therapists, those working with people with additional needs, Relax Kids coaches… everyone with an interest in sharing positive touch activities with children. All the information is here: Story Massage Programme Online Training.