When you leave a review of a product on our website, be it positive or negative, we will send you a voucher for 10% off your next order.
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1. Select the “Reviews” tab
2. Click “Write a Review”
3. Write a review in the box provided
Review your purchase
Hi its me again. I’ve had the chance to play with some more products from Rompa and Winslow.
The first couple of products were the ‘Soothersack‘ and the ‘huggabuddies cat‘. I loved the cat and so did my son. Not only does is it quite heavy so it provides pressure, the soft fur is also a nice sensory experience.
The Soothersack is your standard pillow which you warm in the microwave and then can place on certain parts of your body to relieve aches and pains or across a child’s knees again to help ground them. Essential oils can be added to the pillow to help with relaxation. The ‘huggabuddies’ cat was a lot better for me as I sat with it snuggled on my shoulder with the heat going where I wanted it too whereas the pillow, as I’m sure many of you know, loses its filling to either end of the pillow so there was no heat on the top of my shoulder where I wanted it.
These two pieces of kit are nice to help your child but also nice to have around for when you might (if miracles occur) get 10 minutes relaxation to yourself!
I would give them both 3 stars.
Tangle Therapy
Another product which I looked at was the ‘Tangle Therapy’ toy. Again, a product which I’m sure many of you will have come across. I particularly liked this version as it was a bit larger than others I have seen. It is not recommended for children under 3 as the pieces can be separated and potentially swallowed, but with older children I have found they enjoy taking the tangle toys to pieces as it provides a nice clicking noise! Some of the sections also had a clear rubber coating with small raised bobbles. I did wonder if these would get picked off over time though.
On the whole I felt this deserved 4 stars
The Deepti Centre family 2015
Occupational Therapists Caroline Clay and Caroline Essame report on the latest news from The Deepti Centre in Kerala, India and the launch of the new training centre that’s impacting thousands of children in rural India.
The Deepti Centre is a special school and rehabilitation centre for children and young adults based in rural Kerala, South India. In 2010 we set out from different continents (Caroline Essame from Singapore and Caroline Clay from the UK) to support the development of The Deepti Centre in any way that we could. In fact we didn’t realise how deeply involved we would get. In our first few years there we formed relationships with the children the staff and the parents and found that we shared the passion and drive to provide the very best service for the local community.
Good relationships are the foundation that makes the biggest impact in the world, and it’s who you work with and who you partner with that build sustainable change. So we are very grateful to Rompa for their encouragement and support for our children and families at The Deepti Centre.
So we are very grateful to Rompa for their encouragement and support for our children and families at The Deepti Centre.
At the time of our first visit to the centre there were under 30 children attending daily and our work was mainly directly with the children and drew on our experiences in Art Therapy, Creative Arts, Sensory Processing, Occupational Therapy and seating and posture.
In October 2016 there were 150 children attending daily and a growing curriculum of arts, crafts, drama, role play and sensory work to promote learning through play. The recent addition of a sports teacher and band leader has seen our children win competitions in regional events for a variety of sports and music. Though the band consists of mainly drums and bugles and is more rhythmic than tuneful, there’s no doubt that the immense fun is in the taking part and gives a real sense of belonging.
Dr Susan Mathew, the director of The Deepti Centre encouraged us to train more teachers across the region as this would have a greater impact on children in different schools. This was a step up for both us and all the staff at the centre, and several events have been endorsed by the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI).
watch a video about tactile sensory play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xgZQzW5BxI&feature=youtu.be
In October 2016 we trained 50 special needs teachers and local Occupational Therapists in a new course “Developmental Play “ another 30 teachers and parents from Deepti special school also attended gaining the certificate in Developmental Play. The course was so successful that we have decided to offer it in the UK aswell.
In January 2017 Caroline Essame and Dr Suvi Pitkola undertook a 2 day conference on the “Development of play and social skills in children with ASD” this time to an audience of 100 attendees.
Play matters. It’s the language of childhood. It’s the way that children make sense of their world. Play is also the process through which children learn about how their bodies work and how they can use them to have an impact on the world, whether that is through splashing in the bath or waving at someone who waves back. It’s about cause and effect, exploration and identity.
Our Developmental Play course has been designed by Occupational, Play and Creative Arts Therapists with both educational, health and social service backgrounds and brings ideas and expertise to the field of play therapy and play based learning. It specifically focuses on the stages that children go through to develop through play, so it has particular relevance for people who work with clients with special needs or very young children.
It is relationship-centred and based on contemporary research and practice, including:
This June will see the launch of the UK training in Newcastle for level 1 of this 3 level certificate course introducing Developmental Play theory and practice.
By the end of the course participants will be able to understand and identify developmental play stages and apply developmental play practice to their work situation.
Each level has a three-day training workshop as well as online content, training and resources. Students undergo practical assignments and at the end of level 3, in order to qualify as the advanced practitioner, there is a written assignment to be submitted online. There is also an opportunity to study level 2 and 3 in India in October 2017 and work alongside the course coordinators in their special education practice at the Deepti Special School, so not only will you get to learn about play but also how to adapt it for children with special needs cross culturally.
On completion of all levels participants are accredited play practitioners and can register with CREATECATT’s Play Practitioners database.
For more information about the upcoming course in June 15th – 17th Newcastle or for details of training in India please contact either of the Caroline’s at :
www.createcatt.com
www.facebook.com/createplaymoveandlearn
Caroline Essame and Caroline Clay
Caroline Essame and Caroline Clay travel to India every year to work with children at The Deepti Centre in Kerala, India on a voluntary basis. Their unique style of training crosses language barriers bringing creative fun to learning. They aim to impact thousands of children by supporting educators and therapists across the world.
I should probably introduce myself, I am a married stay at home mother of three (2 boys and a girl) the oldest who has ADHD, Autism and epilepsy.
The guys and girls at ROMPA have asked me to have look at some of the products which they think might help my son as he’s going through a bit of a transitional period at the moment. Not only is he choosing his GCSE’s but hormones are setting in too (he’ll love me for saying that!)
So I looked at a few products, some good, some not as good, but on the whole ……Good
The first product was the ‘Coping with stress’ card game. I hate games. I’d rather stick a fork in my eye than play a card game with my son (other mums of ADHD kids will no doubt understand) but this game was different.
Its more of a talking game. It says for ages 6-12 and 2-4 players but I think it would have benefits for older children and young adults too depending on their level of understanding.
There were 4 types of card:- reducing stress, learning to relax, self talk and finally visualisation cards. There was also a 12 sided die with body parts listed on it to use with some of the cards and help with relaxation.
This game could even be used in the car as there aren’t loads of pieces to go missing
It is definitely worth the money and I gave it 5 out of 5 stars!
Another product which I looked at was the Theraputty. I liked the look of this because 
when my son has fidget toys in class, they need to be silent so not as to distract the other children. The Theraputty is like a very firm Plasticine which is also scented.
Now when I say firm ,I mean firm! We tried four different putties each with varying firmness and a different aroma. The tan Theraputty was supposed to be the softest but CRIKEY it was hard to manipulate! My son is 13 and 5 ft 7 and he struggled. On a positive note though, the scent was nice and it didn’t linger on our hands after playing with the putty. Also the putty stayed together so I wasn’t picking it out of school uniform for days to come! In my opinion it is better suited for hand injury rehabilitation, which I think is was the original idea behind this product.
I would give the Theraputty 3 out of 5 stars.
We are very pleased to announce that after months of hard work to prepare our quality manuals Rompa has achieved the ISO 9001:2008 certification, all our policies and procedures which we have had in place for a number of years were extensively audited and found to comply with the standards required.
As a customer this means that you can have confidence that the Rompa work to the highest quality as reviewed by the International Organisation of Standardization (ISO). It also demonstrates our desire to continually improve our business. This sought after accreditation also opens doors for Rompa to do business with organisations who stipulate ISO 9001 as a necessity, which has been proved by our recent success by being accepted on to NHS framework agreement.
Part of our requirement under ISO9001:2008 is that we continually improve our way of working and we are proud of this great achievement and ongoing commitment Rompa as always will be passing on the quality that this accreditation demands to you!
We are delighted to announce the winner of our Midi Bubble Tube competition is…
(drum roll)
Helen said:
Thankyou soooooooo much I’m so happy! My two autistic sons will absolutely love it! Especially my pre verbal 8 yr old! It will make such a difference to him!
Congratulations Helen, it sounds like the Bubble Tube has found a good home.
Thank you to all who took part.
Congratulations to Geoffrey Maddrell who has been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in June for services to business and charity. The Queen’s Birthday Honours List recognises the achievements of a wide range of extraordinary people from across the UK.
Geoffrey has been active and passionate in his commitment to making Research Autism a success, working tirelessly towards achieving a better quality of life for people with autism and their families. Indeed, Geoffrey has clocked up many hundreds of miles running marathons and half marathons for the charity, raising tens of thousands of pounds in the process!
We’ve been busy, very busy playing with our new favourite website… Pinterest. If you don’t know what Pinterest is yet then climb out from under that rock and let me share with you the wonderful world of pins and boards that is Pinterest.
Pinterest is all about collecting images (pins) of things that interest or inspire you and displaying them in categories (boards). You can then share your boards with others on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and any other social network you are part of. Those of you who regularly use social media will know that the best way to get people to engage with any post is to attach something visual to it, this is what Pinterest plays on.
Pinterest is different to other social networks because the image comes first and this inspires the written content. This approach means that even if you don’t have much to say you can very quickly make your Pinterest account a visually appealing and “pinteresting” place to visit. We always find ourselves clicking on an interesting pin and disappearing down a virtual rabbit hole that leads to a board, that leads to a user profile, that leads to more pins and boards and more users… such is the pull of Pintrest.
Pinterest is a great way of sharing ideas and Rompa product assistant Tania has been creating boards around her passions and interests as an Occupational Therapist, so without further ado, lets dive in.
Super Sensations! Here you will find loads of different tactile fun items! We select carefully considering different surface textures, shape, temperature, materials as well as items to use with other textures such as soil, sand, water, dough or clay.
Follow Rompa’s board Tactile sensory input on Pinterest.
Many different products that can be used to give more oral input such as texture, vibration, temperature or exercise muscles by blowing or sucking.
Follow Rompa’s board Oral Motor & Chewing on Pinterest.
A wonderful range of different types of light. Glowing, Ultra Violet, Flashing, Soothing, Interactive, Sound Responsive… use them to alert or calm, for fun or therapy, for assessment or intervention.
Follow Rompa’s board Sensory Lighting on Pinterest.
A few simple components can create a real impact. Bubble tubes, fibre optics, padded bases and laser sky project combine to produce an interactive and immersive experience.
Follow Rompa’s board Sensory Corner on Pinterest.
All of these items have a wonderful sound reward.
Follow Rompa’s board Sound Sensations on Pinterest.
Useful for recovery and rehab.
It’s that time of the year when we indulge in chocolate and have a nice long weekend!
If you need to place an order in this time you can still use www.rompa.com
Have a great Easter everyone!
Rompa are really happy to announce that we will be selling Tobii Technology products.
‘Tobii is the world’s leading vendor of eye tracking and eye control: a technology that makes it possible for computers to know exactly where users are looking. Our technology is widely used in various research fields and as a means to control computers.’
In the photos below you can see Leila in our sensory room creating fire with her eyes (probably not the first time this has happened!)
