{"id":80820,"date":"2026-01-28T13:34:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T13:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/?p=80820"},"modified":"2026-02-05T14:15:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T14:15:00","slug":"how-your-helping-gracen-explore-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/blog\/how-your-helping-gracen-explore-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"How you’re helping Gracen explore the world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hello Sense supporters, my name is Elizabeth. My son, Gracen, is two years old, and he is already very funny, curious and even more mischievous, especially when it comes to food. He is such a foodie!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gracen<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Strength from the start<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gracen was born premature at 28 weeks. At first, we were focused on getting Gracen to grow and breathe. He has chronic lung disease, and he has a hole in his heart. When he was in NICU (the hospital’s intensive care unit for newborn children), his lung collapsed, and he nearly didn\u2019t make it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Gracen was a strong boy from day one.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a long time, we thought he was so premature that he would catch up as he grew. But as he got older, Gracen’s development didn’t grow with him, and then slowly, more and more conditions came to light. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We knew he had failed his hearing test, but we received no guidance on this. He had just turned one, and he still wasn’t sitting up or crawling. We began to worry and started to do some research on the support we could receive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming to Sense<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first contact we had with Sense was with Sense Hub Loughborough.<\/a> Gracen\u2019s early years teacher suggested it might be a good thing to take Gracen to Sense for pre-school group sessions, because he doesn’t go to nursery, and I wanted to take him to more playgroups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gracen’s like a completely different person at Sense sessions than he is with a normal playgroup. He just seems more at home. It’s just more tailored to him. Gracen\u2019s obsessed with textures, and he loves lights, so Sense staff always have loads of fun things waiting for him!<\/p>\nElizabeth showing just how valuable our sessions are to disabled children with complex needs<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"Gracen
Gracen photographed playing in a Sensory Den at Sense Hub Loughborough<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first thing we went to at Sense was a dance class, and Gracen felt so much more at home. Now we try to go to Sense Hub Loughborough every week. <\/strong>We love going to Sensory Explorers and Tac Pac. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the moment, we go to Tac Pac every week. It\u2019s a new session designed to teach communication through touch and music. It starts with lying yoga mats on the floor, and then they play a certain soundtrack for a certain item. It\u2019s the same items each week; it never changes, so Gracen can understand what\u2019s coming up next. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your ongoing support<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We went with Sense on a trip to the Space Centre, and Gracen absolutely loved it. There was a whole sensory room with lights on the floor, we wouldn\u2019t have thought to have gone without Sense.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We go to a playgroup on Monday at our local church, and he\u2019s a completely different child there than he is with Sense. He\u2019s much more reserved, and the toys there don’t interest him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sense will be there for anything that comes along. I know Sense will be able to adapt and be there for him because the staff are amazing. If Sense weren\u2019t around, we\u2019d have a lot fewer groups to go to, and we would probably know a lot less. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Milestone moments<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve been using Makaton<\/a> for quite some time. His first Makaton sign was \u2018more\u2019, because he’s obsessed with food. He\u2019s such a foodie. Gracen\u2019s starting to tell us things, and he’s trying to communicate with us now. Not with his words, but more like cry or he’ll take us to things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has also been walking for about four months now. It took him about a year to sit up and to crawl. He was so desperate to walk, and he finally did it. Now he’s climbing; he loves to climb on my tables.<\/strong> And he started waving. For so long, it felt like he couldn’t do much, but all of a sudden, he\u2019s just started to do so much.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The support from Sense has definitely helped. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With Sense, if I need anything answered or have questions, they’re always there to help. And at Sense, Gracen has all this equipment that’s more tailored to him. He can just go there and be himself.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Gracen now<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Gracen<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gracen\u2019s two now. He\u2019s very funny, very curious and mischievous. He likes to get into everything and do everything he shouldn’t do. He’s obsessed with textures and wants to feel everything. His favourite toy is called Squiggly; it\u2019s a sensory UFO kind of thing. It helps with his fine motor skills; you can pull it, and there are loads of textures. Gracen absolutely loves it; we have to take that everywhere with us.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back after nearly 3 years, I can\u2019t believe how much he\u2019s grown and how far he\u2019s come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My little preemie, who couldn\u2019t even breathe for himself, is now walking and making progress every day! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His progress wouldn\u2019t be where it is without Sense. Sense has done so much for him, and we\u2019re forever grateful to you for helping him explore the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Support a child like Gracen to explore<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Just \u00a320 could help pay for a child like Gracen to attend a Sense virtual session – helping them to learn how to interact with the world around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donate now to support disabled children with complex needs to access education and find joy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Donate today<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello Sense supporters, my name is Elizabeth. My son, Gracen, is two years old, and he is already very funny, curious and even more mischievous, especially when it comes to food. He is such a foodie! Strength from the start Gracen was born premature at 28 weeks. At first, we were focused on getting Gracen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":309,"featured_media":80895,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"display_author":[1382],"class_list":["post-80820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","display_author-elizabeth-gracens-mum"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80820"},{"taxonomy":"display_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_author?post=80820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}