The floor vibrates to music, giving autistic kids an amazing sensory experience that can reduce meltdowns, bring calm and improve focus.
Feel the Beat is a groundbreaking technology that uses vibrational energy that’s felt throughout one’s entire body as they lie or sit on the special floor that absorbs music soundwaves.
I myself lied on my back on the elevated floor platform while the music was played at a pumped-up volume.
I also noticed a little autistic boy lying peacefully on it, and I could see that he was enjoying this unique sensory experience – an experience he’d never had before.
Jari Majewski and Julia Faliano met while teaching deaf children. They worked with engineers to develop a dance floor that vibrated.
The patented “Feel the Beat” dance floor was born, offering a physical experience of music for those who are deaf, as well as an amazing sensory experience for autistic kids (and adults).
Feel the Beat is a 501C3 nonprofit organization that is dedicated to making the experience of music possible for deaf and hearing impaired people, and also autistic individuals, plus others who have challenges in life including needing to use a wheelchair.
The floors are bone-conductive, allowing users to feel sound through vibrational energy.
Offerings by Feel the Beat
If your autistic child, however, would like to take dance lessons, Feel the Beat offers these among its many different programs.
Allbilities Classes. This is a wide variety of inclusive dance classes; all ages are welcome to enjoy jazz, hip hop, ballet, yoga, creative movement and more.
Group Classes. These are private for all ages and can be done at adult day programs, respite care facilities and birthday parties.
School Programming. FTB hosts school field trips at the studio plus conducts on-location programming in schools.
Community Partnerships. FTB partners with community businesses to teach and provide tactile musical solutions at events, festivals, concerts and more.
Accessible Events. FTB’s vibrotactile floor can be set up at any event with its bone conduction technology that reverberates with the beat.
Vibrational Technology Improves:
• Balance and coordination
• Strength and technology
• Emotional regulation and confidence
• Attention span
Populations that Benefit
• Autism spectrum disorder
• Deaf and hearing impaired
• Intellectual disability
• Physical disability
• ADHD
• Cerebral palsy
• Visual impairment
• Multiple sclerosis
• Down syndrome
However, ANY person can have an intriguing experience with vibrational technology – the dance floor would be a hit at any party.
Learn more about Feel the Beat.
Jari Majewski, founder/president of Feel the Beat Corp, FTB Innovations, and Teacher of the Deaf, combines 20+ years of sign language and performance experience with her love for working with challenged children. She has worked to pioneer inclusive environments both onsite at the Feel the Beat’s studio and offsite for worldwide accessibility.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical and fitness topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer. In 2022 she received a diagnosis of Level 1 Autism Spectrum Disorder.
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Top image: MissLunaRose12, CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 Wikimedia
I’m Autistic, Identity First Language! I Don’t “Have Autism”
