Sensory access — assistive technology
Tools for taking in and exploring sight, sound, and touch — light panels, fiber-optic and textured materials for sensory exploration, tactile learning sets, and vibrating or flashing alerts for people who can't rely on one sense.
Browse by type
- Light, sound and touch exploration 139
- Tactile learning materials 52
- Textured and light-up switches 12
- Cause-and-effect apps and software 11
- Vibrating clocks and alerts 6
A product can fit more than one type, so these counts add up to more than the total.
Core picks
A starting set that shows the range, from simple tools to specialist devices. Not a ranking, and not a recommendation for any one person.
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Teachable Touchables Texture Squares
$25.95
This set gives blind children twenty small textured squares, made up of ten matching pairs, to explore by touch. Each pillow or patch is roughly 2 to 3 inches across, so little hands can pick them up and compare them easily. Kids can match pairs, talk about how each one feels, and practice telling similar textures apart, and the included tip sheet suggests activities for matching, vocabulary, communication, and tactile discrimination. A cloth drawstring bag keeps the squares together, and the set is designed for Pre-K and up.
Verified todayReady to useTen matched pairs of fabric textures for sorting and matching by touch, an early step toward braille.
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Sound Matching Board I
$92.60
The Sound Matching Board I is a board with sound cylinders that students pair up by listening, which builds auditory matching and discrimination along with fine motor skills. It's a hands-on learning material for young children who are learning to tell sounds apart without relying on sight.
Verified 3 days agoProfessional guidance helpsShake the cylinders, listen, and find the matching sound; builds listening and grip skills.
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LED Mini-Lite Box
$298.00
The LED Mini-Lite Box is a small light box with an LED light panel and a rechargeable lithium battery pack, so it can be used away from a wall outlet. It gives students who are visually impaired a bright, high-contrast surface to work on during learning activities. Students with CVI (cortical visual impairment) and other disabilities can use it with the Light Box Materials kits. Commercially available mounts can also attach to it. The light box is only the base of the setup, so choosing materials and positioning it well for a particular student usually works best with input from a teacher of students with visual impairments.
Verified 3 days agoProfessional guidance helpsA bright backlit panel that makes objects stand out, used in CVI and low vision work.
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Tactile Discrimination Switches (Set of 3)
$104.95
This is a set of three small switches, each with a 2" x 2" surface that has a different raised pattern: dots, lines, or circles. The patterns let a person tell the switches apart by touch, which helps someone with low vision and also gives sensory seekers something interesting to feel. You can use one at a time or all three together, and each one triggers a switch-enabled device with a very light touch. These are only the switches, so you'll need a toy, communicator, or other device made to be activated by a switch.
Not recently verifiedProfessional guidance helpsThree switches with different raised textures, so you can find and tell them apart by touch.
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Big Bang
Est. $30–$80
Big Bang is Windows software that turns a press, click, or touch into bright on-screen action like fireworks, bubbles, stars, and color changes. It gives learners who are just starting to link an action to a result a lively way to practice cause and effect, visual tracking, and attention. It has five activity sets (Action, Builds, Movement, Colour, and Sounds), and you can choose gradual builds or continuous movement to match the learner's ability. A learner can use a switch, touch screen, mouse, or keyboard, so it suits sensory rooms and settings with learners who have profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD). It runs on Windows 7, 8, 10, and 11 only, and it's delivered by email as a download, not as a disc.
Verified 4 days agoSetup with instructionsAny switch press, tap or click sets off fireworks, bubbles and sound, teaching that actions cause results.
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Astro Adventure Balls App
Astro Adventure Balls is a free app for iPad and Android tablets that gives children an interactive way to practice and assess visual, auditory, and related skills. It's aimed at young children, and the stored details place it in learning and sensory use for children with low vision or blindness. The app itself costs nothing, but you'll need a compatible tablet. Because it's built to assess as well as build skills, a teacher or vision specialist can help you pick settings and make sense of what you see.
Verified 3 days agoSetup with instructionsFree tablet app with high-contrast animated balls that respond to touch, for CVI and early learners.
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Sensory Eye FX 2
Price on request: ask the vendor
Sensory Eye FX 2 is software that teaches and practices eye gaze control through visual, exploratory activities. The activities run across five levels that get harder step by step, building the early skills behind eye gaze use: engaging with the screen, interacting, and focusing. Clinicians can personalize it and record a client's eye movements during an assessment, which helps them see signs of progress over time. It's meant for people of any age who are learning eye gaze access, and it needs eye tracking hardware to work (see below).
Verified 4 days agoProfessional guidance helpsEye movements trigger color, sound and motion on screen, building early eye-gaze skills.
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Bones Helen Vibrating Clock
$524.99 – $525.00
Helen is a credit-card-sized clock that tells time and signals alarms and reminders through vibration instead of sound or sight. It has large, tactile buttons rather than pointers, so someone who is both deaf and blind can set their own alarms and timers. A speech function can also be turned on, which helps when communicating with caregivers or teachers. A separate vibration cushion comes in the box. Plug it in for the alarm, and the stronger vibration can wake a heavy sleeper. The small size fits in a pocket, which suits commuting or a busy day away from a desk.
Verified todaySetup with instructionsA credit-card-sized clock that tells the time and wakes you through vibration, made for deafblind users.
Step-by-step guide
Sensory access: exploring sight, sound and touch: A step-by-step guide to sensory access tools — light boxes, tactile learning, cause-and-effect switches and apps, vibrating alerts — with borrowing, matching, and funding pointers.
More sensory access products
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Sensa Large Bubble Tube
Est. $250–$600
The Sensa Large Bubble Tube is a tall, free-standing water tube that sends bubbles up through the water while colour-changing LED lights glow and brightly coloured fish bob and swim. The moving bubbles and the quiet pump hum make a calming scene, and watching the fish gives a reason to track movement with the eyes. It suits a calm-down corner, a therapy room, or a quiet space. It stands about 183cm tall on a black base and weighs 2kg. Lights can run through a spectrum of colours or be set to one colour, and they switch off by themselves after 4 hours. This is the UK mains-powered version, so check the plug type before ordering. A wall bracket is sold separately and is recommended to keep a tall tube steady and secure.
Verified 4 days agoSetup with instructions -
Shifting Shapes Game
$8.95
The Shifting Shapes Game is a hands-on board game where a child slides 6 pieces around the board to line up two different tactile shapes. It's made for young learners who explore by touch.
Verified yesterdayReady to use -
Switch & Glow
$129.95
The Switch & Glow is a switch with soft, stretchy neon noodles around a ball. A very light touch turns on a glowing light and also triggers a connected toy or device. It's meant for kids who are learning cause and effect or working on reaching. It's a good fit for someone who responds to bright light and different textures. It runs on 2 AA batteries and stands about 6 inches tall. It contains latex, so it isn't suitable for anyone with a latex allergy. Pressing down on it also activates it.
Not recently verifiedProfessional guidance helps -
Spinning Light Show
$136.95
The Spinning Light Show is a battery-powered sensory toy that throws spinning, multicolored light designs when someone presses a switch. Because the lights only play when a switch is pressed, it gives a clear, visual way to practice cause and effect and to build visual attention. It runs on 3 AAA batteries and measures about 6½ by 7½ by 4½ inches. The switch is not included, so you'll need to supply one that fits the person's reliable movement. It is not for anyone who is prone to seizures.
Not recently verifiedSetup with instructions -
Carbon Monoxide Alarm Notification System with Alarm Clock Receiver, Bed Shaker, Bridge, and Watch Receiver
$769.85
This system watches for carbon monoxide and alerts you in several ways at once. The alarm clock receiver adds sound, color-coded lights and bright flashing, and the bed shaker vibrates the mattress. A wristwatch receiver gives you vibration and color icons on the wrist, and a Bluetooth bridge sends alerts to the free Bellman Assistant app on iOS or Android without Wi-Fi. It's for someone who may not hear a standard CO alarm, especially while asleep. The bundle comes preassembled with the CO transmitter, bridge, watch receiver, alarm clock receiver and bed shaker. It also lights up the receivers for mobile calls and app notifications, and you can add more Bellman transmitters later to cover other household sounds.
Verified 4 days agoSetup with instructions -
Color Raceway Kit
$144.58
Color Raceway is a board game made for children with visual impairments, including children with a CVI (cortical visual impairment) diagnosis. It gives kids a way to play a racing-style game together with others while working with color.
Verified 3 days agoSetup with instructions -
Textured Plate Switches
$142.95
This set of four light-touch plate switches responds to even the slightest press, and each one has a different texture and color: blue with inverse bumps, orange with thin ridges, red with wide ridges, and yellow with bumps. They give someone a way to explore different touch sensations while also making a cause-and-effect action happen. You plug them into a switch-adaptive toy, device, or interface, because a switch does nothing on its own. They don't need batteries.
Not recently verifiedProfessional guidance helps -
Big Bang Patterns
Est. $30–$80
Big Bang Patterns is a Windows program that fills the screen with more than 60 bright, bold animations, paired with lively music and sound effects. It has three activity modes, one of them for cause and effect and another for simply experiencing the visuals and sound, so you can match it to where a learner is. The sights and sounds can be adjusted to individual preferences. It can be used with a switch, touch screen, keyboard, or mouse, which makes it a fit for learners with complex or sensory needs and for sensory rooms. It is sold as a download for Windows 7 through 11, and the same title is offered separately as an iPad app.
Verified 4 days agoSetup with instructions -
Push Notification ADA Compliance Kit with Pager Hub
$469.80
This kit lets someone who can't count on hearing a doorbell or call button get a silent alert instead. Pressing the push button sends a wireless signal to a wearable pager, which vibrates to let the wearer know. A bed shaker is included for nighttime alerts, and a charging base keeps the pager powered. The button can be mounted outside a door, set on a bedside table, worn, or placed at a reception desk or caregiver station. The parts come linked to each other, so there's no Wi-Fi, app, or pairing step. It suits homes, hotel rooms, and assisted living or housing units that need an alerting setup.
Verified 4 days agoSetup with instructions -
Variable Beam Flashlight Kit
$66.00
This flashlight kit is a teaching tool for building visual awareness and visual tracking, meaning the ability to notice a light and follow it with the eyes. It's made for students and can be used in many kinds of lessons, including games. The "variable beam" name suggests the beam can be adjusted, but the details of what comes in the kit and how the beam changes aren't spelled out here. Check with the vendor before ordering. It's best used as part of a plan from a teacher of students with visual impairments or a similar specialist, who can choose the activities and judge progress.
Verified 3 days agoProfessional guidance helps -
Increasing Complexity CVI Pegboard
$169.00
This pegboard lets you build activities for a child with cortical visual impairment (CVI), starting with simple, uncluttered backgrounds and moving toward busier ones. You can create background templates and peg activities that adjust for color, lighting, movement, and visual complexity. It's made for children, and it works best as a tool for gradually building up what a child can see and handle, not as a one-time activity.
Verified 3 days agoProfessional guidance helps -
Sensory Dome Switch
$109.95
The Sensory Dome Switch is a switch with a soft, squishy dome covered in small bumps. A light push on the dome sets off a gentle vibration and also activates whatever toy or device is connected to it. That mix of sight, touch, and feel makes it a good fit for a child who explores through sensation and is learning that pressing something makes something else happen. It is a switch, not a complete setup, so you will need a switch-adaptable toy or device to plug it into. Color varies from unit to unit, so you can't count on a specific one.
Not recently verifiedProfessional guidance helps -
Push Notification ADA Compliance Kit with Alarm Clock
$369.90
This kit is a wireless alerting system for people who may not hear a knock, chime, or call for help. When someone presses the push button transmitter, the alarm clock receiver answers with loud sound, bright flashing light, and strong vibration through the included bed shaker. The button can be mounted outside a door as a doorbell, worn as a personal alert button, or placed at a front desk or nursing station. All three pieces come prelinked and need no Wi-Fi, app, or manual pairing, which helps facilities set up many rooms the same way. The receiver has a rechargeable battery backup, so it can keep working if power drops.
Verified 4 days agoSetup with instructions -
Dark Den Colourful Bundle
Est. $120–$350
This bundle gathers a set of light-up and tactile sensory items to fill a dark, calming space with color and movement. It includes a diffuser lamp that adds scent, sound and color, five color-changing eggs, four mini fibre optic strands, a rainbow light, a rainbow fabric pack, six flashing bouncy balls and three strobe balls. It suits someone who enjoys watching lights, handling soft textures, or playing with bright, interactive objects, and it works for relaxing or for exploring through the senses. The items are meant to be used in a dark tent or projection tent, which you buy separately. Contents may vary, and an adult needs to supervise use.
Verified 4 days agoSetup with instructions -
Translucent Letters & Numbers
Est. $20–$60
This set gives you translucent acrylic letters, both capital and lowercase, plus the numbers 0-9, each with a raised edge. The raised edge gives fingers something to trace, and the see-through material lets light shine through, which is why the set is made for use on light panels. It suits early literacy and early number work with young children, especially those who benefit from a bright, high-contrast, hands-on way to explore letter and number shapes. A light panel is a separate purchase, so plan for that if you don't already have one.
Verified 4 days agoSetup with instructions -
Adapted Musical Crystal Ball
$62.95
The Adapted Musical Crystal Ball is a switch-activated cause-and-effect toy. Press a connected switch and the dome spins, casting a moving pattern of colorful shapes while soothing music plays. It's a good fit for a child who is building visual attention, learning to link a switch press with a result, or working on color awareness. The ball runs on 3 AA batteries and stands about 4½ inches tall. It has no built-in button, so it does nothing until a switch is plugged in.
Not recently verifiedSetup with instructions