By Anna Grace Usery
Editor-in-Chief
anna.grace.usery@hottytoddy.com
Bramlett Elementary School teacher Holly Clay never thought she would receive back-to-back phone calls and emails from foreign countries about something she recently created. However, for the past two days, she’s learned she ignited a passion in others that began right here in Oxford.
Her video of a Bramlett Elementary student walking, hopping and jumping along the sensory path she created, painted and implemented at Bramlett has garnered more than 12 million views on her Facebook page.
“I’ve gotten phone calls from Ireland, Greece, Jordan, Brazil, Colombia, South Africa and Pakistan,” she said. “People see the need for this and want to implement it where they are.”
As a special education teacher, Clay said she realizes that kids who may have sensory processing disorders have a hard time focusing in the classroom.
“It’s like their brains get in a fog,” she said.
To combat the fog and give those children a mental reprieve from the hectic school day, Clay spent her summer with a paintbrush in hand and an idea in mind. Outside on the concrete basketball court is a children’s haven, equipped with a hopscotch court, interactive ABCs and 123s, flowers and a maze. Inside, students have the same interactivity with a colorful, winding path that includes a frog jump, sidestep, ABCs and ladybugs.
“The teaching assistants are bringing students down the path one and two at a time and it’s engaging that sensory input,” she said. “It helps children go back to their regular general education classes not as aggressive or inattentive as they may have been previously.”
Heather Leonard, public information officer for the Oxford School District, said the district is also receiving calls and messages from all over the world asking about the sensory path Clay created for her students.
“Her work is truly inspiring to our district and now, the millions who have viewed her work,” she said.
Clay said she has a daughter who is on the spectrum and could have benefitted from the sensory when she was in school.
“I’m glad this is bringing more awareness that schools need these,” she said.
For those interested in talking to Clay may contact her through email at hollysclay@yahoo.com.
