Wichita Art Museum appropriate for those with sensory processing disorders

June 12, 9:32 PMWichita Special Needs Kids ExaminerJenn Brockman

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The Bridge in the Wichita Art Museum

A recent trip to the Wichita Art Museum was a positive experience for our family. November has Autism and is 7 years old. Sights and sounds can be overwhelming to her. Sherry is in her 50s and is severely bothered by noise and smells. So with those issues in mind we took a trip to the museum last Friday afternoon and found a relatively quiet day full of wonderful art.

With few museum visitors, the noise level was nothing to worry about and we could take our time to explain pieces of art to November and each other as we moved along from one exhibit to another. The museum offers InterACTIVE an art room at its center where visitors can touch, play and feel. While November did not show interest in making her own art, she did play with the ball waterfall set up on one of the four walls and was highly entertained by the working musical piece of art made from all types of buckets and tins.

It was on the upper floor, just outside the gift shop, that we had the most entertainment and it wasn't even with an artist exhibit! The floor is a very shiny black surface that is almost mirror like in it's reflective quality. We spent quite a while walking on it and making sure we were not going to fall through into some alternate universe. In addition to this floor was another unique surface that the art museum calls a bridge. As we walked in the front door, above our heads was ceiling filled with glass bowls and pieces of art sculptures. It was not until we were on the top floor that we understood how it was made, because the bridge was actually the top of that ceiling and we were able to walk on top of it and see the same bowls and sculptures from above.

All of the art was spaced evenly and was not visually overstimulating to any of us.
I will gladly make another visit to the Wichita Art Museum with my child and mother if it is like the one we had last week.

Wichita Art Museum, Inc. Located at 1400 West Museum Boulevard, the Museum and Museum store are open Sunday noon – 5 p.m., and Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults; $4 for seniors (55+) and students with I.D.; $2 for children 5 - 17. Admission is free every Saturday and scheduled school groups are always free.