Mungo User Guide

Empowering Practical and Lab-Based Learning

About This Aid

Mungo supports students during intensive practical activities such as laboratories, workshops, fieldtrips and professional placements. These environments can be sensory rich and unpredictable. Mungo helps you manage your sensory threshold so you can focus on your learning and professional requirements.

Section 1: Activity Preparation

Before any session you should prepare your sensory shield. Use the Equipment Checklist to remember items like earbuds or cotton glove liners. You must contact those running the session well in advance to check safety protocols when using sensory aids. Use the Advocacy Scripts section to communicate your needs clearly. A default script is provided to help you ask for a quieter space and a paced spoken delivery. This is useful when you need instructions to be given slowly and clearly to aid your processing. The Visual Schedule allows you to map out time blocks to make the session feel predictable.

Section 2: Using Advocacy Scripts

The Scripts function is designed to assist communication when you are experiencing high sensory load. You can save custom headings and detailed scripts for specific situations. Each script has a copy button. Tapping this icon copies the text to your clipboard so you can paste it into a WhatsApp or text message to a tutor or peer. Using the paced delivery script lets others know that while you are capable you simply need instructions delivered at a speed that allows for sensory processing time.

Section 3: Live Activity Support

During the activity use the toolkit for grounding. The Emergency Break Message communicates a need for space without the need for verbal speech. The noise masking tool creates a deep brown noise floor to block industrial or lab sounds. The Digital Fidget Pad provides relaxing visual bursts and gentle vibration feedback to help you stay present if you feel overwhelmed.

Section 4: Reflection and Resilience

Reflection helps you build strategies for future sessions. Use the Success Log to record small wins as they happen. This data is automatically added to your Resilience Journal. You can also map sensory trigger locations. All this data can be copied and shared with yourself or a specialist support mentor. Reviewing these logs in a support session helps identify patterns and refine your sensory management plan.

Glossary of Sensory Terms

Use these terms to explain your challenges to lab tutors, technicians or placement providers.

Auditory Processing Disorder: Difficulty in how the brain interprets sounds, making it hard to hear speech against background noise.
Sensory Overload: When the brain receives more information than it can process, often leading to anxiety or the need to withdraw.
Hyperacusis: Increased sensitivity to certain frequencies. Sudden sounds can be physically painful.
Visual Stress: Sensitivity to certain patterns of light or flicker, which can cause headaches or make it hard to read lab equipment.
Olfactory Hypersensitivity: An intense reaction to smells. This can make certain chemicals or biological materials distressing.
Tactile Defensiveness: A strong negative reaction to specific textures, such as the feel of certain gloves or materials on the skin.
Processing Delay: A requirement for a few extra seconds to turn spoken words into meaningful information.