Here’s one rule for creating a powerful K12 sensory room: It doesn’t necessarily have to pop on Pinterest. It only has to appeal to students and teachers who will rely on the space to provide a calming break from regular school day activities.
Sensory rooms, however, may have become an afterthought even as districts everywhere redesign the traditional classroom to inspire more hands-on, tech-driven and collaborative learning, notes Joey DiPuma, district coordinator of innovation at Florida’s Flagler Schools. DiPuma and lead behavioral specialist Mindy Morris recently created new sensory spaces at nine of the district’s middle and elementary schools and are hoping to exchange ideas with other educators working on similar projects.
“People don’t realize what they can afford or how to go about doing it, and a lot of times you don’t have to spend a lot of money to do these things,” DiPuma said in a Zoom interview from one of the sensory rooms that resembled a low-key, low-lit and spacious children’s museum.
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“A lot of this, it’s touchy-feely. It’s lightweight. It needs to be wipeable. So you don’t always have to go buy stuff,” he added. “You can create things with kids. Your STEM kids can build stuff.”
Still, Flagler’s Title 1 and ESE departments secured a $450,000 grant to outfit Flagler’s new sensory rooms with interactive touch panels, ball pits, bubble tubes, soft seats and soothing light fixtures, among other equipment. The furniture is crucial for sensory room success and so is getting educators in the right mindset for using the spaces, Morris advises.
Morris, along with help from the sensory equipment suppliers, provides professional development on sensory concepts. She also wrote guidelines, asking teachers to only bring two to three students into the room for 10 to 15 minutes max. Each school has a master schedule for when teachers can take students to the rooms though the spaces can also be used on an as-needed basis.
DiPuma and Morris are constantly assessing the rooms by filming (with each family’s permission) how students interact with the furniture and equipment. “We watch what’s working and what’s not working and the things that are not working we change out,” explains DiPuma, who has presented his ideas at the Future of Education Technology Conference and ISTE. “We might have some things that look great and they’re all over Pinterest, but if they’re not serving kids, then they gotta go.”
Flagler’s sensory rooms are not meant for de-escalation but for students who need a break. DiPuma and Morris want teachers to bring students to the room on a regular schedule or when kids are beginning to show signs of feeling overwhelmed.
And the rooms are not designed just for students. “We purposely don’t design just for students,” concludes DiPuma, who has presented his ideas at the Future of Education Technology Conference. “Our designs are more for humans. Because we don’t just want students in here. We also want stakeholders and community members to benefit from these spaces.”
