Students at Retta Brown Elementary school are enjoying a new feature at the school designed to help them take a break when needed.
Over the winter break, the faculty of Retta Brown turned one of the rooms near the main office into a sensory room. The room is set up for students who are feeling overwhelmed or getting worked up in class to talk a few minutes by themselves to work through that.
“A couple years ago, I read an article about a school that was using yoga and stuff instead of detention. I really wanted a space where kids could just come,” said Bethanie Hale, Retta Brown principal. “Sometimes you just need to step outside the classroom and have some space to decompress, and I think that would avoid some discipline issues later on. We just haven’t had the space or the time to really make it.
“We had some funds put aside at the district level that they were able to help me get some things. I had some things at school that I didn’t even think about until I started researching and looking on Pinterest. There were things that we had that we could use so easily. After Christmas, I moved some offices around and made it happen. The kids love it.”
Hale said that so far students have been responding to the room well. She said they come to her and get the option of five or 10 minutes in the room. While there, they can do what they need. Hale said students can just sit in the room or play with some of the items they have in it.
The room includes mostly items that relate to a student’s senses. Hale said they have an area with sand the students can play with, a blanket on the wall with sequins, yoga mats, coloring books, stress balls, rocking chairs and stuffed animals. The room also has filters over the lights so they aren’t as bright and there’s a sound machine in the room if the student needs something to listen to.
“My one reservation was that kids might abuse that and get in trouble or come and want to miss class. So far, that hasn’t been an issue. Kids come in, we set a timer and talk about ‘do you think you need five minutes, do you think you need 10 minutes.’ When the timer goes off, they just go and go back to class. Usually, I don’t see them again. So it’s really been effective. So far, so good. I’m really excited and enthusiastic about the future of that room.”
These kinds of sensory rooms are mostly used around the country for special education students, but from Hale’s perspective it was something all of the students could benefit from.
“Everything is sensory. It’s all about the touch, the hearing,” Hale said. “A lot of people use it for special education, but I don’t see why we couldn’t use it for everybody. Everybody gets frustrated – little, big, grown. Everybody has those moments. As adults, we’ve learned to have those coping mechanisms to give ourselves a broke, go for a drive, step outside. Kids don’t have that opportunity at school in the way. So we just wanted to have a space for the students to have that.”
Michael Shine may be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter and like him on Facebook @MichaelAZShine for updates on Union County school news.