Community donates to sensory rooms

Published 6:15 am Saturday, January 21, 2017

A sensory room will soon be in each Athens elementary school thanks to community support.

Stacey Givens, a former therapist and parent of an Athens student with sensory needs, has spearheaded the campaign to bring sensory rooms not just to her child’s school, but all Athens schools.

Subsequent media attention caught the eye of local organizations such as the Lions and Rotary clubs, which have put money forward to make the rooms a reality.

As work on a sensory room at Julian Newman Elementary School was recently completed, Athens Rotary Club made a donation at one of its December meetings to fully fund building a sensory room at Cowart Elementary School.

Cowart Principal Kim Moore told The News Courier on Friday she was floored by the donation.

“I’m very, very excited,” she said. “So (grateful) to Stacey (Givens) and the Rotary Club, because we have students that could definitely benefit from it.”

Sensory rooms contain special equipment used to soothe and address needs some children have to either calm down or expend energy pent up during a school day.

Students can jump and roll around or sit calmly and swing in a calm environment. After time in the sensory room, students then come back to class refreshed and ready to learn, keeping the child from being distracted and keeping them on task.

Moore has spent time consulting Givens and Julian Newman Principal Sharla Birdsong.

Birdsong said the sensory room is anything but a playground. Newman has more than a few students who use the room and not all of those students are special needs, but maybe some have behavioral or emotional issues that are adequately addressed in the room, contributing to their education.

Helping those children de-escalate and feel emotionally fulfilled at school is worth every penny put into the sensory room, Birdsong said.

“That just shows how beneficial that room can be,” she added. “If we even have as few as 10 students using a space, the effect ripples (back into the classroom). The benefit is far-reaching.”

Moore, whose facility now houses SPARK Academy as well as Cowart’s classrooms, is taking notes about what her children will need. Like other educators, she said she wasn’t aware of the benefits of sensory rooms, but now anticipates having one to utilize.

“Mrs. Givens has really opened my eyes,” Moore said. “Now I just can’t wait to get in there and get started.”

Moore has also invited Givens to speak with her faculty about the room and its uses and share her expertise in how it can be utilized.

“The system is very blessed to have Stacey and all the sponsors,” she said.

Givens estimates the Cowart room will take roughly two months to put together. That time will be spent purchasing equipment, painting the walls and installing the lighting fixtures and flooring material that contribute to the calming sensation created in the room.