What is a sensory-calming room?

Autistic colleagues and visitors will greatly benefit from being provided a private, dedicated room that is easily and discretely accessible in times when they are overwhelmed and highly anxious. Sensory-calming rooms should not only provide respite from busy and sensory intrusive environments, but importantly, somewhere where autistic people can perform calming, self-soothing and self-regulating activities away from public gaze and interruption.

Considerate design of sensory-calming spaces and rooms means that autistic people have a place that can be accessed quickly when needed and are able to spend more time and be more productive on-site after ‘re-setting.’

Can I use my existing prayer/wellbeing/nursing mothers/first-aid room?

NO: We recommend that careful consideration is given to whether the rooms proposed for sensory-calming room environments are truly sensory-neutral and private. Nursing mother rooms, first aid and prayer rooms are often occupied at certain times of the day or needed urgently by others who may disrupt a sensory-calming environment, which defeats the purpose. Intrusive (not neutral) sensory sources include (but are not limited to):

• people talking or eating
• air fresheners/soaps/cleaning products/room scents and diffusers
• bright colours and ‘fussy’ décor
• uncomfortable seating or seating too close together
• scratchy textures and fabrics
• white or high-glare (glossy) surfaces
• unpredictable ‘human’ noise
• mobile phone ring tones, alerts and vibrations
• artificial overhead lighting
• bright sunlight
• non-adjustable heating/cooling
• draughts
• heavy footfall outside
• being able to be overheard or seen when performing self-calming actions
• vibration from devices or machinery
• ‘blue’ light commonly found in white LED lamps