Hundreds of Quincy Junior High School (QJHS) students with developmental disabilities will benefit from a partnership between the Quincy Public School District and Blessing Health System. The health system provided a $9,200 donation and volunteer labor that updated and will help maintain the QJHS sensory room.
A sensory room provides a calming, low-stress environment that allows people undergoing a negative response to sensory experiences to regain emotional control and work through their reactions. The room has objects that help develop coping mechanisms, improve socialization skills, increase focus and concentration, and improve sensory, motor, and cognitive functioning.
The brain regulates responses to sensory experiences, what people see, smell, taste, and touch every day. For individuals with developmental disabilities, sensory experiences can be sources of distress and discomfort.
“The benefits of QJHS having a functional sensory room are huge,” said Claire Reed, special education teacher. “For the past few years, the sensory room has needed some attention and supplies to get it up and going.”
“With a fully functioning sensory room, students will have a place to calm down, take a break, and return to class,” she continued. “The room helps teachers and support staff keep students engaged and in the building. I hope to keep referrals down, students engaged at school, promote positive self-regulation strategies, and meet the individual needs of my students.”
“With limited school funding for major projects, I often reach out to the community for support. Blessing Health System does so much giving back to the community,” Reed concluded.
Blessing’s donation purchased 225 items for the sensory room including paint, with which health system staff volunteered to paint the room. Other items purchased included furniture, flooring, lighting, a specialized sensory wall, a sound machine, and a mini-trampoline.
“The sensory room partnership with the Quincy Public School District allows Blessing to support behavioral services outside the walls of the health system, in one of the places most important to young people – the learning environment,” said Chad Noggle, PhD, ABBPP-CN, ABN, board certified neuropsychologist, behavioral health, Blessing Physician Services.
