Before we get into the details of sensory rooms, it helps if we understand why sensory rooms were invented in the first place.

Children in the autistic spectrum have often been described as engaging in repetitive actions, such as hand flapping, hair twirling and skin picking, often referred to as “stims”. For a long time, the reasons for this behavior were unclear and frowned upon. As a result, caregivers and clinicians sought to prevent this behavior. Now though, the benefits of stimming are known and more accepted among professionals.

To facilitate the beneficial side of stimming, schools and care centers have begun to create sensory rooms to help kids of all neurotypes express their sensory needs safely, without judgment and/or harming themselves.

stimming with Susan Fitzell, Top Neurodiversity Speaker

What is Stimming?

What is stimming? According to Medical News Today, stimming is a “…self-stimulatory behavior that normally involves repetitive body movements or repetitive movement of objects.”

Researchers associate stimming with conditions such as autism, ADHD, and sensory processing disorder. Still, the fact is that people outside of these groups stim as well. How so? Nail biting, knee bouncing, clicking your pen, twirling your hair, or chewing your pencil — all these are commonplace — and all are examples of stimming.

If stimming is so common and spans all neurotypes, why are we discussing it? In the case of neurodivergent individuals, stims can be particularly noticeable and distracting to themselves or observers. In some cases, these behaviors can also physically harm the individual and thus present a danger.

Much discussion has taken place around why these habits develop. A nail biter will tell you that they think they do so because it does something to calm them or alleviate some other discomfort in a situation. Could this be a clue to understanding the more “unusual” stims that appear in neurodivergent people?

Why do neurodivergent people stim? While stimming in neurotypical people is often anxiety-related, in neurodivergent people, it can have a few other sources as well. Stimming helps regulate stress, anxiety, boredom, fear, emotional overwhelm, physical overwhelm, sensory overload, and even express happiness and joy!

Stims can either provide stimulation for sensory-seeking individuals or dampen stimulation for the sensory overloaded (Source: Delacato C. H. (1974). The ultimate stranger: The autistic child. Novato, CA: Arena Press.)

“Common stims for people with autism include hand flapping, rocking, flicking or snapping fingers, bouncing or jumping, pacing, head banging, spinning objects, and repeating words.”

Researchers have identified various stims that fall into several broad sensory-system-related categories illustrated in the chart below.

Suppressing Stimming?

Most nail biters will describe how they’ve been discouraged from the habit, often by force or other painful measures — with little regard for addressing the cause of the behavior.

Sadly, for many neurodivergents, the same approach has been applied to their stimming. So, while things like nail biting, skin picking, and hair pulling are damaging, simply banning the behavior is not beneficial.

These behaviors help alleviate some issues that the person is experiencing in their environment. Suppressing harmless stims simply because they appear odd or unusual to neurotypical colleagues is harmful to neurodivergent. Suppressing stimming, a basic need of many autistic individuals, can lead to detrimental outcomes.

As more neurodivergent people enter the workplace, this behavior may be a topic for employers to investigate and incorporate into their workplace environment. As previously noted, stims can be beneficial — to neurodivergent people and neurotypicals.

Sensory Rooms Accommodate Stimming in a Healthy Way

As we’ve seen, stimming is a response to a sensory need. Hundreds of stim toys and objects exist for children — fidget toys, chewable jewelry, etc. Weighted blankets also provide a sensory stimulus, and these too are increasing in popularity.

Beyond these individual items, schools and other institutions have started to create dedicated sensory spaces called sensory rooms. The idea is that neurodivergent kids can escape to these specially designed rooms to alleviate whatever may be prompting them to stim. In this way, the need is met without resorting to detrimental behaviors to cope.

Sensory rooms for children can range from simple to elaborate. It might be a quiet room with some creature comforts known to soothe and help regulate the senses. They are also designed to accommodate a wide range of sensory needs in one space. The facilities in these rooms are related to the stim types mentioned above and contain items and amenities that can address these.

Children who stim grow up to be adults who need to stim (and become stressed when putting their energy into masking it.)

Sensory needs do not go away for a neurodivergent adult. In fact, for those that are employed and are actively trying to “fit in” to society unnoticed, sensory stress may accumulate! Part of the reason so many neurodivergent are unemployed/underemployed or can’t seem to stick with a job. Sensory rooms are, thus, not just for kids. Adults can benefit too. By making an effort to meet a very human need, this situation is entirely addressable.


How to Set Up a Sensory Room

An autistic woman in the workplace describes her plan for a sensory room for adults in the workplace.

“I worked remotely and only had to go into the office once a week. I will say that the lighting was so bright as to make me feel uncomfortable and exhausted by the end of the day. Normally, I can cope with a little bit of bright light, if only for 8 hours a week. One day, when I had a particularly emotional issue on my mind, the lights and open plan setting just seemed worse. I couldn’t think or breathe properly and couldn’t concentrate on my work and my heart rate was elevated. I remembered that this office had private work rooms, which one could book for private teleconferences or to focus on work. I asked my team lead if I could use one of them. He agreed. I locked the door and sat in that darkened room, alone, on the velvety couch, got into a child’s pose, and focused on my breathing. I calmed down after about ten minutes and could get back to work. The brightness of the office lights seemed less bothersome after that.”

This experience reveals a few things. First, she was sensitive to lighting and noise. Most times, she could cope with these inputs. Still, one additional stressor — the personal problem, caused her to lose her ability to manage the sensory inputs. The solution was to be alone in a dark room where she did what was needed to self-regulate. She is hypersensitive to light and sound; thus, a sensory room would be some space where she can control the lighting and the audio or noise levels. She also talks about lying in child’s pose to calm her down. This suggested vestibular sensory needs.

A good sensory room then would allow a person to control the environment concerning the different sensory functions.

Practically, a sensory room in a workplace can include the following features:

  • A private room or set of spaces with some level of privacy enabled
  • Ability to control the lighting — using dimmers, lampshades, or colored lights
  • Soundproofing and/or the ability to play white noise or other sounds that soothe. A place where the person can use their own noise canceling devices
  • A set of mild fragrances to sniff if needed — aromatherapy
  • Gummy candies or other kinds of safe, chewable items
  • A place to sit or lay down — a couch with a neutral textured surface
  • Fluffy blankets
  • Weighted blankets/cushions
  • A yoga mat on the floor for those who prefer to sit or lay on the ground
  • Bonus — rocking seating or a swing chair or hammock chair fastened to the ceiling — for vestibular sensory seekers
  • Exercise balls to sit on/bounce on
  • A selection of fidget toys and other interesting textural items to choose from
  • Electric hot pads or cooling pads
  • Bean bag chairs

As you can see, a workspace sensory room need not be an expensive or complicated project. Whether you are neurotypical or neurodivergent, the appeal of having such a space available is apparent. Fair usage policies should be set up to manage access and maintenance and to prevent abuse. Managing those factors will be much easier if the workplace culture is accepting of neurodiversity-inclusively.

Humans have unique needs. The benefits of meeting those needs instead of ignoring them are many-fold. With the increased focus on employee mental wellness, such a space would enhance the employee experience. This simple idea, a dedicated safe, comfortable escape room, can be just what’s needed to bring out the best in employees.

Neurodiversity Definition

Neurodiversity: this term refers to a general diversity of minds. It includes people who are neurotypical and neurodivergent. When I talk about promoting neurodiversity in the workplace, for example, I am referring to creating a diverse workforce representative of the broad spectrum that exists when it comes to ways of thinking, processing information, communication, and learning. Some employees may be “normal” or neurotypical while others may have ADHD, Dyslexia, Autism, or trauma impacted ways of thinking. I am not referring to any particular label or diagnosis, but rather, the concept of an environment where a diversity of minds coexist.

Neurodiverse: This word is pretty much the same as neurodiversity, but should be used as an adjective. You can say, for example, that your workplace is neurodiverse.

Be careful though, because you should never describe a person as being neurodiverse. Individual people should be described as neurodivergent.

Neurodivergent: This word describes an individual whose way of thinking falls outside of society’s defined version of normal. Oftentimes you will see it abbreviated as ND.

Many times, neurodivergent people will have a diagnosis or label you may recognize, like autism, dyslexia, or ADHD. But neurodivergent people are also those with epilepsy, different kinds of brain trauma, or simply a unique way of thinking that may not have a specific diagnosis.


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