What Makes a Perfect SEND Interior?
Flexibility in SEND Sensory Room Design
When it comes to meeting the needs of a large and highly diverse group of young people, flexibility is the key. Being able to personalise the sensory space is a major target of any inclusive organisation, and new technology and materials can make this possible in modern SEND sensory room design.
Central to this flexibility is realising that when it comes to sensory rooms in SEND settings, having a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach is flawed. Neurodivergent children have a need for two very distinct environment types, depending on their mood, stress levels and even the time of day. Sometimes, there is a need for calm, and sometimes there is a need for stimulation. Historically these two modes have been conflated, brought together in a clumsy mish-mash, but this compromise makes spaces unsuited for both purposes.
Two Distinct Sensory Spaces: Calm and Stimulating
If we are to achieve true flexibility, then there has to be some distinction between the two types of sensory space, each then with their own variables and flexibilities built-in. The calming space needs to be exactly that – a room to decompress in, to recoup energy (or ‘spoons’, a disabled community term used to explain the energy required for tasks), to relax and self-regulate. This will almost certainly involve dimmable lights, comfortable spaces, nooks and crannies to curl up in, reading lights, stim toys and perhaps even laid-back and calming low-level light displays.
The stimulatory, sensory-seeking space needs to be the opposite. Bright, colourful, intense, with lots of textures and toys to interact with for when the young person is in sensory-seeking mode – soft play, slides, routes to run through and explore. Autistic children in particular will have a distinct need sometimes to ‘let it all out’ and burn energy whilst exploring new sensory sensations, but then may need a different, quiet space to calm down in.
Designing Neurodivergent-Friendly Surroundings
Both spaces would also benefit from their sensory comforts and excitements reaching beyond the rooms themselves – having the same décor and build techniques in the corridors and hallways around these rooms helps manage the transition, and shows the young people that these spaces are not ‘separate’, but integrated into the whole building. This kind of joined-up design is central to creating genuinely neurodivergent-friendly interiors.
Creating Inclusive SEND Interiors
Meeting these two distinct needs, both equally important, is a crucial goal in making our public spaces, schools, hospitals and so on more neurodivergent-friendly. Whereas before, young people would be forced to share space even though their needs are (in that moment) opposite, it is possible to have these two spaces on offer, so they have a safe area to retreat to or explore as they need it. After all, how can an autistic child, for example, decompress after a difficult morning in a busy, stimulating classroom in a room filled with sensory novelty and intensity and other children zooming around?
Likewise, how can an autistic/ADHD young person find sufficient stimulation in a room designed to help them chill out and recover energy? And if they share the space, how badly are they going to dysregulate one another?
Having two basic types of sensory space in SEND interiors is common sense, and is a central component in creating genuinely inclusive, flexible environments for neurodivergent young people.
How Tigerplay Can Help
At Tigerplay, we specialise in designing and building bespoke SEND sensory rooms and soft play environments that balance these needs – from quiet, decompression spaces to high-energy sensory-seeking zones.
We work with schools, nurseries, hospitals and other organisations to: Understand the specific needs of your pupils or young people Design calming and stimulating sensory spaces that work together Integrate corridors, transition zones and wider interiors into the overall scheme Create robust, safe and exciting environments that will stand up to daily use.
If you’re planning a new SEND interior or looking to improve an existing sensory provision, we can help you get the balance right. Get in touch today.
