Tom Brabazon (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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261. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department has an official policy on the use of sensory or quiet rooms in schools for students with autism; whether schools are permitted to limit the use of such facilities to a set number of classes per day; and if her Department has an official policy or recommended usage time per student per day for such facilities. [62391/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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A sensory room in a school can enhance and promote the health and wellbeing of the whole school with a focus on both the culture and the environment. It is a designated area within a school which can support a student’s sensory preferences and needs and can provide students with the individualised sensory input they need to self-regulate, so they can be better prepared for learning and interacting with others.

Funding of €7,000 is made available by my Department's Loose Furniture & Equipment (F&E) Section for the provision of the start-up of a sensory room within a school. To be eligible for the grant, the school must demonstrate it has an NCSE approved ASD class and that there is a suitable room to house the sensory room (i.e. drawings of the school layout with the sensory room and ASD class clearly marked). The sensory room must be a separate room from that of the ASD class and must have its own separate entry/exit. Only one sensory room grant is funded by my Department per school. It is intended that this funding can also be used for the purchase of sensory equipment.

A sensory room is primarily intended for use by students within the school and is not confined to students within a specific classroom.

Such classrooms for pupils with special education needs are included as standard in the accommodation brief for new school buildings and major extension projects. The overall accommodation suite for students with special education needs also generally includes ancillary accommodation such as a Central Activities Space, a Multi Activity Room and Quiet Spaces as well as an outdoor Secure Play Area and Sensory Garden.

In order to make accommodation provision to meet the needs of students with special education requirements, the Department has close engagement with the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) which has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children nationwide. When the NCSE sanction a special class in a school, the school can apply to the Department for capital funding to re-configure existing spaces within the school building to accommodate the class or to construct additional accommodation. Similarly, where special schools wish to expand provision, the school can apply to the Department for capital funding to accommodate additional placements.

In addition to a sensory room, a school may have a calming space, the design of which is different to a sensory room. The calming space should be located within or directly off the classroom base and is intended as a safe quiet area that a pupil, under the supervision of a staff member, can access for a short period of time if they need some quiet time to themselves. The design of the space must allow staff to observe pupils unobtrusively from the classroom.

The calming space is designed to ensure that a student may choose to access to take a break or to help with regulation. Calming activities are made available to the student depending on their individual needs preferences, and may include items such as stress balls, books, soft toys, and/or noise cancelling headphones.

The calming space is to be designed as a quiet zone or alcove within the classroom without enclosing walls and not as a separate room, these spaces may involve an area of the classroom set up with cushions or a tent to limit sensory stimuli or a space with calming activities and materials and which is visible to either a teacher or a special needs assistant. This area can have different softer finishes to the Classroom that will allow pupils to relax and sit/lie on the floor. A ‘dark’ room, using dark blues, can be created as an alcove off the Classroom to provide a different environment or to provide a different sensory experience. This is a matter for discussion and decision between the school authority and the Design Team. It is my Department's policy not to provide a door to the opening into the calming space, this allows for active supervision of the calming space from the SEN classroom.

The NCSE have updated advice on sensory rooms in schools this year. The booklet titled 'Sensory Spaces in Schools', the content of the booklet is based on research evidence and the therapists’ professional experiences of working in schools. This booklet has been created to provide information on sensory processing and advice on the use of sensory spaces that should be used for general purposes. The booklet can be accessed on the NCSE website: .