Sensory room at Yeshiva Elementary School

Dimmed lights and plush carpeting are helping kids stay focused

Plush carpeting, dimmed lights, a body compression glove, a nugget couch, a swing, and tons of games and puzzles fill the sensory room in the basement of Yeshiva Elementary School in Milwaukee.

The sensory room, opened as part of a new program at the start of the 2025-2026 school year, provides a space for kids with neurodivergence, ADHD, or just a need for some moments to recenter and regulate – for scheduled 10-15 minute intervals during the school day.

After these intervals, “the students’ central nervous system is calmed down, it’s focused, and they can really re-enter the classroom with an ability to sit and focus,” said Helen Baruch, one of the two special-education teachers for the program and member of the West Side community of Milwaukee. The students in the program range from grades K-4 to second grade.

Though the intervals are short, “spending just 10–15 minutes in a sensory room can help a child calm and regulate their bodies, regain self-control, and return to the classroom ready to learn,” said Emily Lohr, a K4 and K5 general studies teacher who helped found the program at the Orthodox school.

Baruch said she tailors the short sessions to the specific needs of the child she’s working with — the many gadgets in the sensory room allow for this flexibility. Some require focused activities, like finding and removing beads from hard putty. For students who are overstimulated in a classic classroom environment, the answer may be “listening to the headphone version of a Curious George story, gently swinging,” Baruch said.

After the activities, Baruch often reflects with the students so they understand what helps them regulate. “Do you feel really good right now? Do you feel like you could really focus right now? Notice how your body is, and how you can think,” Baruch said are some of the questions she’s asked. “I’m hoping it plants some seeds of awareness.”

Many times, the teacher spends the session guiding the student in heavy work, which are physical activities that can help ground a child in their surroundings. This could be putting a lid on a big tub of aquabeads and pushing it from one side of the room to another.

Rabbi Aryeh Borsuk, director of advancement and administration at Yeshiva Elementary School, said that sensory rooms are becoming increasingly common in schools, and the faculty saw a need for it at Yeshiva Elementary School.

“Before we had the sensory room, when an individual child was overwhelmed, frustrated, anxious, or overstimulated, the child might lose extended portions of class time struggling to engage and sometimes create a disturbance, preventing other children from being able to learn successfully,” Lohr said.

Teachers have given positive feedback on the program so far. “It has greatly increased the learning atmosphere, not just for the children who go to the sensory room, but for all of my students,” Lohr said. The kids love it too, Baruch said.

Yeshiva Elementary plans to continue the sensory room program for the next school year.