AURORA, Colo — This school year, Laredo Elementary School unveiled a new sensory wall to help students process their feelings.
Laredo Elementary Reading Interventionist Heather Gaarder created the wall after noticing students needed space and time to readjust to class.
"I do a lot of the bulletin boards here at Laredo, that's kind of like my passion. I call it my part-time job. And so all the time we tell our students not to touch my bulletin boards," Gaarder said. "But last year, I decided to make one they can touch. So through Donors Choose for Amazon, we got some supplies that were fabric that has shiny or smooth or bumpy, and I put it on the wall behind me.”
Gaarder’s initial idea grew to include other features and textures.
“Where it’s located, kids are coming in from recess, and, you know, we have a big ask of kids when they're outside playing for recess. They have to come through the doors and immediately, keep your hands to yourself. You know, no more talking, no more running. And so, this is a way for them to line up on this wall, calm down... and be ready to go back to class and learn,” Gaarder said. “And what we found out is that not only did the kids like touching it, but the kids who were dysregulated, who had really big feelings, they would kind of go to the wall, and then they would start touching all the fabrics, and then that made them able to talk about what was bothering them.”
Second-grader Mayumee said her favorite part of the sensory wall is the soft features.
“Because it's so soft, and it reminds me of my cat that passed away,” Mayumee said.
She said the soft parts of the wall make her feel better.
Gaarder said the wall has helped so many students process tough feelings.
“You know some kids may come a little bit dysregulated for many reasons, they were rushed in the morning, they couldn't find their favorite shirt. And so we try to really talk to kids about what their feelings are and how to deal with them. And then when something goes wrong, when they are upset, it's really hard for them to verbally tell us what's wrong. And so when you have a sensory wall, when you have a calm down corner, they're able to then go to that rational part of their brain and then really tell us what happened,” Gaarder said.
Gaarder said the sensory wall is as diverse as the student’s emotions and allows them much-needed moments to reset before heading back to class.