JOHNSON COUNTY, Ga. — You're going to see a lot more kids chilling out, relaxing and laughing at schools in Johnson County.
They're psyched over their latest and greatest additions: sensory rooms.
"It is designed with students with disabilities in mind, but overall it's supposed to help all students in the school building," Hannah Kiser said.
Kiser is the special education director of Johnson County Schools.
Over the past couple of school years, Kiser explained, it's taken a village to bring it all together.
"Our transportation staff helped get some of this equipment into this room, our maintenance staff, our special education staff, our building leadership, our superintendent, our community has supported this," Kiser elaborated. "This has truly been a Johnson County effort."
The students recognized that almost every hand was on deck.
"To the teachers-- good job-- who worked on all of this, because i know it took a lot of time and effort to put in these curtains, these chairs, the lights," Chrissy Carter said.
Chrissy thinks her high school's sensory theater is *so* cozy with its massage chairs surrounding bubble lights in a backlit room.
She and her senior classmate, Josey Scott, say they're going to try to enjoy it as much as possible before college.
The middle schoolers say they feel lucky because they get a decked out Lego lab.
Johnson County Elementary students get to have a sensory clubhouse filled with stuffed animals, nooks they can snuggle in and even a swing in the middle of the room.
The rooms are meant to help stimulate or calm students in moments of distress, anxiety and stress.
"When we can offer a space that better prepares a student to returning to the learning environment, we're doing a service to the students, a service to the school and the community, at large," Kiser said.
AJ Beck's favorite spots in the room are in cozy corners with bubble lights and turtles.
He said he likes to lay down and read the books about how to destress and relax.
"They help me learn how to control how I feel my emotions," AJ said. "You can just read, and it tells you how to calm down."
You're also welcome to lay down and relax or swing around and have some fun, before returning to class for a sharper mind.
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