TOMS RIVER – Over the course of the last few years, the Toms River branch of the Ocean County Library has expanded its accessibility to people on the autism spectrum.
Shockingly enough, it began with a viral clip from a woman on the “Real Housewives of New Jersey.” Jacqueline Laurita, a member of the show, posted a video of her son being asked to leave the library for having an autistic meltdown.
Sara Siegler is the assistant director of Ocean County’s Library and a longtime viewer of the show, and the video sparked some concerns for her. She worried whether someone she worked with would remove a child from her library for the same reason, and if they were properly trained to handle children with autism.
As soon as the concern came, everything seemed to fall into place: she learned of a restaurant – Riv’s Toms River Hub – that has a sensory-friendly section in their dining room for individuals with autism; during their annual Autism Resources Fair, workers from the hospital came to bring awareness to their designated rooms that are specialized for people with autism.
So, she decided to make a change before a bad situation could happen. During a meeting, she brought up the idea of building a sensory space in the library– a place where people with autism could come to calm down and decompress.
Originally, she offered the idea of building a room that could be multipurpose – the room could function for meetings, events, and be a sensory room. But when her coworkers saw how popular the room would grow to be and how needed it was, they decided to make it solely a sensory room.
During the planning stage, Siegler searched for other nearby libraries that might offer sensory rooms. Surprisingly, she found none that were specifically designed for autistic individuals to decompress. That has since changed, but the Toms River library’s sensory room is still one of the few that is equipped to handle people struggling with both sensory overload and sensory under-responsivity.
This sensory room is designed to be a “calming room.” It’s a soundproof room that is designed to limit the amount of stimulation a person receives and provide a more targeted experience.
The area is filled with trinkets that allow people to focus on one thing at a time, and all of them aim to help regulate the nervous system. For example, tactile tools such as fidget spinners and Pop-Its help with self-regulation through repetitive movements. Bean bags and weighted fabrics offer deep pressure stimulation. The design of the room has also changed over time. To make the room bigger, they added a curved wall – which also helped the room feel even calmer, as it reduced the amount of sharp edges and added to the gentle environment. They also keep all of the wall decorations at wheelchair height to keep it even more accessible, which benefits the children, as well.
They also have a Vibroacoustic Long Easy Chair; you lay down and relax, and the chair connects to a speaker and allows you to feel the vibrations of music. This provides a perfect audio stimulation while relieving anxiety, and the library even allows you to request songs or genres.
The room is open to people of all ages. They limit it to about 6 people at a time (including caregivers) to reduce the amount of stimulation and ensure safety. The room is located on the second floor, tucked away near the non-fiction and magazine sections. The hours coincide with the library: 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; and 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Siegler and her coworkers are looking to increase the tools they have available; if you have any recommendations or can offer a donation, please don’t hesitate to call the library at (732)-349-6200 or visit their website, theoceancountylibrary.org/sensory-space.
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