Rockingham County, Virginia Case Study
As the parent of an autistic son, Leila Longcor knows what it’s like to have her child melt down in public because he’s overstimulated.
She also knows from experience how helpful it can be to have access to a safe and calming sensory environment where children can go to relax, decompress, and get their emotions under control.
So when the Rockingham County, Virginia, Parks and Recreation Department was building a new recreational center to host area track meets, senior bingo nights, and other community events, Longcor a member of the county Board of Supervisors—suggested that the new building include a Snoezelen multisensory environment for this very purpose.
Longcor’s son received treatment at a hospital with a Snoezelen sensory room twice a week as a child.
“It would completely calm all of his heightened senses,” she recalled. “It was like flipping a switch, and he could go back to being himself instead of being overstimulated. I thought: What a gift it would be to provide this kind of experience for our county’s special needs children and their families.”
County officials worked with School Specialty to design, furnish, and equip a unique sensory environment that is now used by special-education students from local schools, as well as families with children who need a sensory break.
“Our families love it,” Longcor said. “The amount of sheer gratefulness I’ve heard has been overwhelming.”
How does the space function?
The rec center’s original design didn’t include a sensory room. But when Longcor suggested adding this feature, county employees agreed it was a good idea—and a space that initially was supposed to be a storage area was designated as a sensory room instead.
Under the direction of Deputy County Administrator Trish Davidson, Parks and Recreation Director Kirby Dean and Deputy Director Marco Knorr visited other sensory rooms around the state to get ideas for the space, including the sensory room at James Madison University. To create their own sensory room, they partnered with School Specialty and its Projects By Design team, which has extensive experience in designing and furnishing Snoezelen multisensory environments for clients in a wide range of industries.
Typically featuring gentle lighting, soothing sounds, and calming textures, Snoezelen rooms are relaxing spaces that help reduce anxiety, but they also engage and stimulate users with sensory inputs designed to promote independence by giving users a sense of control over their environment.
School Specialty Category Account Manager Alessandra Pucci worked with county leaders to design an environment that was well-suited to their needs.
The room includes elements to engage senses such as sight, hearing, and touch, as well as vestibular and proprioceptive inputs for helping children move around, regulate their balance, and become aware of their bodies.
For instance, there are bubble tubes, a platform swing, pressure rollers, a suspended lounge chair with fiber optic lights, a spin board that allows children to spin around, a rocking bowl for them to sit inside and rock back and forth, gel floor tiles that respond when children touch them, and an interactive projector that projects images onto the floor for children to interact with.
“Alessandra was very creative and had a lot of great ideas,” Davidson said. “She was there with us all the way through to the room’s completion.” A unique aspect of the space is that it’s designed to resemble a forest environment. The bubble tubes are embedded in what look like tree trunks, and the pressure rollers look like logs. There is a campfire area, and a backdrop displays a waterfall image.
“We’re in the Shenandoah Valley, which is one of the most picturesque areas of the world,” Dean said. “We wanted something that reflected our environment. When you walk in, you feel like you’re in the Shenandoah forest.”
Something to be proud of.
The new rec center opened in January 2025, but the sensory room did not officially open to the public until the fall.
Already, the room has been extremely well received—and it’s getting a lot of use as well. Local schools are bringing special-needs students during the school day, and parents can sign up to reserve the space for their children when it’s not otherwise occupied.
“Kids like to sit and interact with the projected images on the floor,” Dean said, “and someone always seems to be sitting in the lounge chair.”
Not only does the sensory room give families a secure, calming space that meets children’s social-emotional needs and makes the rec center more inclusive for everyone, but the uniqueness of its design is also a real source of pride for the community.
“Our special-education teachers couldn’t be more excited,” Dean said. “It almost takes their breath away the first time they see it.”
“There’s a lot of excitement about the space,” Davidson echoed. “Our board wanted something we could be proud of—and we definitely got that.”
Longcor is gratified that local families now have a safe, judgment-free environment where children with special needs can play—and parents can “take their armor off” and relax for a moment as well.
“An individual would never be able to afford a room like this for their child,” she concluded. “But collectively, we can do this for the common good.”