Sensory Room Scheduled To Open At Kendall Campus In January
The Kendall Campus is expected to open The Reef, Miami Dade College’s first-ever sensory room to help students, faculty and staff with neurodivergent conditions.
Located in Room 2118-01, the space is designed to help people who feel anxious or overstimulated and provides a calm and tranquil study environment.
It accommodates a maximum of eight students at a time and is slated to open on Jan. 20, according to ACCESS Director Mercy Macrina.
“This space will allow students and staff a space to decompress when feeling overstimulated,” Macrina said. “This allows for an all around better experience both inside and outside of the classroom.”
The Reef, which is 12 x 24 feet, is a collaboration between ACCESS Disability Services and the Kendall Campus Learning Commons. Renovation of the room did not exceed $45,000, according to Cristina Mateo, who serves as Senior Director of Campus Administration at Kendall Campus
It includes several therapeutic amenities such as sound-responsive hexagon lighting, 12 chairs including four egg-shaped seats and two beanbags, and wall panels with various calming textures such as bubbles and grooves. There is also a nature sound device that helps create a calming environment.
Macrina said the idea to create the space emerged after they saw an increase in students with neurodivergent conditions—such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia and Tourette’s syndrome— attending MDC.
Two and a half years ago, the campus launched the Kendall Learning Academy, a 20-credit certificate program that offers educational curriculum for neurodivergent scholars training in the field of business intelligence.
The Reef is dimly lit with multi-colored LED lights that fluctuates between soft colors such as blue, pink and green. Seating is cushioned and dome-shaped to provide privacy. The space also features two desktop computers.
“The design was developed in collaboration with commercial furniture and room design companies with the input of our ACCESS department,” Mateo said.
Even though the room was created with the intent to assist neurodivergent students, it is available to all registered MDC students. They must provide their MDC ID upon entering the room.
The Reef will be open Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Macrina said each campus is “working on identifying spaces to house sensory rooms.”
“There was a need and the Kendall campus delivered,” Macrina said.
Yazid Guelida contributed to this report.
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