Report calls for schools to add more ‘sensory rooms’

Manitoba schools are being urged to set up more “sensory rooms” and use the spaces — which can feature mood lighting, flexible seating and fidget toys — to address growing concerns about student outbursts and related injuries.

A new report from the Manitoba Federation of Labour is renewing calls to better protect educational assistants, teachers and other public-sector employees.

One of its 10 recommendations, published on Monday, focuses on tackling overcrowding in community facilities and establishing “safe spaces in schools to respond to violence.”

“It’s become the norm: kids having meltdowns that require you have to evacuate the classroom,” said Jane Allison, an educational assistant in Winnipeg.

Allison recalled being subject to biting that drew blood, hair-pulling and regularly witnessing colleagues and elementary students become targets of other physical and verbal attacks this year.

She said “sensory walks” — some hallway floors are decorated with hopscotch-like decals to help students refocus and burn off energy — and sensory rooms with various equipment are helping students regulate themselves.

In some schools, such spaces are dimly lit and have bean bag chairs, blankets and other soft items. Others are equipped with swings, water tables and other items.

“We need more of them,” Allison said, adding that in order to effectively tackle all the behaviour challenges in the city schools she’s worked in, there would need to be sensory rooms attached to virtually every classroom.

Educational assistants have one of the highest time-loss workplace violence injury rates of all occupations insured by the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba.

EAs accounted for 13.1 per cent of all time-loss compensation board injuries suffered after a violent incident in 2025. Aside from home care workers, which accounted for 14.4 per cent of such injuries, including physical and psychological ones, their occupation had the highest rate.

The labour federation, a collective of roughly 30 unions representing health-care aides and bus operators, among others, highlighted those statistics in a 57-page report.

The document includes wide-ranging accounts of experiences with physical and psychological injuries. While acknowledging underlying socioeconomic factors, such as poverty and mental illness, contribute to them, the report calls on all employers to identify violence-related hazards and take measures to address them.

Every school in Manitoba’s largest board has a designated space, which is called a quiet room, calming room or otherwise.

Matt Henderson, superintendent of the Winnipeg School Division, said the spaces, “all in different processes,” help students calm down and gather their thoughts.

“There’s been a gap — not only with EAs, but with many educators around really understanding neurodiversity, really understanding self-regulation, really understanding the autistic mind and how do you design for that,” Henderson said.

His office, which oversees roughly 30,000 students, is focused on building capacity among teachers and EAs to work with all children, he said. For the first time next year, EAs will receive up to seven days of professional development.

While noting being an EA has been an incredibly rewarding job, Allison said many colleagues she’s worked with don’t have the training they need to feel confident in carrying out de-escalation.

It’s both “wild” and worrisome how often early years classrooms are interrupted and children see their classmates erupt into tantrums, she said.

The self-employed piano teacher became a substitute EA in 2024-25. She entered the school system with non-violent crisis training and experience working with adults who have dementia and other complex needs in hospitals.

“This is not the job I thought it was,” she said, reflecting on her experience assisting in more than 30 schools in various last-minute coverage and weeks-long term positions.

“I was surprised to learn the amount of de-escalation required on a locked behavioural unit is less than in a classroom.”

EAs have reported hair loss, fatigue, anxiety and other health-related concerns because of workplace assaults, said Jamie Rose of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 737.

“These ongoing issues highlight the urgent need for stronger safety measures, proper incident follow-up, access to appropriate reporting processes, and meaningful support for staff who experience workplace violence,” said the union president who represents school support staff in Brandon.

Lillian Klausen, president of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, said sensory rooms are one asset in schools where there’s extra space, but many sites are overcrowded.

“We’re losing some of those safe spaces where we can have some de-escalation,” Klausen said.

Her union, an affiliate of the labour federation, has endorsed the recommendations released in its new report.

Klausen said teachers want to help develop education-specific strategies to prevent violence in their workplaces.

St. Amant’s chief executive officer said educators need to exercise “caution and compassion” around this topic because vulnerable children are involved and at risk of being further stigmatized.

“It goes without saying that students, teachers, EAs, all school staff — everybody — has a right to a safe and dignified and successful day in the classroom,” said Ben Adaman, who oversees the non-profit that provides outreach, respite and education services for thousands of Manitoba families navigating autism, developmental injuries and brain injury diagnoses.

Adaman said “behaviour” rather than “violence” is a more appropriate word because the latter suggests there’s an intent to cause harm and that’s often not the case. When a child exhibits worrisome behaviour, it’s important to find the “mismatch” in their needs and environment, he said, noting outbursts are a form of communication.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca