Hey there! I’m Alex and I’m posting on behalf of Neurodivergent of FIRST, the student-run organization that I help administrate, to present a (relatively) cheap solution to make your event’s quiet room a friendlier place for everyone. This was thrown together at the request of the previous president of FIN and current president of FIRSTWI, Renee Becker-Blau. Unfortunately, it had to get shelved for a minute because all involved parties became preoccupied with other things, but we’re still hoping to trial it within FIN this coming FRC season.
The primary idea is to create a small “sensory standard” with a few items that could be packed and hauled from event to event. It’s also estimated to work for an average American high school classroom. For these reasons, this is far from a perfect catch-all solution. Eva, one of our advisors and a mentor of FRC 461, is also looking at possibilities to create a similar kit for events that don’t take place in a high school, such as fairgrounds or an arena (also at the request of RBB).
We’re just gonna share what we have here to show that a sensory friendly quiet room can be put together for less than $200, and encourage other districts/regionals to consider adopting this idea.
If you have any questions or want to learn more, feel free to reply here, email us, ([email protected]) or talk to us on our Discord server (ndoffirst.org/discord).
Hey there! This looks like a great idea I know I would love to see more events with quiet rooms around my area.
My only suggestion would be that a projector can also be used to display the competition live stream, in combination with someone’s laptop or personal device
Also some old game pieces are foam or soft and can be great stress relievers. Power cells (no throwing allowed), rings, relic recovery cubes, maybe use the 2014 exercise ball as a chair if you have some floating around. No extra cost if your team has em just sitting on a shelf
Some plush toys/pillows might also be nice, and given that this is Indiana, I’m sure AndyMark could hook you up. Pillows would need to be selected carefully (no down) to ensure there’s no allergy issues.
A drawback with both is that they’ll probably need to be washed between competitions, if not between days, and not just wiped down for cleaning.
Displaying matches wise, would it be better to show the match or just what match is occurring?
I know some students get overwhelmed with the points / scored and timers so don’t want to know. However, others do want to know.
Other thing, would pillows and / or stuffed animals be good? The world champs room had some that let students take naps and have something to hold / rest their heads on. I actually bring a large stuffed animal for students on my team to hold for most competitions.
Edit: Oops posted just as the reply above occurred. Sorry!
A coping strategy that I have found to work really well for myself is bluetooth hearing protection and calming music or straight white noise: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0723CYHPZ/
I can stay productive without letting multiple sources of audio stimulation overwhelm me.
Having had students who have had sensory issues, one problem area I would love to see addressed is public panic attacks. Last year, I had two separate students who had panic attacks that I had to talk down. While it was successful, we had to do it in a very public place to comply with YPP protocol. Is there a way we can provide a more private space while still protecting our students and mentors?
Part of the world’s quiet room was there being 2 or more people staffing the room. This allows the room to be YPPYouth Protection Program complaint and the people staffing to take restroom breaks.
Wow, lots of replies! Let me try to respond to as many things as I can.
Yep, and many classrooms will have projectors! I’ve added a note to the spreadsheet.
We’re going to talk to AndyMark about this pretty soon, we’re currently working on some major changes to our org structure that should hopefully facilitate this.
That’s definitely something to take into account. It would definitely be feasible to make something that pulls from TBA’s API and just shows the current and next few matches with the time and teams.
I took a look at FRC Nexus (fmr. FRCQueue) in demo mode, and it doesn’t look like it has what I want. I would like to have a simple display with just the number of the current match and the next few, along with the teams in each and the match ETAs.
Other than the ETA I think you’re right about this being it. I wonder if that’s a planned future feature or it’s too hard to get a good estimate until a couple matches actually run so we don’t see it? Unless the 2 minutes ago, on deck and now queuing show times outside of those specific text labels
If I remember right, the ETA shows for matches that are not yet queueing (e.g. if match one is on the field and two and three are queueing, you’ll see ETAs for match four and beyond). @forbes can probably confirm.
I don’t think it would work at events that aren’t using it since it requires a Lead Queuer at the field marking when matches are actually starting. Nexus is being very widely implemented, it was used a lot last season, and even more this one.
I know I would love to see more events with quiet rooms around my area.
