*2.2.4 Theme 4: Students ask*

Another theme (69% of the interviews) revealed in the data is that students request to go to the room when they need to calm down. One staff member said: "Some of them have even said, you know, 'I need a break, can I go to that room?". Another staff member reflected upon the usefulness of the calming room for a specific student:

*"After a while it would seem like he knew that's where he was going so [he would] go and run, he would like run to the room and it's unlocked. And it happened at least once I remember, where he was somewhere in the building… and I found him in there on the bean bag [in the room]."*

Students recognize that the calming room is a positive space they can retreat to when they being to feel dysregulated:

*"I know that students are being a little more proactive. They're asking to go to the calming room if they kind of starting to get agitated … they kind of start to get a little agitated or escalating behavior so and they're asking to go there before like: "I just need a break can I go there?" … It's giving them a tool to kind of regulate their own behavior and you know kind of notice where they are themselves you know some kind of watch themselves."*

Students ask to use the room, willingly take themselves there, and are learning to monitor themselves to know when they should visit it proactively provides evidence that students recognize the value of the calming room.

#### *2.2.5 Theme 5: Emotional regulation*

Many of the interviewees reported the room helps students with emotion regulation (63% of interviews). A specially designed space such as the calming room is a key important factor to encouraging students to learn emotional regulation. For example, one respondent said:

*"The kids seem to be very engaged when they are in there and it does seem to really work its purpose."*

Another staff member commented on the significance of having a room specifically devoted to student emotional regulation rather than a space designed for academic uses:

*"They stop things from escalating, you know, they gave the student a safe place to go. It wasn't a teacher's office, it wasn't an academic setting per se, so he was able to just go and de-escalate… It's giving them a tool to kind of regulate their own behavior."*

Other staff members also reported how beneficial it was to have a space specifically designed as a calming room:

*"Before it was there... we would take them to a room and just calm them down but... it didn't have the same calming effect."*

#### *2.2.6 Theme 6: Safety*

Teachers and staff reported that the design of the calming room promotes physical safety for students (63% of interviews).

*"Especially compared to the way it was before the renovation, it's safer now. That's number 1… We're able to just let them be and we don't have to stop them from playing with the sink or go to the pipes or the TV or whatever you know… It's a safer space."*

Interviewees reflected that students are able to express themselves safely in the calming room. One respondent said: "They know it's a safe place." Another component of the theme of safety is that because the students ask to go to the calming room and feel it is safe, staff are less frequently required to use less physical escorts with students:

*"[Students] are more than willing to walk there without having to be physically escorted."*

The need for fewer physical escorts promotes increased student safety. One teacher commented on the value of having a safe calming room:

*"I can't imagine not having a safe space like that for when someone gets really dysregulated."*

#### *2.2.7 Theme 7: Simplicity supports regulation*

The minimalist, simple design of the calming room is a key facet of its success (25% of interviews). One staff member commented that when a student escalates emotionally they need to "get away from the stimuli." A staff member described the importance of a simple space to promote emotion regulation:

*"Less is more. So the more things in the room, the more distractions, the more heightened alertness and everything the students already have that they have to deal with."*

A minimalist design also promotes student safety:

*"[Students] try to find something to break and there's nothing to break, which is great."*

### **3. Elementary school dining room project**

As a result of the positive feedback from the school community about the redesigned Calming room (**Table 1**), the University of Minnesota Extension Children, Youth and Family Consortium initiated another project. This time, the dining hall *Building Community and Fostering Health and Well-Being through a Collaborative School Based… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97525*


#### **Table 1.**

*Themes related to the calming room (n = 16).*

at Bruce Vento became the venue for renovation. An undergraduate Interior design student collaborated with the first author in a funded undergraduate research project to develop design solutions for the dining space taking into account the need for a healthy eating and trauma-sensitive space [16]. The project goal was to reduce the noise level and address circulation issues in the existing dining space. The original dining hall's loud eating environment, institutional atmosphere, and a limited amount of natural light contributed to a sterile environment (**Figure 5**). These characteristics can negatively impact disruptive behavior especially in students with behavioral challenges. The University of Minnesota Extension Children, Youth and Family Consortium staff, interior design team (author 1 and interior design student), and the Bruce Vento team explored best practices to have a positive impact on the dining hall at the school and toured the design spaces of a leading edge school, the Creative Arts School in St. Paul to study best practices and gain inspiration.

#### **3.1 The design**

To create a welcoming and nurturing dining environment to foster students' learning and to support their health several ideas emerged from research, ideation and team brainstorming. The ideas included creating a teaching kitchen space for nutrition educators to use with students and families, promoting family dining style

**Figure 5.** *Bruce Vento dining hall former Interior condition. (Source: Picture by Author 1)*

and healthy eating through round tables, and solving acoustical problems by adding sound absorbing materials in the dining space (**Figure 6**). Recognizing there is no simple solution and "one size does not fit all," the team prioritized six design solutions (**Figure 7**): (1) sound reduction materials, (2) family style eating to increase times for eating, (3) natural elements create calming and restorative environment, (4) teaching spaces for students and parents, (5) communal eating spaces, and (6) glass walls that provide light and open feeling. However, due to the financial restriction, the team was only able to implement a design that reduced noise levels and enabled positive interactions. The team focused on one major change, which is a shift from long, rectangular tables to round tables (**Figure 8**). The round tables were funded through an internal grant received from the University of Minnesota by Author 1.
