Aztec High Debuts Snoezelen Sensory Room After Four-Year Project

Aztec High School held a soft opening on Feb. 11 for a Snoezelen sensory room, a controlled multisensory environment designed to provide stimulation, relaxation and developmental support for students. The project reached this milestone after four years of planning and collaboration, and the story was reported Feb. 13, 2026.

School leaders and special education staff say the room aims to help students practice self-regulation and return to class calmer and ready to learn. An Instagram post announcing the lab described it as, “Designed as a calming space, the sensory lab gives students the opportunity to reset, practice self-regulation, and re-engage with learning.” Life skills teacher Josh French and special education director Robi Hess were key figures in bringing the space online.

The room was a four-year project made possible through collaboration with district administrators and Josh French, a life skills teacher at Aztec High who previously worked with a sensory room in Lubbock, Texas. Aztec High was selected as the first location for a Snoezelen Sensory Room because of French’s experience using similar rooms with students. Funding for the room came from special education funds and cost about $100,000, according to special education director Robi Hess.

French framed the classroom-to-lab shift as a change in expectations and relationships. “The whole point is you bring a kid in here and there's no expectations placed on them, because if you look at school, it's expectations placed on them constantly,” he said. “It's a place where they can come and kind of be themselves and the adults job is to interact with them and create a positive relationship with them.” He emphasized program design and timing: “The important thing is that you don't bring a kid in when they're having a meltdown, because that will reinforce the behavior,” French said. “You want to kind of schedule it so that they get that time throughout the day to help kind of regulate themselves.”

The Snoezelen Sensory Room will be used in 20-30 minute sessions in the morning and afternoons. French currently has 10 students on his caseload, and the room can also be used by other students who may be at risk or experiencing high anxiety. Before the sensory room was available, French said regulation for many students took place in the classroom.

The room features a projector, fiber optic lights and a bubble tube, all part of the essentials of a Snoezelen room, French said. Hess pointed to rising anxiety as part of the rationale for investment: “I noticed we had a lot of kids with high anxiety,” Hess said. “I don't know it was COVID – it seemed to get worse since then. So this is a good place for them to come and maybe get centered to get back to class.”

For San Juan County families and educators, the new sensory room represents an investment in behavioral supports that keep students in school and learning. District officials say the soft opening is the first step; tracking use, outcomes and broader access will determine whether similar rooms expand to other schools.