The NBA’s Utah Jazz have partnered with Vivint Smart Home to open an in-arena sensory room for children with autism spectrum disorder and other intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The room, which opens at the Jazz’s Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City on Friday, will debut for Austin Awareness Night when the Jazz face off against the Memphis Grizzlies.
The sensory room features a spectrum of games and tools that help provide a sense of calm or stimulation, depending on each child’s individual needs. Among its stimulation tools include state-of-the-art multi-sensory stations, play therapy stations and activity panels. Apple iPads will be implemented at technology stations. For those requiring a sense of calm, certain spaces have been carved out into relaxing environments, including “quiet cubbies” where families can sit for alone time.
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— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) April 2, 2018
“Vivint is dedicated to helping families keep their loved ones safe and secure,” Nate Randle, chief marketing officer at Vivint Smart Home said in a statement. “Children with autism and their families are especially important to us as they face unique challenges, both at home and in other environments. Our goal is to help give these parents and families greater peace of mind, especially when they attend a Jazz game or other events at the Vivint Smart Home Arena.”
Vivint says the Jazz sensory room is one of the most advanced in any NBA arena, though it’s most certainly not the only one nor the first to implement such an experience. In 2017, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Quicken Loans Arena became the first arena in American professional sports certified as “sensory inclusive,” which means that the arena and its staff cater to people with conditions such as autism or other neurological disorders such as PTSD and offer similar rooms with tools to engage or calm people when activity in the arena becomes too much to bear.
“This helps them cope with situations and environments where it may be difficult for them to remain happy and productive, such as a professional basketball game and other arena events,” said George Ballew, licensed clinical social worker and clinical director of the Peers Academy at the Heritage Treatment Center, who consulted Vivint on the design of the room.
SportTechie Takeaway:
Quicken Loans Arena established itself as a leader in sensory technology after a fan complained that her son with non-verbal autism was treated rudely by security personnel at the Q during the arena’s 2016 Autism Night. When upper management caught wind of what happened, the arena implemented special training for part- and full-time staff to teach them how to better interact with guests with sensory conditions. Having quiet rooms for people with these disabilities is especially important in closed-in arenas, such as the Q or the Vivint Smart Home, where the energy and sound among fans can reverberate loudly. More NBA teams are expected to implement such rooms in the coming years. In November, the Atlanta Hawks joined the Cavs with a sensory inclusive certification for Philips Arena.