Sensory Pathways Help Students Regulate
By Sharon Hannon | May 2025
“While the social/emotional needs of students have always been important in education, the pandemic further intensified the need for school counselors to teach skills for emotional regulation and resilience,” said Mary Katalinic Tchouros, Ph.D., ACSC, school counselor at Sterling School Charles Towne Center in Greenville, S.C. To address this need, Tchouros spearheaded an effort to develop two sensory paths for her youngest elementary students, an indoor path painted on a school hallway and an outdoor path that was partially funded by the state school counselor association.
“The indoor pathway arose out of the need for a location for students to easily take a break from class and as a way to turn a boring hallway into a place of healing,” said Tchouros, who painted the hallway with a maze, puzzles and squiggles to engage the students. “The pathway alternates breathing techniques with movement and gives students an opportunity to participate in different activities on the way to their classrooms and begin their days regulated and ready for success.”
The indoor path is available to students throughout the school day. “I have students that will stop by the path first thing in the morning before they get to class or on the way back from lunch,” she said. “Or a teacher may tell a student to go to the path before coming into the classroom.”
For the outside path, Tchouros collaborated with the school’s art teacher to develop an underwater theme. “We outlined the different shapes, the fish and the mermaid, then our middle school and upper elementary students came in and helped to paint it,” she said. “Every student in the building had a part in making this happen, which was incredible.” Tchouros also wrote the mini-grant that funded some of the materials for the path.
Located under a covered recess area, the outdoor sensory path includes movements such as crab walk, turtle trek, bubble breathing and hopscotch and is accessible to the whole school, rain or shine. In the future, the outdoor path will also include sight words and math facts to help reinforce some of the things students learn in the primary grades.
In the short time since the indoor path was created, Tchouros has seen a significant difference in the students’ ability to regulate their bodies and control their actions. “They’re leaving the classroom, so they get that sensory break, and then they have the chance to move their bodies and work on their breathing strategies. Also, they’re playing more collaboratively in the outdoor space and creating different activities at each part of the path.”
In addition, Tchouros has noticed that teachers seem better able to pick up on student behaviors and determine when they need a movement break. More frequently, they are encouraging students to do something, even if it is not the path, to give them a break and stimuli reduction so they can regulate and move on.
Students across all grade levels ask to use the different paths, and teachers have requested more paths on the interior hallways. Tchouros received a donation of more than 40 yoga mats that she will be transforming into mobile sensory paths for teachers to have in their classrooms. “I’m going to have my students help me design the mobile paths,” she said. “When we have rainy weather and the students can’t go outside, they need different things to do during recess.”
As to whether the paths will be needed less over time as students learn to self-regulate, Tchouros believes it could go either way. “Some students may still need a break on a normal basis every now and then, or the paths may teach them strategies so they don’t need to use them anymore,” she said. “One student I had would use a path every day before class, and now that student is able to regulate. So it could be the type of intervention that gets phased out, or it could just be a fun activity to do. That’s why we made the outside underwater mural fun. It’s fun, but it also serves a purpose.”
Sharon Hannon is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C.
“The indoor pathway arose out of the need for a location for students to easily take a break from class and as a way to turn a boring hallway into a place of healing,” said Tchouros, who painted the hallway with a maze, puzzles and squiggles to engage the students. “The pathway alternates breathing techniques with movement and gives students an opportunity to participate in different activities on the way to their classrooms and begin their days regulated and ready for success.”
The indoor path is available to students throughout the school day. “I have students that will stop by the path first thing in the morning before they get to class or on the way back from lunch,” she said. “Or a teacher may tell a student to go to the path before coming into the classroom.”
For the outside path, Tchouros collaborated with the school’s art teacher to develop an underwater theme. “We outlined the different shapes, the fish and the mermaid, then our middle school and upper elementary students came in and helped to paint it,” she said. “Every student in the building had a part in making this happen, which was incredible.” Tchouros also wrote the mini-grant that funded some of the materials for the path.
Located under a covered recess area, the outdoor sensory path includes movements such as crab walk, turtle trek, bubble breathing and hopscotch and is accessible to the whole school, rain or shine. In the future, the outdoor path will also include sight words and math facts to help reinforce some of the things students learn in the primary grades.
In the short time since the indoor path was created, Tchouros has seen a significant difference in the students’ ability to regulate their bodies and control their actions. “They’re leaving the classroom, so they get that sensory break, and then they have the chance to move their bodies and work on their breathing strategies. Also, they’re playing more collaboratively in the outdoor space and creating different activities at each part of the path.”
In addition, Tchouros has noticed that teachers seem better able to pick up on student behaviors and determine when they need a movement break. More frequently, they are encouraging students to do something, even if it is not the path, to give them a break and stimuli reduction so they can regulate and move on.
Students across all grade levels ask to use the different paths, and teachers have requested more paths on the interior hallways. Tchouros received a donation of more than 40 yoga mats that she will be transforming into mobile sensory paths for teachers to have in their classrooms. “I’m going to have my students help me design the mobile paths,” she said. “When we have rainy weather and the students can’t go outside, they need different things to do during recess.”
As to whether the paths will be needed less over time as students learn to self-regulate, Tchouros believes it could go either way. “Some students may still need a break on a normal basis every now and then, or the paths may teach them strategies so they don’t need to use them anymore,” she said. “One student I had would use a path every day before class, and now that student is able to regulate. So it could be the type of intervention that gets phased out, or it could just be a fun activity to do. That’s why we made the outside underwater mural fun. It’s fun, but it also serves a purpose.”
Sharon Hannon is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C.