Airport’s new sensory room soothes kids

Jason Rudge saw the difference a room could make.

When his 2-year-old son Presley, who had recently been diagnosed with autism, had a rough time with a preschool readiness group, a teacher suggested the family try out a “sensory room” filled with beanbags, a disco ball, bubble machines and other soothing devices.

“It just worked immediately,” Rudge said.

That got Rudge, a heavy-equipment operator, thinking about his workplace: Pittsburgh International Airport.

So he dropped a note to the CEO, in which he wrote: “... if Pittsburgh International Airport had a sensory room, it would ease the minds of customers knowing that there is a place for their children to go if needed.”

A version of that room, called Presley’s Place, opened recently — bigger and more comprehensive than anything Rudge had imagined.

The 1,500-square-foot space includes a transitional entrance, individual and family rooms, an area for adults and an “airplane experience” complete with a cabin, seats, overhead bins and a jetway.

The new space comes as airports, airlines, destinations, hotels and other tourist attractions step up efforts to serve travelers with autism and their loved ones.

In 2016, for example, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport opened a multisensory room geared to kids on the autism spectrum.

Jessica Benham, director of development at the Pittsburgh Center for Autistic Advocacy and an autistic person herself, said Presley’s Place it could serve as a model for other airports around the world.

“If I lived a little closer to the airport, I would, frankly, go there just to hang in the space,” she said. “It’s that cool.”