ROOM TO GROW | Downtown developer’s endeavor creates sensory spaces for special needs students

Each Roxy Room is a custom-made sensory sanctuary for children with special needs, especially those on the autism spectrum. The idea began with Jackson Foltyn’s daughter, and each room is named in her honor as a safe space for her peers. (Courtesy photos from Jackson Foltyn)

Every Roxy Room begins with a need.
It’s not enough that a school administrator thinks one of the tailored sensory sanctuaries sounds like a good idea. Opportunity alone doesn’t kick-start a project.
For Jackson Foltyn and his team, their efforts are vetted on a needs-basis. More than an extra amenity on a campus, the Roxy Room Project has to see the potential for a practical, positive impact by developing a new safe space for students with special needs: “This would be a game-changer.”
Foltyn’s the owner of Jackson’s Cozy Theatre in Gladewater, a dynamic entertainer and a veteran entrepreneur. He’s digging deep as a local developer downtown and beyond. The Roxy Rooms quickly became a passion fueled by a parent’s love and the necessity of planning for a child’s future.
“The original genesis of the idea was in Roxy’s need,” he says.
Foltyn’s daughter is on the autism spectrum and, like so many other children and adults, that comes with some special needs. Roxy has great potential, but she’s more prone to overstimulation than the majority of her peers; the cavernous space of a standard gymnasium triggers her.

Downtown Gladewater developer and entertainer Jackson Foltyn launched Roxy Rooms in his daughter’s name as a tailored sensory spaces for children with autism, Asberger’s and other special needs.

When she needed a safe retreat during school hours, Dad worked with administrators to make it happen for her benefit and for others, too.
“Basically, we put together rooms that are for sensory needs,” Foltyn said, “and it’s for underdeveloped schools that need it.”
Each is a custom-made sensory sanctuary, a brief escape for kids on the spectrum that’s tailored to their stimulation limits.
“I’ve always had this idea to do something as a legacy for my daughter,” he said, “to have it to where a name is attached to it. When she’s 40 or 45, the goal is to have her run it.
“The cool thing is her name will be living thing.”
The idea took root in 2019, and the Roxy Room nonprofit was officially established four years back in 2020. The first was crafted at Sabine Elementary School.
Using the room is not a reward system for difficult behavior, Foltyn noted. Rather, it’s a way to gently separate a child who’s on the verge of a meltdown or in the grips of one. Give them a space to ride it out, get back to their baseline and get back to class.
Otherwise, especially in a general population classroom, “They have to actually escort all the kids out, not the meltdown child,” Foltyn explained. “You have other teachers who have to come in and take care of those kids while they’re waiting for this one to come out of their meltdown. You lose a lot of teaching hours.
“The purpose of these rooms is to be very proactive, to start seeing the signs of someone who’s starting to get triggered with some overstimulation, then put them in that Roxy Room for 20, 25 minutes.”
It’s a calming space, one filled with elements a child can touch, with soft-but-weighted elements that can approximate a hug, with white noise music and low-stimulation activities: “It’s a peaceful place.”
From Sabine Elementary, the project progressed to Sabine High School ñ “It works well for teenagers, as well.” ñ and now five rooms have been completed, including another at Spring Hill ISD as well as the most recent project in the Metroplex. There are 20-30 applications pending right now, including one for Gladewater.
“For us, it’s not about a want; it’s about a need.”

A key aspect of the rooms is what they say about a school to prospective parents considering a move to a new community. For Foltyn, it’s a concrete way to communicate ‘This school district, this town understands your child and understands your needs as a family.’
“Every one of these has been very emotional because of the impact you make for kids and for parents as well.”
Each Roxy Room runs between $6,400 and $10,000, always built within an existing enclosed space at a school.
With the theater and other ventures,
Foltyn has crafted a fundraising funnel to fuel the endeavor. A film festival’s planned and a jazz festival’s in the works ñ proceeds will benefit the sensory spaces. Whether his venue’s hosting a play like the upcoming “Misery” or Foltyn’s taking the stage as Elvis Presley, the nonprofit benefits.
“When we do shows here, portions of every ticket goes to a Roxy room,” Foltyn said. “We sell a CD, a shirt, whatever, it goes to a Roxy Room.”
He has a new ‘General Store’ planned for the corner of Main Street and Commerce ñ The Roxy Candy Corner will soon be contributing a portion of revenues toward the development of new sensory rooms.
“It’s gotten a lot of traction. It’s only because now that people are starting to know about it. They didn’t know about what we were doing two years ago.”
There’s enough momentum that benefactors are now seeking Foltyn out, asking how their dollars can help fuel the project. One such encounter landed capital for a new Roxy Room at White Oak Elementary.
“She just gave me the cash. The next one will be in the high school. We have people in Union Grove that want one,” in addition to Gladewater ISD. “We want to do so much for Gladewater as far as the district and the schools and the churches and everything like that.”

From approval to opening, the development of a Roxy Room can take three to six months, depending on the raw space it occupies.
“When I go through these schools, I have to make sure that, number one, the school is in need ñ it’s something that they will benefit from,” Foltyn said. He has to come to trust the school’s administrators and teachers before he entrusts them with his daughter’s legacy. “We’re always looking to put it in the best situation with the best results. We’d like to go in every now and then just to kind of check things out; once we’ve put it in there, we don’t want people to move stuff around.
“We do ask them, if there’s anything that we can come in with later, let us know. Let us know what the results are ñ and that’s something we’re very proud of.”
Administrators are asked to put a three-month study together ñ before, during and after the Roxy Room is installed and opened.
“The results are amazing,” Foltyn said. “If I can build 15 more before the year’s out, awesome.”
Learn more at RoxyRoom.org.

– By James Draper

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