Sensory Breaks vs Breaks Used as Punishment: Understanding the Difference Matters
By: Becca Phillips, Advocate
In many classrooms and within the school setting, you’ll hear the word “break” used for a variety of reasons and may even see “breaks” written into your child's IEP or 504 Plan. It’s important to understand the difference between a sensory break and breaks that may be used as punishment because not all breaks are created equal. For students with sensory needs, attention difficulties, anxiety, autism, ADHD, or emotional regulation differences, a “break” can be a powerful support.
However, when breaks are used incorrectly, especially when used as a form of punishment, the impact on students can be confusing, counterproductive, and even harmful.
Understanding the difference between a sensory break and a punitive break helps parents and school teams create environments where students are supported and thrive, not feel isolated.
What Is a Sensory Break?
A sensory break is a planned, proactive, and purposeful strategy used to support a student’s nervous system that is commonly written into a 504 Plan or IEP. The key characteristics to a sensory break are that they are:
Planned in advance as part of a student’s support plan
Predictable and structured
Designed to help students regulate, not as a reason to escape work
Linked to an identified sensory or regulatory needed for that student
Implemented consistently, not emotionally or reactively
Taught as a skill and not used to be a reward or incentive
Sensory breaks may include movement breaks such as walking, stretching, jumping, or wall push ups. They can look like time in a calm, quiet space with dimmed lighting to decompress and calming music. A sensory break for a student may mean heavy work activities like carrying books, walking with a heavy backpack, using resistance bands, sitting with a weighted lap pad. It can mean having access to a variety of sensory tools for tactile exploration such as fidgets, thera putty, kinetic sand, or look like the use of noise cancelling headphones or a compression vest. Perhaps it is engaging in deep breathing, grounding, co-regulation and/or mindfulness activities.
Whether these sensory breaks are meant to provide proprioceptive or vestibular input, they should prevent escalation, support and foster attention, and help students remain regulated and engaged in their learning.
When is a Break Used as Punishment?
Unfortunately, not all schools, teachers, or staff truly understand what a break means and may use the word “break” to describe something very different from a supportive sensory strategy. A punitive break is a consequence that is imposed on a student for negative behavior. This type of “break” frequently removes them from their peers, from participating in recess, removes them from the classroom learning environment, or from activities they enjoy. Key characteristics of a punitive break:
Triggered by misbehavior or perceived noncompliance
Unplanned and reactive in response to negative behavior
Often isolating to the student (Such as sending them out to the hallway or to the office)
Are not tied to sensory or regulatory needs
May cause the student to feel shame or stigmatized
Can actually increase dysregulation
Sometimes students may be told to go “take a break” where the adult in that moment may feel they are giving the student a chance to re-regulate or become less disruptive. In this manner however, the break is classified as a punishment. Breaks used as punishment can include: sending a student to a “break space” for talking too much, removing recess or movement opportunities because of unwanted behavior, using a calm-down room as a time-out or isolation space, denying the use of familiar sensory tools because the student “didn’t earn them”, or even sending the student to sit alone away from peers while still in class.
The practice of using breaks in a punitive fashion or as a punishment can often actually worsen the behavior because the child’s underlying needs for needing a break in the first place are not being addressed.
So…Why Does the Distinction Matter?
When breaks are misused, students and adults become confused. When we have students who rely on and quite frankly need sensory breaks that are being treated as a punishment, those students may likely avoid using them or advocating for themselves. The whole reason for the break may lose its effectiveness and shame or embarrassment may become associated with this needed support. Staff may also escalate the negative and undesired behaviors altogether in these instances.
When sensory breaks are used in the incorrect manner, trust between that student and teachers decreases. A sensory break is meant to be a support, but when it is used in a punitive manner, it becomes a consequence.
How to Use Breaks Correctly in School:
1. Write sensory breaks into the IEP or 504 plan. Document when they occur, the location of where they occur, if they are independently led or what adult(s) should supervise, the duration of the break, what tools or activities are allowed during the break, and whether the student can request additional time or additional breaks.
2. Teach the skill of what taking a break looks like to the student. Students don’t automatically know how to take a sensory break for it to be effective. Students need instruction in knowing how to identify when they may need a break, how to request a break, what the break includes, and how to return back to learning after the break. Again, breaks are meant to be a self-regulation tool.
3. Do not remove or withhold sensory supports as discipline. Students should not lose access to movement, sensory tools, or calm-down/quiet spaces because of their behaviors. Let's reiterate that these are support tools and strategies. They are not “privileges” to be taken away.
4. Use discipline separately when appropriate. There will be instances when a student's behavior warrants disciplinary action. When this occurs, it should be logical and directly related to the negative behavior that has violated school rules, safety, expectations, or code of conduct. It should hold the student accountable for their choices and not be disguised as a break. There may be instances where both a break and discipline are needed together. In this case, the student may need to regulate before teachers or staff can implement discipline policies or consequences that are logical and appropriate.
How Parents Can Advocate for Their Child
If you suspect sensory breaks are being misused at school, here are suggestions on what you can say or ask the school team:
“Is their break being used as a support or as a consequence/punishment?”
“What data do you have showing the student benefits from taking breaks?”
“I’d like to clarify break details and procedures within their IEP/504 plan that includes purpose, duration, frequency, location, adult support”
“How are teachers trained to differentiate breaks for sensory regulation vs discipline/punishment?”
“Can a break be supervised by an adult trained in co-regulation?”
Clear, documented language prevents misuse and holds schools accountable for providing the needed support to your child.
To Wrap All of This Up:
Breaks can be powerful supports when implemented appropriately and viewed as a means of supporting students rather than controlling students. Sensory breaks foster regulation, help students build necessary skills, and support inclusion. They can help improve students' focus and attention, provide emotional regulation through managing sensory input, reduce stress and anxiety, increase self-regulation skills, and create a more conducive learning environment not just for that student, but for the learning of the class as a whole.
