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This teacher needs your help!

Ms. Varvi from Fayetteville, NC is requesting educational kits & games through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

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Fully Funded

Ms. Varvi's classroom raised $684

Regulate to Educate: Empowering Students Through Sensory Support

Help me give my students sensory outlets for a world that causes overloa at every turn. My students are Autistic and the world is a challenge at every turn. They need tools that help them navigate the world.

Classroom photo
Ms. Varvi profile photo
Ms. Varvi E.E. Miller Elementary School
Fayetteville, NC Grades PreK-2

My Project

Working with students with profound and extensive support needs in an autistic classroom brings a unique kind of joy. They offer a rare, unfiltered authenticity that transforms how you view communication, progress, and connection. These students don't perform for social approval. When they experience delight it is genuine, deep, and unreserved. Their behavior is transparent communication. They wear their feelings on their sleeve, which forces you to be a more perceptive, empathetic, and patient educator. With these students, progress isn't measured in standardized scores; it's measured in a moment of self-regulation, a newly shared glance, a second of sustained focus, or a independent request. These milestones feel monumental.

Sensory tools are vital for these students because they bridge the gap between an overwhelming internal experience and the external environment, giving them the physiological stability needed to learn, communicate, and thrive.

For students with Level 3 autistic support needs, daily learning requires navigating a sensory nervous system frequently in distress. These individuals experience the environment through heightened states of neurological strain—either operating as hyper-responsive or hypo-responsive. Without appropriate accommodations, the classroom becomes an environment of constant physiological overload rather than a place of growth.

Increasing Availability for Learning: A student actively seeking sensory input is using all their energy to regulate their body, leaving zero cognitive capacity for task completion. Dedicated tools such as wobble seating safely satisfy these physiological drives, freeing cognitive bandwidth for instruction.

Unlocking Functional Communication: Regulation must precede communication. A dysregulated student cannot process receptive language or express complex thoughts. By establishing baseline sensory safety, students become significantly more receptive to functional expression.

Fostering Independence & Self-Advocacy: Beyond immediate comfort, sensory equipment provides a framework for lifelong autonomy. Teaching a student to independently recognize dynamic overload shifts them from passive support recipients to active self-advocates.

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Nearly all students from low‑income households

15 students impacted 4 donors
Ms. Varvi E.E. Miller Elementary School Grades PreK-2

This project will directly impact historically underfunded classrooms.

Fayetteville, NC View local requests

Nearly all students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

15 students impacted 4donors

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TEACHERS, FEELING INSPIRED?

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Sumsoltic Busy Board,Montessori Toys for 1-3 Year Old Boys & Girls,Travel Educational Learning Activities for Toddlers,Sensory Toy for Kids with Autism (Busy Board v3) • Amazon Business $39.99 6 $239.94
Cheer Collection Crash Pad - Crash Pads for Kids Sensory with Washable Cover - Sensory Room Must Haves - Crash Mat (3' x 4' FT) • Amazon Business $109.99 1 $109.99
HAPPYMATY Sensory Spinning Chair for Kids, Sensory Toys | 23"L×21"W Thickened Panel, ADHD Chair Encourages Active Play, Improves Coordination And Focus,Gift For Ages 3+,Easy Assembly • Amazon Business $49.99 2 $99.98
YHZAN Learn to Tie Your Shoes Dressing Board Montessori Mobile Sensory Board Travel Therapist Life Skills Development Toy - Zip,Button,Snap,Buckle,Lace & Tie for Preschool Toddler 3-8 Years Old | Dressing Frame Shoe-Tying Practice for Kids Sensory Basic Life Skill Development For 4 5 6 Years Old • Amazon Business $18.04 3 $54.12

Materials cost

$504.03

Vendor shipping charges

 FREE

Sales tax

 $39.31

3rd party payment processing fee

$7.56

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$580.90

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$102.51

Total project goal

$683.41

How we calculate what's needed

Total project goal

 $683.41

3 Donors

-$633.41

Donations toward project cost

-$538.40

Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$95.01

match offer

-$50.00

Match offer toward project cost

-$42.50

Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

-$7.50

Still needed View calculationHide calculation

 $0.00

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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Project Activity

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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Varvi and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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