

By Kassidy Arena and Arthur Jones , Nebraska Public Media News
Omaha,NE-Stephanie Skogseth walked into Sensory Suite Spot after a long day, which started when her kids woke her up at 4 a.m.
Her 5-year-old son, Harrison, has been getting haircuts at the salon suite since it opened five months ago.
“He loves cars and trains…the most amazing memory that I’ve ever seen. And yeah, he’s just this happy, energetic boy. And such a loving, loving boy as well,” Skogseth said.
Harrison was diagnosed with autism two years ago, so the sensations caused by techniques at a typical salon can be overwhelming for him. At Sensory Suite Spot, he can get his haircut at his speed.
Autism spectrum disorder is a neurological and developmental disorder that can affect people in different ways: like how they interact with others, learn and behave.
Skogseth described how any parent would feel nervous when their child is having a meltdown from overstimulation, but it gets even more nerve-wracking while at a salon.
“You’re having that with everyone watching you while you’re trying to help your kid to make sure they don’t get hurt while they have a razor and scissors,” Skogseth added.
At Sensory Suite Spot, kids like Harrison get personalized haircuts that best suit their needs. They get their own room away from others, play with fidget toys and can watch TV. Sensory cuts are around 30 minutes, compared to the average haircut of about 20 minutes. Sensory cuts are also no extra cost. About 70% of the haircuts at the salon suite are sensory cuts.

“What I appreciate is the fact that they understand that and they never once make me feel guilty about it. They never once make me feel like ‘control your child’ or anything like that,” Skogseth said.
When Harrison had his first day of school, she brought him to get a haircut at a typical salon. But they couldn’t work with him to make sure he had a nice-looking head of hair. So she had to bring him to yet another salon to fix it. Although it was a lot of work to get what seems like a simple service, Skogseth said “It’s the first day of school. You want your kid to look their best for the first day of school.”
Now after having found Sensory Suite Spot, Skogseth no longer needs to salon hop.
Harrison has severe language delays and communicates in his own way, but Skogseth said when she takes his photo after a haircut, he offers a small smile for the camera.

That’s one reason why owner Juanita Incontro decided to open the salon. She got the idea from her sister Claudia Delgado Aguero, who had tried to offer sensory-accessible haircuts at other salons. But she was always eventually asked to leave since her clients were considered disruptive.
“We noticed that there wasn’t a space, a safe space for her that she could run her business out of, for any of her clients that have sensory needs,” Incontro said. “As her big sister, I decided to open up our own salon suite that would cater to anybody with sensory needs.”
Incontro even sees clients travel from as far as Sioux City, Iowa to visit Sensory Suite Spot.
“Unfortunately due to people not having a true understanding, sometimes lack of compassion and being willing to educate themselves, [Claudia] really had to kind of find a different way to be able to continue to serve her clients,” Incontro said.
Incontro said the endeavor is so important to her and her husband, that 100% of the funding for the small business came from their savings.
“Honestly it’s worth it, just because I know that it’s going to something that is so important and very much needed,” Incontro said.
Incontro and her family moved to the U.S. from Mexico.
“I’m repaying my parents for their sacrifices and bringing us to live the American Dream,” she said.
The mother of five said before she learned about sensory-accessible services, she took bringing her kids for their haircut for granted.

Although the salon is one of few fully sensory-accessible ones in the region, it reflects a national trend to make everyday life more accessible for neurodivergent individuals. Kaelynn Partlow is a registered behavior technician at Project Hope Foundation. She is an autism advocate, online influencer and a published author. Partlow’s book Life on the Bridge: linking my world to yours as an autistic therapist is about filling in the knowledge gaps between autistic people like her, their families, and the professionals that support them.
“What I really want is to help people. I want to provide them actionable tools and strategies that actually make a difference in their life, something that they can pick up and read and do something about immediately regardless of what resources they have available,” Partlow said.
She added she has seen more organization attempt to acknowledge and serve sensory needs, which can be different for different people. So what may work for one person, may not work for another.
Although Sensory Suite Spot has many children as clients, Incontro wants to be clear they will serve clients of all ages. That’s something Partlow wanted to offer clarification on with autism.
“We’ve still kind of maintained this untrue, I guess stigma, that autism goes away after a person turns 18. I like to tell people that you don’t grow out of autism, you grow into it. Which is just to say that you become more familiar with your needs,” she said. “You become more familiar with what tools you need to be able to kind of survive in this world that isn’t necessarily built for autistic people in mind.”
Meg Raby works in the same field as Partlow as the partners manager, as well as a sensory trainer, for the nonprofit KultureCity. Like Partlow, she is also autistic.
According to Raby, KultureCity’s goal is to provide sensory accessibility and acceptance for those with invisible disabilities such as PTSD, autism and dementia.
She said it’s important to understand the difference between sensory-friendly, which is a temporary accommodation, and sensory-accessible, a permanent one.
“By providing sensory accessibility and inclusion 24/7, you’re pretty much just giving them something naturally that they need to function at their optimal levels or at our optimal levels,” Raby said. “And you’re not putting like a time frame or limitations on that…I mean that is inclusion.”
Partlow added even though haircuts may seem like a small example of sensory accessibility, places like Sensory Suite Spot, that offer adaptable, flexible services, are fulfilling a larger need.
“You know there’s a handful of folks who are not able to leave their homes without certain sensory accommodations and without that, they will not be able to participate. So it’s hugely important for just inclusion and access purposes,” she said.

Heather Jensen is a part-time hair stylist at Sensory Suite Spot, she cuts Harrison’s hair. Jensen has been friends with sisters Incontro and Delgado Aguero for decades, and when Jensen heard Incontro was opening Sensory Suite Spot, she offered to be a stylist.
Since there is no available formal training when it comes to sensory accessible haircuts, Incontro and Delgado Aguero had to train Jensen on the job.
“I would always, you know, blow dry over the shoulders, get the hair off you. If you’re itchy, spray the water on your hair,” Jensen said. “And so there was a couple instances that evening where maybe a child was delicate to the loud sounds, and so they helped by kind of stepping in to say, hey, hey, think about this. Maybe don’t use the dryer this time. We have towels to dry them off or to dust them off.”
Jensen had to change some regular habits she had learned in her formal cosmetology training.
“Claudia showed me, because she was there to help guide me, to see how I could, you know, handle just different sensitivities,” Jensen said. “And she showed me to spray the water into my hands, rather than spraying on their hair, because, again, some children might be thrown off by that or not like that feeling.”
Skogseth said her family experiences challenges just like any other, although Harrison’s might be a little different. Advocate Kaelynn Partlow’s main bit of advice for parents like Skogseth is to keep advocating, keep encouraging questions and communicating their children’s strengths and weaknesses. Skogeth said she has no plans to stop advocating for Harrison.
Skogseth added Harrison is a good big brother to his little sister, and she wants the rest of the community to see that happy side of him as opposed to just his diagnosis. She said she has learned so much from him and she feels honored and appreciative to be his mother.
“As a mom, my biggest fear with raising a child on the spectrum isn’t so much him, as bunch of other people and like making sure people can be kind to him and his differences. And to me, the way that that happens is by getting to know him because if you get to know Harrison, you get to know the special, amazing child that I see every day,” she said. “He brings so much joy and light into this world.”
The Sensory Suite Spot hopes to expand its offerings and hire more full-time stylists to make sure kids like Harrison are able to feel and look their best.