ST. Mom Surprises Her Daughter with Autism with a Dream Sensory Room. Her Sweet Reaction Says It All (Exclusive)

It started as a Christmas surprise, but for one Massachusetts mom, it quickly became something much bigger: a space where her daughter could feel calm, creative and completely herself.

When Milene Andrade shared the sweet reveal on TikTok, viewers couldn’t stop watching her 6-year-old daughter’s joy unfold in real time. In the viral video, she surprised her daughter, Khaleesi, with a pink sensory room filled with playful, soothing details, from sparking lights and a cozy tent to a keyboard, a rainbow-painted wall and a sensory chair.

“My daughter loves art and being creative so I wanted to give her a space in our home to fully express herself,” Andrade, 31, tells PEOPLE.

The clip’s text overlay read, “surprising my daughter with autism with her new sensory room,” giving viewers an instant sense of what the moment meant. Andrade’s caption revealed that this was a Christmas gift for the girl, and the heartfelt gesture immediately resonated.

For Andrade, the idea didn’t start as a big makeover plan at first. She says she initially pictured one key piece: an art table where Khaleesi could draw and create whenever inspiration hit.

But the more she searched for ideas, the more her vision expanded into something intentionally designed to meet her daughter’s needs and interests. “At first I knew I wanted to add an art table for her, then started to look up other ideas for the space and landed across ‘sensory rooms’ on TikTok,” she says.

Andrade began scrolling through content from other parents of children with autism and taking notes on what might work for her own child. “I got ideas from other autism parents and started putting ideas together based on my daughter’s interests,” she shares.

The motivation behind the room was already showing up in their daily life in a way that felt unmistakable. Andrade says Khaleesi had been drawing constantly, then asking her mom to tape her artwork all around their home.

“She was drawing and wanting me to tape all her artwork on our living room, and that’s what landed the idea of a room just for her creativity,” Andrade says. It wasn’t just about keeping the living room walls clear, but about giving her daughter a special environment built around what lights her up.

Now, the room isn’t just a gift that looks pretty on camera; it’s become part of Khaleesi’s everyday rhythm. Andrade says her daughter has made it clear just how much the space means to her.

“She has really enjoyed the room,” Andrade says. “She comes home and heads straight to her sensory [room],” she adds.

And while the room includes several playful features, Andrade says there are a couple that clearly stand out as favorites. “I believe her favorite thing in the room is the spinning chair,” she says.

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The chair isn’t just fun, it’s become a tool Khaleesi can rely on when her emotions feel big. “I noticed that when she is upset, she will go directly to the spinning chair, and that works to calm her down,” Andrade says.

Music has become another comforting anchor inside the room, giving Khaleesi a repetitive, familiar sound she can control. “She also enjoys picking a specific beat for the piano and letting it play on repeat,” Andrade says.

For Andrade, the most meaningful part of the transformation is the shift she’s now seeing at home. “We have had a lot less tantrums happening in the home,” she says, adding that the room has given her daughter a consistent place to reset.