Now, there's a new initiative that's making calm courtrooms the new norm.
Philadelphia's Family Court is pioneering a sensory room that puts neurodivergent kids first.
On the second floor sits a first of its kind room. Dimmed lights. No noise, just soothing toys.
Before this room, there were no services there for children on the spectrum that were coming to court.
"None, it was incarceration, which is sad," said Justice Kevin Dougherty with the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Justice Dougherty said the mission to educate himself and his peers became personal after the felony conviction of a 14-year-old boy.
"It was when the mother called me to the side bar that she told her child had Asperger's, that I sat there bewildered. I felt that I had been punched in the stomach. I had no concept about what Asperger's was," he said.
A new report from the CDC this month revealed one in 31 children has autism. For the last five years, Justice Dougherty worked to identify gaps in the system.
"We currently found we have close to 600 active cases each day of people with autism," he said.
Last Fall, with help of Jefferson Health, this sensory room became a reality.
"Some may gravitate here and if they want to stem, these are the motions," said Creadell Webb, Chief Diversity Equity and Inclusion Officer. "It can be soothing and calming."
And when it's time to go into the courtroom...
"This box is called the fidget box. They can feel so many things are coming at once. If they're talking and playing with this, it provides a much easier way to communicate and navigate," he said.
Courthouse staff were also trained on how to assist neurodivergent families.
"Try to recognize to some degree that a parent maybe isn't being disrespectful, that there might be something behind that and spend a little extra time, comfort, and care with that family," said Judge Walter Olszewski, Administrative Judge of the Philadelphia Family Court.
Pennsylvania is the first state in the nation to focus on making courts accessible for people with autism.
The sensory room in Philadelphia's Family Court is the extensive compared to other counties and their partnership with Jefferson set the standard for other counties to follow.