The Future is Sensory: Sensory Integration Education Annual Conference 2021
You can still access our conference through our ASIP Membership
Sensory Integration Education hosts an annual conference each November, open to all. With a lineup of UK and international highly-experienced clinicians, researchers and advocates, our goal for the SIE Annual Conference is to inform, educate, inspire and celebrate. We were thrilled that our most recent virtual conference, held in November 2021, attracted over 4,700 delegates from the global sensory community.
Free access to the 2021 Conference materials is now closed but you can still view them by joining The Association for Sensory Integration Practice.
We’ll be announcing our next conference theme and presentations in 2022. Keep an eye on our social media channels or join as a free SIE Member to receive our monthly newsletter EmphaSIze.
The Future is Sensory
SIE Annual Conference 2021: Virtual Event
Featuring keynote speakers Dr Teresa May-Benson and Dr Varleisha D. Gibbs, as well as a packed line up of presentations to dip in and out of at your convenience, this is an unmissable event is now available free of charge to our ASIP Members. Over 7 hours of online content! Join now!
Our theme this year is The Future is Sensory which encompasses the increasing awareness of sensory integration and processing difficulties as well as the increasing demand for services; research that is pushing forward our understanding of sensory difficulties and the evidence for SI interventions; and future directions for training in sensory integration.
Access these thought-provoking sessions with your ASIP Membership:
Key Note: Praxis Assessments Across the Lifespan by Dr Teresa May-Benson, ScD, OTR/L, FAOTA
Ideal for: therapists, researchers and professionals interested in praxis; everyone is welcome.
Teresa A. May-Benson, Sc.D., OTR/L, FAOTA, is a world-renowned lecturer and researcher on sensory integration. She is the author of the Adult/Adolescent Sensory History (ASH), the Gravitational Insecurity (GI) Assessment and the Test of Ideational Praxis in addition to numerous articles and book chapters on praxis, ideation, and sensory integration.
Dr May-Benson has extensive experience with children and adults with autism and a diverse clinical background having worked in private and public school settings as well as private practice. She is past chairperson of the Sensory Integration Special Interest Section of the American Occupational Therapy Association. She is the recipient of the Virginia Scardinia Award of Excellence from AOTF, The Alice S. Bachman Award from Pediatric Therapy Network, and the Catherine Trombly Award from the Massachusetts Association of Occupational Therapy.
Key Note: Raising Kids with Sensory Processing Disorder by Dr Varleisha D. Gibbs, PhD, OTD, OTR/L
Ideal for: everyone (parents and carers and professionals) who support children with sensory processing difficulties.
Dr Varleisha D. Gibbs PhD, OTD, OTR/L is the Vice President of Practice Engagement and Capacity Building at the American Occupational Therapy Association(AOTA).
Prior to joining AOTA, she served as the Scientific Programs Officer at the American Occupational Therapy Foundation. Dr Gibbs is an international lecturer, researcher, and author. Along with being a tenured associate professor, she was the inaugural chair at Wesley College’s Master’s Program in Occupational Therapy, the first in the State of Delaware. Her areas of expertise include neuroanatomy, self-regulation strategies across the lifespan, health disparities, and pediatric therapeutic interventions. Dr Gibbs founded and operated a private therapy firm for over 10 years.
Dr Gibbs began her career after receiving her baccalaureate degree in Psychology from the University of Delaware. She continued her studies in the field of Occupational Therapy receiving a Master’s of Science degree from Columbia University and a clinical doctorate from Thomas Jefferson University. Dr Gibbs completed her Ph.D. program in Health Sciences Leadership at Seton Hall University.
As an occupational therapist, Varleisha has a passion for designing strategies to support individuals in their journey to live their most independent and fulfilled lives. In addition to being a licensed occupational therapist, she is an author, renown international speaker, and expert in the areas of the neurological connections for self-regulation, sensory processing, trauma responsive care, and health and wellness.
Welcome from the SIE Chair, Rosalind Rogers
Ideal for: everyone is welcome.
A Fellow of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, senior lecturer and Fellow of her University’s Centre for Higher Education Research and Practice, Rosalind Rogers has been Chair of Sensory Integration Education since 2014.
Supporting Mothers of Children with Sensory Integration Difficulties by Sue Allen, M.Sc., B.Sc (Hons), Occupational Therapist
Ideal for: professionals who help support parents of children with sensory integration difficulties, as well as researchers; everyone is welcome.
Sue Allen is a Consultant Occupational Therapist, highly experienced clinician, lecturer and researcher, as well as a Fellow of Sensory Integration Education.
The Magic Hidden in the Sensory Projects by Joanna Grace, Sensory Engagement and Inclusion Specialist, Author, Trainer and Speaker
Ideal for: everyone (parents and carers and professionals) interested in inclusion.
Joanna Grace is a Sensory Engagement and Inclusion Specialist, Author, Trainer, TEDx Speaker and Founder of The Sensory Projects. The Sensory Projects run on the principle that with the right knowledge and a little creativity inexpensive items can become effective sensory tools for inclusion. In all of her work, Joanna seeks to contribute to a future where people are understood in spite of their differences.
Can Sensory Integration have a Role in the Multi-element Behavioural Intervention? by Ciara McGill, Bsc Hons in Occupational Therapy and Msc in Sensory Integration Therapy
Ideal for: professionals working in adult learning disability services and anyone introducing a sensory integration approach into their service; researchers; everyone is welcome.
Ciara McGill is an Advanced Practitioner Occupational Therapist in the Community Adult Learning Disability Team at The Southern Health and Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland, and an Advanced Practitioner in Sensory Integration. Ciara discusses her MSc in SI research, which was published in the British Journal of Learning Disabilities: ‘Can sensory integration have a role in multi-element behavioural intervention? An evaluation of factors associated with the management of challenging behaviour in community adult learning disability services.’
Integrating Therapy and Education by Rachael Thompson BSc, PGCE with QTS, PGCert in SI, MSc Occupational Therapy
Ideal for: therapy and education professionals; everyone is welcome.
Rachael Thompson BSc, PGCE with QTS, PGCert Sensory Integration, MSc Occupational Therapy is Head of Therapy at Cairn Education. Rachael has worked at independent specialist colleges for over 10 years in roles including Tutor, Occupational Therapist, Head of Education and Vice Principal.
Sensory Street - Update on this University of Oxford research project exploring the lives of autistic people with sensory processing difficulties using creative and immersive experiences.
Ideal for: everyone - individuals, parents and carers and professionals.
What does it mean to be an autistic person with sensory processing difficulties? How do sensory aspects of an environment impact autistic people? How can we help people learn about what sensory processing difficulties are like? These are the questions we are asking at Sensory Street, a research project at the University of Oxford. Our Wellcome Trust funded project aims to work with the autistic community in creating an immersive event to help people learn more about sensory processing difficulties in a creative and interesting way.
Auditing the Impact of Online Sensory Training by Kim Griffin, Occupational Therapist and Advanced SI Practitioner
Ideal for: everyone, in particular people who support families of children with sensory integration difficulties.
Kim Griffin, Occupational Therapist, Advanced SI Practitioner and founder of GriffinOT, has worked in Australia, Ireland and the UK and trained with Lucy Miller and Zoe Mailloux.
Yoga and Mindfulness: How Yoga Unites with Sensory Integration by Mel Campbell, Occupational Therapist and Advanced SI Practitioner
Ideal for: professionals who work with children and young people; everyone is welcome.
Mel Campbell has been an Occupational Therapist for over 20 years. During her journey, she took some time out to bring up her children and found herself studying yoga as a way of developing her own self-practice. This led her to becoming a teacher in yoga. Returning to her profession as an OT after her break, she found herself drawn to the study of sensory integration. She has always been interested in neurology and fascinated by the brain and this approach seemed to make so much sense to her. The more she studied the theory of sensory integration during her MSc in SI, the more she found her two worlds of being a yoga teacher and an advanced sensory integration practitioner merging.
Too Busy. Too Noisy. Too Bright. A Short Documentary from Sensory Friendly Solutions.
Ideal for: everyone is welcome.
This short documentary showcases real-life sensory-friendly events and locations. Learn from people who share their stories of everyday sensory challenges and from the champions in their communities offering sensory-friendly experiences.
Sensory Friendly Solutions (SFS) helps people, businesses and organisations find and adopt sensory-friendly practices. SFS creates and shares resources like the world’s first podcast about sensory challenges and solutions, over 90 blog posts, 10 downloadable eBooks, a sensory-friendly self-assessment tool for events and locations, and two audio-conferences; one for sensory-friendly and senior-friendly tourism and one for sensory-friendly dentistry.
Sensory Integration Education and Sheffield Hallam University Awards 2021 presented by Prof Chris Wigginton, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Global and Academic Partnerships, Sheffield Hallam University
Join us in celebrating the new SI Practitioner and Advanced Practitioner graduates! Professor Chris Wigginton, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Global and Academic Partnerships, Sheffield Hallam University will announce the winners of the SIE Legacy Awards. The Legacy Awards celebrate achievement and nurture talent in the sensory integration community. They are part of the SIE Legacy Project in acknowledgement of and gratitude to those who introduced Ayres Sensory Integration to the UK and Ireland in the 1970s and to those who have worked to shape training and practice since that time.
Ideal for: everyone is welcome.
BONUS CONTENT!
Research and Practice. Association of Sensory Integration Practice and the ASIP Journal Club
Ideal for: all professionals interested in sensory integration and sensory processing.
Do you still actively draw on research in your practice? How do you know what papers are worth really exploring? Are you confident in implementing your learning from new research in your daily practice? Would you like a safe space to discuss this with your peers and troubleshoot its practicalities?