EmphaSIze June 2026: Sensory Integration and Older Adults
By Sensory Integration Education, 1st June 2026
Welcome to the June issue of EmphaSIze where this month we're focusing on Sensory Integration and Older Adults.
Across a woman’s lifespan, sensory processing is not static but influenced by significant hormonal shifts that can shape how the nervous system interprets and responds to the world. During key life stages such as puberty, pregnancy, perimenopause and menopause, fluctuations in oestrogen and progesterone can affect sensory thresholds, interoceptive awareness, emotional regulation and overall sensory integration. These changes may heighten sensitivity to sound, touch, light or internal bodily signals, or in some cases reduce the ability to register them clearly.
In this month’s newsletter, you'll find useful information, articles, research, books and product ideas to help us better understand and support the girls and women we work with as they experience these hormonal changes.
Would you like to write a guest blog?
Do you have a sensory-related story you’d like to share with the SIE community? If you have clinical experience, research insights or a perspective on sensory processing that would resonate with a health professional audience, we would love to hear from you!
Find out how to contribute here →
News & Features
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Our next live webinar on 12th May, 'Neurodivergence and the Perimenopause', will spotlight the often-overlooked impact of menopausal hormonal changes on neurodivergent individuals.
Menopause brings significant shifts in oestrogen levels, which can affect cognitive, emotional, and sensory processing. For neurodivergent adults, this can mean heightened noise sensitivity, tactile defensiveness, fatigue, sleep disruption, and reduced executive functioning. Many find that familiar coping strategies suddenly become less effective, impacting daily routines, work, and overall wellbeing.
Led by Dr Gillian Rogers, founder of Autism Arena, the session combines clinical expertise with lived experience. A former GP with a qualification in autism, Dr Rogers also draws on her perspective as a parent carer of autistic and neurodivergent children and her own neurological experience following a stroke. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the menopause–neurodivergence–sensory connection, alongside tools to better recognise neurodivergent characteristics, understand the neuro-endocrine system, and support clients through this transition.
This timely session offers valuable insight into a life stage that remains widely under-recognised in neurodivergent care.
Find out more and book your place here.
Do Sensory Differences Change as We Age?
Written by Laura Spence, midwife, Sensory Inclusion Facilitator and Founder of NeuroNatal Academy CIC, this month's guest blog highlights an important and often overlooked perspective on pregnancy, exploring how hormonal changes can significantly alter sensory processing and, in turn, impact wellbeing, cognition, and daily functioning.
By connecting sensory processing with attention, regulation and the realities of maternity environments, Laura’s blog brings clarity to experiences many struggle to articulate. It also provides a hopeful, practical lens, showing how small, sensory-informed changes can make a meaningful difference. This is a valuable read for both parents-to-be and professionals supporting them.
Meet Mike - A 85 Year Old with Sensory Processing Differences
Our Day in the Life of…. stories illustrate how people living with sensory differences across the lifespan may find those differences impacting their day-to-day lives.
Here we focus on 85-year-old Mike who has sensory processing differences and has recently moved into a care home after a number of falls at his home left his family concerned that he was no longer able to manage independently.
Mike’s mobility has also declined to the point where he needs a wheelchair for longer distances and going out in the community.
Read Mike’s story in full here to find out more how difficulties with sensory processing and integration can affect older adults in everyday life.
Enhancing Quality of Life in Care Homes with a Sensory Informed Approach
Sensory processing involves the way our brains receive, interpret, and respond to sensory information from the environment and our own bodies.
Published on our sister site National Sensory Network, this insightful article explores how hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle can significantly impact sensory processing, leading to varied sensory experiences.
Understanding Sensory Processing in Older Adults
Discover how sensory processing changes as we age and the impact this can have on daily life, communication, balance and overall wellbeing. Published on our sister site National Sensory Network, this insightful article explores the sensory challenges older adults may experience, from changes in vision and hearing to difficulties with touch, movement, and balance, while also highlighting the increased sensory complexities linked to dementia.
Learn how carers, families, and healthcare professionals can create more supportive environments through simple adaptations, sensory-informed approaches, and tailored interventions that help older adults feel safer, more comfortable, and better connected to the world around them.
Also see:
Council poised to launch new autism strategy for all ages
Chirk Court Care Home Receives £5,000 from Cadbury Foundation Towards Creation of a Sensory Room
What your handwriting could reveal about your dementia risk
NHS dementia patients ‘mislabelled as aggressive and violent’, medics warn
Dementia-designed care homes: What to look for and how to find one
How The Way You Walk Could Be an Early Sign of Dementia
Upcoming Courses and Webinars
We have a number of live webinars that take place throughout the year covering a broad range of SI-related topics. Below is a snapshot of webinars happening in the first few months of 2026 or click here to view a summary of all the upcoming live events.
All these webinars are available to you by signing up to our Lifelong Learning Programme or can be purchased as individual courses:
- Cortical Visual Impairment and Sensory Integration – 15 June 2026
- PhD Research Update: Supporting Parents of Children with Sensory Processing Differences – 2 July 2026
- Sensory Focused Assessment to Drive Functional Outcomes: From Impact Statements to Goal Attainment – 14 July 2026
- Designing ASI Spaces – 8 September 2026
- Interoception and Developmental Trauma - 24 September 2026
SI Research Digest
Below are links to the most popular sensory integration and sensory processing research papers and findings published on our social channels last month:
This recent study found that visual hypersensitivity or over responsivity, encompassing discomfort to brightness, patterns, flicker, and complex environments, is elevated across a wide range of neurodivergent, neurological, and mental health conditions.
In a large-scale self-report study (N=2,582), all 11 groups demonstrated increased sensitivity across four identified subtypes. While these factors were broadly transdiagnostic, their relative profiles revealed both shared and condition-specific patterns. Sensitivity to intense visual environments was particularly pronounced across autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and dyspraxia, with similar trends observed in fibromyalgia and PPPD. In contrast, migraine and synaesthesia showed distinct response patterns.
Overall, findings support a transdiagnostic model of visual hypersensitivity, suggesting shared underlying vulnerabilities in perceptual processing that extend across traditional diagnostic boundaries.
Older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may face a greater risk of falls due to challenges with balance, sensory processing and cognitive-motor coordination. While research findings are mixed, evidence suggests that changes in postural control and dual-task performance could play a role. More research is needed to better understand these factors and improve fall prevention strategies for healthy aging
This new scoping review synthesises evidence on gardening and garden-based interventions for people living with dementia and their caregivers. Across 32 studies, findings indicate consistent improvements in psychosocial wellbeing, mood, and behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, with mixed evidence for cognitive outcomes and stronger support for preventive effects. Caregivers reported reduced psychological distress and enhanced perceived social support. Proposed mechanisms include meaningful engagement, sensory stimulation, identity reinforcement, and restoration of purpose.
Autistic individuals requiring inpatient mental health support are typically admitted to mainstream services with reasonable adjustments; however, their lived experiences remain under-explored. Semi-structured interviews with ten UK-based autistic adults, analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, identified four key themes relating to identity, sensory and environmental challenges, adaptive coping, and lack of autonomy.
Overall, participants reported predominantly negative inpatient experiences, characterised by insufficient autism-specific understanding, sensory overload, unpredictability, and perceived powerlessness. Findings underscore the need for enhanced autism training for inpatient staff, systematic improvements to sensory environments, and the co-production of care practices with experts-by-experience to ensure meaningful and effective adjustments.
Resources
Take a look at our books and product recommendations for this month:
The Cola Bottle Girl: A Guide to High-Masking Autistic Girls: Written by a mum of three autistic children, this book is a warm, honest, and practical guide to understanding high-masking autistic girls. Many autistic girls learn to mask from a young age, copying others, rehearsing conversations, and hiding their struggles just to fit in. On the outside, they appear to cope. On the inside, they are overwhelmed. This book shares real-life experiences alongside simple, supportive strategies to help you better understand your child and what she is going through.
The Autism-Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Birth and the Fourth Trimester: Written by autistic researcher Dr Aimee Grant, this useful guide interweaves advice from autistic pregnant people and registered midwives to answer questions on being an autistic pregnant person.
The dip-in-dip-out format provides an easy-to-navigate exploration into sensory overwhelm, managing demanding medical appointments, navigating being a new parent and everything in between. There are also QR codes to informative YouTube videos throughout and downloadable materials, including birth plans, to help support you in navigating your journey.
Menopause and ADHD - How to navigate hormone flux and neurodivergence: Navigating menopause can be challenging for any woman, but for those with ADHD, the experience can feel like a bomb has gone off in their life. Due to be released on 14 May and written by Dr Helen Wall, a GP with years of experience advocating for women, this book is the ultimate guide to understanding how hormones may influence women with ADHD – and how ADHD impacts how perimenopause lands for them, empowering them to take charge of their well-being through this period of hormonal challenge.
Autistic Menopause: A Guide to the Menopausal Transition for Autistic People and those Supporting Them: Written by Dr. Rachel Moseley, who is autistic herself, and Professor Julie Gamble-Turner, who has personal experience of the menopause, this book draws on the powerful voices of sixteen autistic experts, Chapters cover everything from understanding why being autistic will affect a woman’s experience of the menopause to advice about finding the strategies that work and seeking help. Readers will learn how the menopause can cause changes to emotions, attention and memory as well as affect things like sensory issues, masking and communication. The book highlights tools to manage changes effectively and, most importantly, provides reassurance that autistic women going through the menopause are not alone.
AuDHD Women: Navigating Life After Late Discovery: A Compassionate Guide to Living with Autism and ADHD: This isn’t a clinical textbook but a warm, practical companion for women who have spent years masking, people-pleasing or pushing through burnout. Inside you’ll learn: what Autism + ADHD (AuDHD) really looks like in women; how traits like masking, sensory overwhelm, emotional intensity, and executive dysfunction actually show up day-to-day; the truth about burnout, meltdown cycles, and why rest is not optional; routines and regulation strategies that work with your brain, not against it; parenting with AuDHD; and advocating for yourself in a neurotypical world.
Soft & Snuggly Tactile Weighted Lap Pad: This lap pad is designed to apply calming deep pressure to the lap, upper legs, hips or pelvis whilst the user is sitting down. The weight is provided by plastic beads that mould themselves to the body or legs. They are sewn into small individual cells within the durable polycotton inner lining for additional strength and comfort. The user experiences the deep pressure from the weight of the Lap Pad which has a calming effect helping attention span, reducing excessive fidgeting and easing anxiety.
The Menopause Positivity Planner: This planner has been designed to help women embrace their menopause with optimism; feeling prepared, empowered and positive about what comes next. It combines coaching exercises and coping strategies as well as monthly symptom and mood trackers to help women spot patterns and advocate for themselves with their GP. It also has 12 weeks of daily journaling space to reflect on the positives from the day and prompts to help focus on gratitude and prioritising women’s needs and their emotional wellbeing.
Discounts & Special Offers
Please quote DISCOUNT CODE SIE20 for 10% discount on Southpaw orders up to £100. Orders must be placed by phone on +44 (0) 115 718 0020.
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Best wishes,
Sensory Integration Education
NB: Sensory Integration Education is not responsible for the content on external websites. Sharing a resource does not imply endorsement by Sensory Integration Education.
