Sensory Integration Education

Welcome to our first edition of SensorNet in 2022. It feels like a lot has happened since I last connected with you all through my editor's letter and Sensornet has gone through some big changes. You will notice we have a “new look and feel” to this edition and as the saying goes “a change is as good as a rest”. This is our first edition in this new format and as always, here in SensorNet, we are embracing change with enthusiasm. The new look and feel to our edition is designed to make it even easier for you, our readers, to access, share and read our current and past editions. You can now scroll and read our features with ease while “on the go” - be it on a phone, tablet or desktop and you can access individual feature articles more readily. We will be loading all our previous editions onto this new platform for viewing over the coming months. I invite you to look back at the content we have loaded so far in our SensorNet Archive. There have been some wonderful contributions over the years from experts in the field which continue to be relevant.

2021 was a challenging year for us all and with the ever evolving world health situation, it continues to impact many of our work practices and interventions. We catch up with Anna Willis, an occupational therapist, who reflects on how her practice has been changing and evolving post pandemic. We hope that you have all been able to connect with the SIE community over the course of last year and as we begin 2022, we hope to build our community of practice further. The Association of Sensory Integration Practice (ASIP) is one significant step towards this, with the launch of the journal club already completed. You can learn more about this within this issue, with a special feature dedicated to what the ASIP Journal Club has to offer. 

Our big interview is always a stand-out in each of our editions and this month is no different. We were privileged to be joined by Dr Heather Miller-Kuhaneck, PhD, OTR/L, Associate professor of Occupational Therapy in the College of Health Professions at Sacred Heart University, Connecticut, USA. Dr Kuhaneck has practised as an occupational therapist for over 30 years, specialising in autism and sensory integration and is one of the key figures in this field of practice. We have an additional bonus in this month's edition in that you can view the video recorded interview, as well as having the accompanying text to read. This authentic discussion is full of practical advice, research updates, inspiration and educational content. We are truly honoured to have such expert contributions to our publication. 

Staying along the track of expert contributions, Dr Varleisha Gibbs also joined us for a discussion and shared about her research and areas of practice. Dr Varleisha Gibbs PhD, OTD, OTR/L is the Vice President of Practice Engagement & Capacity Building at the AOTA and is an international lecturer, researcher and author. Her areas of expertise include neuroanatomy, self-regulation strategies across the lifespan, health disparities and paediatric therapist interventions.This conversation mainly focused on her work within the areas of the brain-gut connection to address self-regulation and sensory processing, trauma informed care and her work within the area of self regulation and mindfulness. We have a recording of this interview also available, which we hope you will enjoy listening to. 

Our new “In conversation with” feature allows you to be part of the real life conversations that happen. It deepens the experience with auditory and visual input and I know I always enjoy listening to someone speaking, sometimes more than reading. You can turn this on while you potter about at home and it captures the essence of all the wonderful conversations we have. It is a new concept to our edition and we welcome Sue Allen fresh from the SIE “The Future is Sensory” Annual Conference. As a clinician working with parents and children every day, I was really looking forward to delving into Sue’s research further and I had an opportunity to sit down for a discussion with her.  I feel Sue and I could have chatted for hours and I was so fascinated by the many messages she was relaying. I have since gone on the Occupational Performance Coaching training since this discussion and I feel it will have a profound impact on my practice. 

Our edition also features Virginia Spielmann, PhD, OTR/L and Executive Director of STAR Institute for Sensory Processing who tells us about her Ted Talk “Your sensory health matters: Here’s Why” from December 2021. What a fascinating piece she has penned. 

Practice-based features hold important value to us in SensorNet: Emer Broderick, an occupational therapist, Advanced SI practitioner tells us more about how she uses an ASI approach within her daily practice. 

We have a book review, reflections from our two student award winners, the STAR symposium summary from November 2021 and our usual research updates in the midst of other features that I will leave you to discover for yourselves.

We hope you take the time to digest this month's issue and take stock of some of the information shared for your own CPD. 

Be sure to share your favourite feature and tag us on our social media platforms on Twitter,  Instagram or Facebook.

We look forward to hearing your highlights from the edition and what you might like to hear more about in the future. If you would like to contribute to our next edition, or would be interested in hearing more about a certain topic, we extend an invitation to you to get in touch with us by emailing [email protected]

As always, we wish to thank you, our readers, for being such an engaging community and for sharing in our editions of SensorNet. 

Until next time, 

Gina Daly 

Editor