Which Students in Your Classroom Have Unmet Sensory Needs?
By Sensory Integration Education, 22 September 2021
Students with unmet sensory needs can struggle with the school day and with managing their homework. Their behaviour can easily be misinterpreted, and misguided remedial action can make the situation worse for the student. And it’s likely that you have students with sensory differences in your classroom: a 2009 study* found that as many as 1 in every 6 children has sensory processing issues that make it hard to learn and function in school.
Amongst autistic students and SEN students, the prevalence of sensory integration or processing difficulties is even higher. Studies have found that **66% of autistic children (65-90% of autistic children, depending on the research study), and 32% of children with special education needs (who were not autistic) show definite differences in sensory behaviours. More recently, a 2020 paper*** found that sensory processing difficulties predicted executive and cognitive dysfunctions in inhibitory control, auditory sustained attention, and short-term verbal memory in autistic children within a school context.
What Are Sensory Processing or Sensory Integration Difficulties?
Sensory integration or sensory processing is how the brain and body make sense of sensory information - and this is vital to all our daily activities such as getting dressed, eating, moving around, socialising, learning and working. Children with difficulties with sensory integration or sensory processing struggle with experiencing, interpreting and reacting to information coming in from the senses.
Students with sensory integration difficulties may be hyposensitive (sensory seeking: constantly on the move, crashing around, chewing things, looking for ever more sensory input) or hypersensitive (looking to avoid sensory stimulation and becoming overwhelmed easily). And these are not discrete categories: it may vary depending on the type of sensory input and how the child is coping in that particular moment.
Sensory integration difficulties can co-occur with other diagnoses (including autism, ADHD, OCD, genetic syndromes and learning disabilities) as well as with no other diagnosis at all.
What do Sensory Integration Difficulties Look Like in the Classroom?
Children with unmet sensory needs may behave in ways which are confusing to school staff and other students. Poor awareness of the underlying sensory reasons for such behaviour may lead to these students being mislabeled as naughty, careless, picky, oversensitive, lazy, scruffy, clumsy, easily-distracted, anxious or angry and even wrongly accused of throwing tantrums.
Students with sensory difficulties may react excessively to sensory input such as bright lights, a noisy classroom, the smell of food in the school dining hall, the taste of plastic cutlery or the feel of sticky art materials. There are also internal senses that give the child information about their movement; where their body is in space and about sensations from inside the body (e.g. hunger, thirst, a racing heart). Difficulties here can lead to a student appearing clumsy; struggling with fine motor skills; being over-boisterous; finding it hard to sit still; and even trouble discerning when they are hungry, thirsty or need the toilet. Students with sensory difficulties may find transitioning from one task or place to another very unsettling.
Why Implementing the Normal Consequences for Negative Behaviours Won’t Work
Imagine the scenario where a student is fidgeting at the desk, rocking their chair back and forth, tapping on the desk, chewing their pen or constantly dropping and retrieving it. If the student is behaving this way to seek regulating (calming) sensory input then restricting them from doing it is going to make it harder for them to focus and concentrate. They will be putting all their effort into ignoring their unmet sensory needs and will have fewer resources left to focus on their work. If the consequence of continually not sitting still at their desk is a missed break time, the situation worsens as that sensory-seeking child is denied further opportunity to move.
What Helps?
Children with sensory difficulties can greatly benefit from working with a sensory integration trained therapist: usually an Occupational Therapist, Physiotherapist or Speech and Language Therapist who has received postgraduate training in sensory integration therapy.
Teachers and school staff with a better understanding of what sensory-based behaviours look like at school can make lots of small practical changes to the student’s school day and environment. Just small changes can help a student with sensory difficulties feel more comfortable and focused, better regulated to cope with different kinds of tasks and better placed to engage with classmates and staff.
How Can Teachers and School Staff Learn More About Sensory Needs?
Sensory Integration Education offers an accessibly-priced online training course for teachers and school staff which includes suggested accommodations to the school day and environment to better meet the sensory needs of students.
Introduction to Sensory Integration Difficulties For Schools
“The course made me consider pupils who are in my class that I didn’t think necessarily had sensory difficulties and it made some of the behaviours they display make more sense.” - Teacher
Format:
- Online course. Immediate access. Open to all.
- 4 hours of content using slides with voice-over, animations, videos, quizzes and many resources to download.
- Includes Certificate of Completion and CPD Points. Accredited with The CPD Standards Office.
- Only £10 GBP (30 day access) or £20 GBP (90 day access)
Overview:
- Find out why sensory integration is part of everyone’s development and learning and how it is critical to help us all to participate in daily life.
- Consider how sensory differences can affect behaviour, learning, emotions and communication.
- Learn about the neuroscience that supports the theory of sensory integration.
- Consider a range of sensory strategies and environmental adaptations that can be used to facilitate engagement in school activities.
Objectives:
- Be more knowledgeable about sensory systems and how they underpin daily life, development and learning.
- Understand how the sensory systems are affected in people with sensory integration difficulties.
- Increase your understanding of how to use individualised support strategies with people with sensory integration difficulties.
- Be more confident in identifying and making changes to the school environment to be able to positively support the sensory needs of people with sensory integration difficulties.
Five Star Reviews
This course has received the following 5 star reviews:
Interesting and Helpful
“This was a well put together presentation with lots of interactive content to help with understanding. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it both fascinating and helpful. Thank you.” - Donna Edwards
Great Detailed Introduction
“I enjoyed this course and thought it was good value for money. I found the breadth and depth of information just right. I will be recommending it to the SENCos and school staff that I work with.” - April Romney
Excellent Course
“Booked the course to confirm that I am providing a pupil with the appropriate strategies in school without access to a formal SI therapy room. The course was a refresher and boosted my professional confidence in what I am doing with special needs.” - Erna O’Neil
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