My Journey into Sensory Integration

I am a paediatric occupational therapist with experience working in both Ireland and the U.K. I have worked predominately with children with ASD, DCD, ADHD, CP, as well as babies with developmental difficulties.

My journey to SI started in 2012. At this time I was working as a paediatric occupational therapist in the NHS in London both in the community and in a child development centre. The number of referrals to our department for children with sensory processing difficulties, many who also had a diagnosis of ASD, was significantly increasing and I started to develop an interest in this area. I completed my SI1 module in 2013 and from there I wanted to learn more about this approach. I worked through the modular pathway to become an advanced practitioner in 2016. I completed the MSc in Sensory Integration in 2018.

How I use SI in my practice

Most recently I have worked in Dublin in a clinic for children with a range of disabilities, seeing children in a clinic setting, in mainstream schools and in a special school for children with a primary physical disability. I am in the process of moving back to London where I will initially work in the private sector. I am also an ementor and a clinical mentor on the SI modular pathway. I use SI principles to guide my clinical reasoning when working with children, their families and their schools. My SI skills enable me to assess, provide intervention and give strategies to children with sensory integration difficulties and helps me to explain these difficulties, which are often misunderstood, to these children’s families and schools.

Why I am committed to supporting others to study SI

I thoroughly enjoyed developing my SI knowledge and skills when working through the modules and found the support from the experts in SI community invaluable. I am passionate about SI and the positive changes it can bring to people's lives. I am also excited about the research that continues to be explored and developed to teach us more about this approach. I really enjoy mentoring and supporting students as they learn about SI and love hearing about people's therapy backgrounds and how they use SI in practice. I am looking forward to ementoring the new cohort of students this term.