Sensory Integration Education

This month's SI Resources blog is focused on transitions and routines. 

With the new academic year already in place for most of us, this can be an exciting time for children and teens. However, for those with sensory processing issues, transitioning to a new school or college or starting back after a long summer break and adjusting to a new routine can bring a number of challenges that make it difficult for these individuals to succeed in a school or college setting. 

In this month’s SI Resources blog, we’ve put together articles, guides, books and products to help better inform ourselves of how we can support these individuals navigate these transitions and changes in routines.

Welcome to Year 7: Ideas to Support Transition for Autistic Students – this is an informative read from SecEd on how the transition from primary to secondary school can be particularly challenging for autistic students due to new academic expectations, social dynamics and sensory environments. These changes can lead to heightened anxiety, stress, and difficulties in adjusting to the new setting. This article identifies critical focus areas for secondary schools during this transition period and provides practical strategies that promote an inclusive, supportive environment for autistic students.

Top Strategies to Help Autistic Girls Make the Smooth Transition Back to School - transitioning back to school after a long break can be tricky for neurodivergent children and young people, particularly when it's a new school year with many unknown factors. This blogpost, written by a neurodivergent blogger, contains helpful transition tips for autistic girls to go back to school at the start of a new school year.

Tackling School Refusal Starts with Supporting Neurodiverse Kids - this article highlights the importance of supporting neurodivergent children when addressing school refusal.

What is Dysgraphia? - some children with sensory differences can also present with dysgraphia. Dysgraphia is a brain-based learning disability that impairs writing ability and fine motor skills. It is a learning disability that affects both children and adults and interferes with practically all aspects of the writing process, including spelling, legibility, word spacing and sizing, and expression. This informative blog post from ADDitude blogpost discusses the symptoms of dysgraphia and how it can impact daily life.

8 Sensory Strategies to Manage After-School Meltdowns – this free course is a useful resource to share with parents or carers of sensory children you may be working with. Available to watch on the Sensory Help Now website. Occupational Therapist and Advanced Sensory Integration Practitioner, Jessica Kirton, shares easy and practical strategies to support children who bottle up their sensory integration difficulties all day at school and then melt down as soon as they are safely home. The course sets out quick and easy strategies for the first hour after coming home from school.

Books and Product Ideas

My Senses Are Like Cups

Written by Clare Ward, a Speech and Language Therapist, and James Galpin, a chartered Developmental Psychologist, this new book is ideal for helping children aged 7+ better understand sensory differences. 

Thinking about our senses as being like cups where everything we see, hear, feel, smell, touch, and taste as we move about is like water going into our cups, encourages children to explore and develop ways to manage sensory overload and feeling under-stimulated with quirky cartoons that visually illustrate the approach.

Autism, Identity and Me

This workbook* will help children aged 10+ and young people (and the adults working with them) develop a positive understanding of their autistic identity. Highly structured and visual, the workbook is broken down into key sections such as 'Interests and focus', 'Masking', 'Emotions and energy levels' and 'My autistic identity statement'.

Content has been shaped by autistic advisors and contributors, with first-hand experiences of young people woven throughout. 

Educating and Supporting Autistic Girls

This practical book* shines a light on the insights, opinions and experiences of autistic girls and women, providing a rich insight into school life from an autistic perspective. It explores the difficulties and disadvantages that autistic girls can face in educational settings and offers guidance on how to best support them, with a wealth of strategies reflecting good practice in the field of autism and education.

The book also contains a broad range of worksheets and activities on key issues and includes new sections on anxiety, masking, home life, social media, gender and sexual identity.

Feelings Fan

This feelings communication fan is a simple way for children to express how they are feeling emotionally or how their sensory environment is affecting them.

Ideal for children with non-verbal autism or other communication difficulties and suitable for Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 and 2. Emotion symbols include: worried, excited, scared, and confused.

ARK Brick Stick® Chewable Pencil Toppers

These chewable pencil toppers are a safe solution for children who need to chew. Chewing can be a very effective way to help calm, self-regulate, and focus, so these chewy tools are a perfect pairing for school, homework and more. As an added bonus, they also add extra weight to the pencil for increased hand awareness and to help the pencil comfortably rest in the web space between the thumb and pointer finger.

Each topper is solid on one end for chewing, hollow on the opposite end to conveniently fit over standard #2 pencils, and textured all around for extra tactile input. The front side features large bumps, with small bumps on the back side for varied sensory input. 

Flexible Circle

This flexible and elastic circle is ideal for group sessions to help children learn more about how to move their bodies in space in relation to others and allows them to create new social bonds with the group. 

Children in the circle feel the pressure of the material on their own bodies and the movements of others inside. The closed space of the circle gives a feeling of security.

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NB: Sensory Integration Education is not responsible for the content on external websites. Sharing a resource does not imply endorsement by Sensory Integration Education.