Sensory Integration Education

Established in 1994, what is now Sensory Integration Education was formed by the amalgamation of the Study Group on Perception; the Sensory Integration Association; the British Institute of Sensory Integration in the UK; and the Irish Association for Sensory Integration to form the Sensory Integration Network (UK and Ireland).

Communicating good SI practice and intervention and delivering high-quality, standardised training were key drivers from the outset. The first issue of our publication SensorNet was in 1996 and this was joined by our newsletter EmphaSIze in more recent years. We launched our first website in 2002.

Our early core training events on SI theory and practice developed into university-accredited postgraduate modules and, eventually, the world’s first MSc in Sensory Integration. We are grateful to all the higher education institutions that we have partnered with over our history including the University of Liverpool; Cardiff University; Ulster University; and Sheffield Hallam University. Each new university partner has helped us to create a step-change in the development and delivery of our SI training.

A key date in the SI calendar is our annual SIE Autumn Conference which is a chance for members to hear international speakers present on topics and researchers explain the latest research, to network with peers, to celebrate the new SI Practitioner and Advanced Practitioner graduates and to present the SIE Legacy Awards. The Legacy Awards celebrate achievement and nurture talent in the sensory integration community. They are part of our Legacy Project in acknowledgement of and gratitude to those who introduced Ayres Sensory Integration to the UK and Ireland in the 1970s and to those who have worked to shape training and practice since that time.

The SIE Team celebrate the Silver Jubilee at the  2019 SIE Autumn Conference

More than 25 years on from our founding, we proudly remain a not-for-profit organisation investing surpluses back into course development, supporting early-career researchers and raising awareness of sensory integration and sensory processing difficulties.