Description
Reframing School Participation through the PEAR TREE™ Lens: Maya’s Story
Understanding school participation requires looking beyond observable behaviour to consider the sensory, developmental, environmental and relational factors that may affect a young person’s ability to engage in learning and everyday school activities.
This course follows Maya’s Story, exploring how sensory processing differences, praxis challenges, school environments and adult responses can create barriers to participation that are not always immediately visible.
Through Maya’s experiences and the perspectives of her family, teachers and school staff, participants will examine how behaviour-based interpretations, such as avoidance, non-compliance or lack of motivation, can overlook underlying sensory and participation needs.
The course explores the distinction between sensory modulation and sensory discrimination, alongside the role of praxis, body awareness and motor planning in everyday school activities, including classroom learning, transitions, physical education and social participation.
Particular attention is given to the importance of parent knowledge and contextual information, including understanding the hidden effort of coping during the school day, masking, fatigue and recovery needs that may become apparent at home.
Participants will also examine how school behaviour systems, including reflection rooms and removal from lessons, may unintentionally increase distress or restrict participation when individual sensory and praxis needs are not considered.
The course concludes with the practical application of the PEAR TREE™ Lens, introducing a structured, collaborative approach to understanding the Person, Environment, Activity and Relational Response. Through case-based scenarios, participants will explore how to identify participation barriers, develop appropriate adjustments and co-produce support plans that prioritise access, dignity and belonging.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
Recognise the difference between observable behaviour and meaningful participation, identifying how sensory, environmental and relational demands may affect a young person’s school experience.
Identify the limitations of behaviour-based assumptions and labels, including how interpretations such as avoidance, non-compliance or lack of resilience may obscure underlying participation barriers.
Distinguish between sensory modulation and sensory discrimination, and explain how praxis, motor planning and body awareness can influence participation in classroom activities, physical education and school transitions.
Recognise the value of parent knowledge and contextual information, including how observations across home and school can reveal patterns of distress, masking, fatigue and recovery needs.
Examine the intended purpose and potential impact of school behaviour systems, considering how reflection rooms, removal and restrictions on support strategies may affect regulation, trust and participation.
Explore participation-focused communication and collaborative approaches, reframing deficit-based interpretations into questions that support understanding, access and individual needs.
Apply the principles of the PEAR TREE™ Lens to case-based situations, considering the Person, Environment, Activity and Relational Response, and using the TREE process to explore collaborative planning, ethical support and ongoing evaluation.
