Sensory Integration, Participation & Wellbeing
Our New Three-part Sensory Project Click & Connect Workshop series
Our Mental Health & Wellbeing course has been part of The Sensory Project learning offer for many years. This new workshop series is its successor, bringing together what we have learned from practice, lived experience, research, teaching and the many conversations that have grown through our community.
Seeing Differently is for anyone who wants to understand more about how sensory integration contributes to participation, wellbeing and everyday life.
It is designed for teachers, SENCOs, nurses, social workers, healthcare assistants, support workers, carers, allied health professionals and others supporting people who may experience neurodiversity, trauma, disability, mental health needs or sensory differences.
You do not need to be a sensory integration specialist.
You simply need to be curious about people, participation and the sensory foundations that help make everyday life possible.
Why the senses matter
Participation has building blocks.
Before we can learn, connect, play, work, communicate, eat, sleep, move, care for ourselves or take part in the things that matter to us, our brain and body are continually receiving, organising and responding to sensory information.
The senses are not an optional extra in understanding participation. They are part of its foundation.
But this workshop is not about explaining everything through a sensory lens.
It is about adding a sensory integration lens to what you already know, helping you see more of the whole Person.
We will encourage you to pause and become curious about questions such as:
- What am I actually observing?
- What might the person be experiencing in their body?
- What is happening in the environment?
- What are the sensory and motor demands of this activity?
- How might previous experiences, trauma or deprivation be shaping what we notice?
- What is happening within the relationship?
- What could support participation here and now?
Sometimes, when we change what we notice, our understanding changes too.
And that may change what we do next.
Not a new role. Another lens.
Seeing Differently is not designed to create a single nominated “sensory person” or “inclusion facilitator” within a school, ward, team, or service.
We believe sensory understanding is most powerful when it becomes part of a shared language.
A teacher remains a teacher. A nurse remains a nurse. A social worker remains a social worker. A healthcare assistant remains a healthcare assistant. A support worker remains a support worker.
This learning sits alongside and enhances the knowledge, relationships, experience and professional responsibilities people already bring to their role.
Different people will use the learning differently, depending on their role, experience, and scope of practice.
The aim is not for everybody to become a sensory integration specialist.
The aim is for more people to know what to notice, what to ask, what they might safely and ethically do within their role, and when more specialist assessment or support may be needed.
The Learning Journey
The workshop is divided into three connected parts, a mix of blended learning completed anytime 24/7, with 3 planned tutor groups to embed that learning in everyday practice.
Part 1: MAKING SENSE
How Brain, Body & Senses Shape Participation
We begin with the foundations of sensory integration.
You will explore where sensory integration theory comes from, how our sensory systems work together, and why the relationship between brain, body, sensory experience and regulation matters for participation in everyday life.
Through lived experience, reflection and practical tools including Sensory Ladders®, we begin to think about ourselves and the people we support as sensory beings.
Part 2: SHAPED BY EXPERIENCE
Development, Deprivation, Trauma & Sensory Patterns
Our bodies and brains develop through experience.
In Part 2 we explore how sensory experiences contribute to development across the lifespan, and consider what can happen when those experiences are restricted, inaccessible, overwhelming, unpredictable or unsafe.
We will consider neurodiversity, disability, deprivation, trauma, sensory deprivation and the ways our bodies may learn to respond to experience.
Using tools such as Sensory Spiders™ and Trigger Spiders™, we will explore sensory patterns with curiosity, without assuming that a single behaviour or response has a single explanation.
Part 3: SEE THE PATTERN. SHAPE THE SUPPORT.
From Observation to Participation
In Part 3 we bring the learning together.
We begin with observation rather than interpretation, learning to notice patterns before rushing to label or explain them.
Through Sensory Grids™, case based learning and practical examples, we consider what the sensory information might mean alongside everything else we know about the person.
Then we ask the important question:
- What might we do differently to support participation?
Not necessarily by changing the person, but by considering the environment, the activity, the sensory experience and the relationships around them.
Think PEAR 🍐
Across the workshop, we will introduce the PEAR lens:
- Person
- Environment
- Activity
- Relational Response
PEAR is not another label, job title or professional status.
It is a way of helping us look again.
Rather than asking only “What is wrong?” or “Why are they behaving like this?”, PEAR helps us broaden the picture.
- What do we know about this person?
- What is happening in this environment?
- What does this activity require from the body and brain?
- What is happening in the relationship and in our response?
- Where does sensory integration fit within that whole picture?
- Our hope is that, over time, PEAR becomes a simple shared prompt for curiosity:
- “Have we looked at this through PEAR?”
Learning through connection
Seeing Differently is part of our Click & Connect offer because we believe learning about people cannot happen through information alone.
The series brings together self-directed learning with practical tools, lived experience, case examples and facilitated tutor conversations.
You will have opportunities to reflect, ask questions, explore different perspectives and connect the learning to your own setting and role.
Case examples can also help bring the same core learning to life across different contexts, including education, mental health, social care, learning disability, neurodiversity and support across the lifespan.
Who is this for?
Seeing Differently may be particularly useful for people working in:
- schools, colleges and education
- mental health services
- health and social care
- learning disability services
- neurodiversity services
- trauma-informed services
- inpatient and community settings
- dementia and older adult services
- voluntary and third sector organisations
- family and carer support
You do not need previous specialist sensory integration training to begin.
What you need is an interest in people, the building blocks of participation, and how sensory experience may be one important part of understanding the whole picture.
Seeing Differently
- Imagine a school where sensory understanding does not sit with one nominated member of staff.
- Imagine a ward where sensory thinking does not disappear when the occupational therapist goes home.
- Imagine a support service where distress prompts curiosity before assumption.
- Imagine teams where sensory integration becomes part of a shared language for thinking about people and participation.
Different roles. Different scopes of practice. Different levels of knowledge and expertise.
A shared willingness to look again.
Seeing Differently is about making sensory integration knowledge more accessible, while keeping clear boundaries between workshop-level learning and specialist Ayres Sensory Integration training.
Because sometimes, before we change what we do, we need to change what we notice.
SEEING DIFFERENTLY
Sensory Integration, Participation & Wellbeing
Not a new role. Another lens.