The countdown is over
Sensory Choices Checklist™ v2
Discover. Understand. Support.
We’re excited to share the revised Sensory Choices Checklist™ and Clinician’s Guidebook. Explore what a person notices, what they choose and what supports their participation, together.
Through the PEAR TREE® Lens, sensory choices stay connected to real activities, environments and relationships.
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A new edition, shaped by real lives
More room for the person.
More attention to context.
Version 2 brings inner body signals, sensory choices, everyday environments and relational responses into the same conversation. The starting point is what matters to the person, not an assumption about what should work for them.
Body signals and sensory experiences
Explore inner body signals, including interoception, alongside movement, body position, touch, taste, sound, vision and smell. Make space for uncertainty and for experiences that change.
Everyday and digital environments
Consider the places and conditions in which participation happens. Environmental and digital choices include predictability, lighting, notifications, captions and options for online participation.
Relationships, communication and access
Notice how permission, processing time, tone, pace, privacy and other people’s responses shape an experience. Choice and consent remain central throughout.
The checklist is a reflective conversation tool, not a diagnostic or standardised assessment. It does not produce a score, fixed sensory type or prescribed programme.
Learning and practical tools, together
What’s included in v2?
Guidance to begin the conversation, flexible ways to explore and record experiences, and space to agree what happens next.
Online learning
Guidance introducing the resource and its thoughtful use.
A 71-page licensed PDF
The Clinician’s Guidebook and checklist, with guidance on communication, consent, safety and use across the lifespan.
Paper and electronic checklists
Options for exploring sensory choices, with space in the paper resource for the person’s own words, experiences and notes.
Reflection, planning and review
PEAR reflection, TREE action and review, and co-produced planning pages that bring the conversation back to participation.
Explore the 12 checklist areas
Choose the areas that matter now. There is no requirement to complete every section or try any of the experiences listed.
- Inner body signals
- Choices that may help me notice and respond
- Movement and balance
- Body position, pressure and muscle work
- Touch, temperature and body boundaries
- Mouth, jaw, voice and breathing
- Taste and flavour
- Sounds
- Visual experiences
- Smells
- Environmental and digital choices
- Relational and access choices
Through the PEAR TREE® Lens
A choice is the beginning of a conversation.
A tick tells us something a person has chosen or noticed. It does not, on its own, tell us why. The PEAR TREE® Lens helps us explore what may be shaping the experience and what needs to change.
The question is not only which sensory experience someone prefers. It is what becomes possible in their everyday life.
TREE supports the next decisions through Triage, Relational intention and infrastructure, Embodied evaluation and Ethics. This keeps attention on what needs action, whether support can be delivered, what happens in real life and the person’s rights.
Person
What matters to me? What do I notice, choose or experience differently?
Environment
Where and when does it change? What helps or restricts access?
Activity
What am I trying to do? Why does it matter, and what does it ask of me?
Relational response
How do other people’s tone, pace, timing, permission and support affect the experience?
From shared understanding to everyday participation
Explore. Collaborate. Review.
The checklist is an invitation to work alongside someone, in a way that respects their communication, priorities and choices.
Begin with what matters
Start with what the person wants or needs to do. Agree which sections feel useful and how they would like to share their experiences.
Make sense of it together
Explore what changes with the place, activity, people, timing and control. Keep the person’s account distinct from observations and possible explanations.
Agree a change and review
Co-produce a small, meaningful change. Review participation, effort, pain, distress, fatigue and recovery in real life, then decide what to keep, adapt or stop.
Developed with people
New edition.
Longstanding commitment to choice.
The original checklist was developed in 2001 by occupational therapists Kathryn Smith and Angie Turner, together with people using Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust services.
People’s experiences and feedback have continued to shape its language, examples and content. Version 2 continues that conversation.
Thank you to everyone whose questions, experiences and ideas have helped this resource grow.
Across the lifespan
For the everyday lives people want to lead.
From play and learning to work, relationships, self-care, rest and community life, the starting point is the person’s participation priorities, not a diagnosis.
The guidebook supports developmentally appropriate use with infants, children, young people, adults and older adults. Questions, examples and communication should be adapted thoughtfully within the professional’s role and competence.
Families and supporters can contribute valuable knowledge while keeping the person’s own communication and choices central.
A few useful things to know
Your questions, answered.
Clear information about purpose, access and using your licensed resource.
Is this a diagnostic or standardised assessment?
No. It is a reflective conversation and clinical reasoning tool. It does not provide a diagnosis, score, sensory type or prescription, and it does not replace appropriate assessment or health review.
Completing the checklist is not an Ayres Sensory Integration® assessment or intervention.
Who is the resource for?
It supports a person and an occupational therapist or another appropriately skilled professional to explore experiences together. It can be used across health, education, social care, home, work and community settings within professional competence.
Family members, carers and other supporters may contribute when the person wants this, or through an appropriate supported decision-making or best interests process.
Do we need to complete every section?
No. Choose the sections that matter to the person and allow the time and communication support they need. They may skip any item, pause, change an answer, return later or stop. The listed experiences are conversation prompts, not instructions to try them.
Can I print pages for people I directly support?
Yes. The named licence permits you to print the handbook for your own reference and reproduce the person-facing checklist and reflection pages for people you directly support, including copies for their own records.
Keep the title, authorship, copyright notices and licence identification on permitted copies. The handbook and blank resource files must not be shared with colleagues or placed in shared collections. Each professional using the resource independently needs their own licence unless an agreed organisational licence applies.
How will I receive my licensed PDF?
Your individually named PDF is emailed to the address used at checkout within 24 hours of purchase, excluding weekends. Check your email address when ordering.
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Are team and organisational licences available?
Yes. View individual and team options, or contact our team about larger organisational licences.
Sensory Choices Checklist™ v2 is live
Ready to begin
a different conversation?
Discover what matters. Understand experiences in context. Co-produce support that stays connected to the life a person wants to lead.
Discover. Understand. Support.
From £49.99
Individual and team licence options. See the product page for current prices and purchase details.