Ayres' Sensory Integration Wise

On the importance of the tactile system to young babies
https://www.nytimes.com/…/what-babies-k now-about-their-bodi…

What are your thoughts on these?

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In a recent visit into a U.K. school a ‘trauma practitioner’ (trauma informed schools) who has completed a 10 day training course described a child to me as ‘a child with serious ACE scores and a significant history of repeated trauma’ requiring the trauma to need addressing at least 5 times a day at school, in a stimulus free sensory environment, at odds with inclusion in a regular morning Funfit movement group and regular sensory breaks which had previously enabled this you...ng person to fully participate at school.
Further enquiry, as I presumed somehow the history shared with me had excluded this very relevant information, revealed the trauma was in fact sensory hyper-reactivity as part of autism - and that the trauma (sensory hyper-reactivity) was being addressed with headphones and use of a weighted blanket in a small room away from the classroom, where the child got to play on the ipad to further reduce anxiety and then attempt return to the classroom. Incidents of the child in Year 5 describing feeling and being traumatised was increasing daily and now at home the child was being described as abused with autism. The young person had been re-referred to OT as the progress made previously after one to one ASI OT was now less visible and participation in the classroom had decreased.
The child’s movement breaks and sensory ladder, supporting their individual Ayres’ SI therapy had been abandoned in favour of this trauma care approach and the OT hypothesis had been abandoned due to advice from a trauma trainer who had never met the child.
We need to clearly define trauma and consider other presentations identified as trauma in schools and be clear about the OT role. We need to clearly identify significant trauma that while well supported by trauma informed whole school approaches, requires specialist assessment and intervention, including working closely alongside foster carers and parents. Referral beyond trauma informed practitioners is required for those who have had repeated childhood trauma, where often complex relationships, noxious sensory motor experiences and learning happened through the body and the senses before language has developed.
Last week in a separate conversation, with teachers working with children in a school for children with SEN we had a similar conversation. We should not forget the children who have had early medical trauma - including young people with early cardiac surgery and other invasive procedures requiring prolonged periods of hospital care, often splinted or with movement restricted, due to the use of medical equipment and monitoring. These young people are often missed as having had early traumatic experiences.
Thank you for this share Tina and congratulations Colleen Whiting.
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Are you or do you know an adult with sensory integration difficulties, sometimes called sensory processing disorder? This group may be a place to share ideas, resources and support to make everyday life easier.

Join us to learn about Comprehensive Assessment in Ayres’ Sensory Integration (Module 3) - a classroom course which includes hands on learning about the SIPT and other assessment tools used across the life-span - brought to you by a collaboration between ASIWISE / CLASI Liverpool, August 2018
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/m3-compreh ensive-assessment-… now at: https://sensoryproject.org/…/comprehens ive-assessment-in-a…/
... or via: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/m3-compreh ensive-assessment-…
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https://www.understood.org/…/a-day-in-t he-life-of-a-child-w…

Infinity hoops from The Works - amazing feedback about these from young adults this weekend

Thanks Tina for sharing this...

An inspirational story...
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/…/what -its-really-like-aut…

Young children with better eye-to-hand coordination were more likely to achieve higher scores for reading, writing and math according to new research -- raising the possibility schools could provide extra support to children who are clumsy. — Read on www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180 711093224.htm
To our OT Colleagues, don’t forget that programmes like Fun Fit, developed by in Cornwall and used as a first line of intervention in school support of motor development of young people at risk of sensory motor challenges may provide such opportunities.
https://sensoryproject.org/…/research-u pdate-children-with…/

Thank you Lucy for this share about how important sensory integration is for development, attachment and play.
https://m.imgur.com/TcD63om