The Sensory and/or Physical area of need focuses on how your child reacts to and experiences the world around them – the things they can see, touch, hear and smell or the types of activities that they can access.  There are physical and sensory challenges (for example, over or under sensitive senses such as hearing) that could make it more difficult for your child to learn in a busy school environment.

This can include difficulties with:

• Vision
• Hearing
• Gross motor skills such as running, jumping and whole-body co-ordination
• Fine motor skills such as picking up small items between the thumb and fingers or holding a pencil to write
• Self-organisation for daily life
• Includes conditions such as cerebral palsy, dyspraxia, physical injury.

The term ‘physical disabilities’ is broad and covers a range of disabilities and health issues, including both disabilities that you can be born with and disabilities developed over time. Physical disabilities or impairments include those that interfere with a child’s ability to meet the same developmental milestones as those of the same age. An example of a physical disability is dyspraxia. Dyspraxia is a problem with the body’s system of motion that interferes with a person’s ability to make a controlled or coordinated physical response in a given situation.  Some children and young people require special educational provision because they have a disability that prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities generally provided. These difficulties can be age related and may fluctuate over time. Many children and young people with vision impairment (VI), hearing impairment (HI) or a multi-sensory impairment (MSI) will require specialist support and/or equipment to access their learning. Children and young people with an MSI have a combination of vision and hearing difficulties. Some children and young people with a physical disability (PD) require additional ongoing support and equipment to access all the opportunities available to their peers.

Medical Needs

A medical diagnosis or a disability does not necessarily imply a special educational need (SEN). It may not be necessary for the child or young person with any diagnosis or medical condition to have any additional form or educational provision at any phase of education. It is the child’s medical needs rather than a diagnosis that must be considered.

Some children may not require school-based SEN provision, but they have medical conditions that, if not properly managed, could hinder their access to education.

Children and young people with medical conditions will include those with Asthma, Diabetes, Arthritis, Epilepsy, severe allergies, Incontinence, Eczema and Cystic fibrosis. In such cases, school staff will take into consideration the medical guidance available.

What are Sensory Processing Difficulties?

Our bodies and the environment send our brain information through our senses.  We process and organise this information so that we feel comfortable and secure. When a child has difficulty coping with these demands, they may have sensory processing difficulties.

We have eight areas of sensory input:

• Visual (Sight)
• Auditory (Hearing)
• Olfactory (Smell)
• Gustatory (Taste)
• Tactile System (Tells you where you end and the rest of the world begins)
• Vestibular System (Movement and balance sense)
• Proprioception  (Receptors in our joints, tendons and muscles provide an automatic sense of body awareness)
• Interoception (Messages to the brain e.g. hungry)

Children can have sensory processing difficulties in any of the areas outlined above.

Some children may be over responsive - hypersensitive - in one area (e.g. overly sensitive to loud sounds) and under responsive - hyposensitive- in another area (e.g. have limited perception of pain.)

To enable a child to learn, pay attention, moderate behaviour and interact with others, their nervous system needs to be in an optimal, well-regulated state.  In this state, our nervous system is able to process information efficiently by filtering out any sensory information considered unimportant, helping us to stay calm and functional in our surroundings.

Some children have difficulties processing sensory information and with attaining and maintaining a well-regulated state. This is known as Dysregulation.  

Signs of Dysregulation:

• Concentration difficulties/distracted
• Fidgeting or floppy
• Over excited
• Dislikes anything on hands or feet
• Hypervigilant
• Putting hands over ears
• Sensory seeking behaviours - rocking, tapping, chewing
• Intolerance of multi-sensory environments e.g. busy places, classrooms, corridors, queues
• Aggression
• Running away

Strategies and techniques to help children regulate include:

• Movement breaks
• Help them improve body awareness
• Using a wobble cushion
• Quiet space/time alone
• Tight squeeze/press down on shoulders
• Blowing bubbles
• Regulating food and drink  (healthy crunchy food snacks and drink through a straw)
• Fidget toy
• Weighted blanket
• Theraband on legs of chair
• Chew toy
• Heavy jobs, carrying, moving furniture, digging garden

There are a wide range of Sensory and Physical difficulties, but the important consideration in this area is the degree to which the difficulties impact on a child’s ability to access educational opportunities.

Supporting Your Child At Home

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