Sensory processing
Cerebra (a charity dedicated to helping families with children with brain conditions) has released an excellent resource for parents explaining what sensory processing means, and the impact it can have on children. The resource contains information on:
- hyper-reactivity (where children experience too much stimulation from incoming sensory information)
- hypo-reactivity (where children do not respond or register sensory input)
- sensory seeking
It also explores the impact on behaviours, sleep and levels of anxiety, along with insights into specific disabilities such as Williams syndrome, Downs syndrome and Fragile X syndrome.
The resource is aimed at parents, but is relevant for all early years settings to download, we recommended the information is disseminated by the SENCO to the staff team to raise awareness, and it is an excellent resource to add to your staff and parent SEND folder.
It includes case studies and guidance on different assessments along with strategies to help support children to better manage their environment and build up resilience, all of which can be applied within early years settings.
We would recommend that you spend some time looking through the Cerebra website, as it contains lots of excellent information and parents of children with sensory processing issues should be signposted to the website.