Sensory Processing Assessments and Intervention
Does your child have difficulty staying in line, hug too tightly, have an aversion to foods with certain textures, not like wearing certain clothes that are too tight or too loose or walk on their toes? Would you describe your child as clumsy, distractible or sensitive to touch?
This may be a sign of difficulties with sensory processing - These problems are sometimes referred to as Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD).
Sensory processing refers to the ability to process sensory information and make sense of it in a way that supports participation in everyday activities.
The sensory Profile 2 assessment provides a standard method to document children’s sensory processing patterns and, when combined with information about participation, assists to identify the effect of sensory processing on functional participation in the context of the child ‘s home, school and community.
Interventions are designed with the sensory processing traits in mind. Adaptations are made to the activity or changes to the context to be more suitable for the child, to support successful participation in meaningful activities.
Intervention planning is guided by a strengths-based model that focusses on the child/family and the teacher’s assets and capacities to enable everyone to thrive.
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Initial consultation to introduce the process for the sensory assessment and obtain information about the child, their environments and their occupations – this part is with the parent/caregiver only.
Administration of the Child Sensory Profile 2 and the School Companion Sensory Profile 2: The Sensory Profile 2 is a set of judgement-based caregiver and teacher questionnaires.
The Child Sensory Profile 2 evaluates children ages 3 – 14 years. Caregivers complete this questionnaire, which consists of 86 items. Estimated completion time for the assessment is 15 – 20 minutes.
The School Companion Sensory Profile 2 evaluates children from the teachers’ perspectives. Teachers complete this 44 item questionnaire about students in their classes. Estimated completion time for the assessment is 15 minutes.
This information helps to formulate hypotheses about what may be supporting or creating challenges to the child’s ability to participate successfully in daily activities.
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This is carried out by the Occupational Therapist to identify the sensory characteristics of the school context and the child’s reaction to these. This provides information to understand the relationship between the child and the context from a sensory point of view.
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A one-hour appointment to review the report and intervention recommendations and discuss implementation of these into the child’s context.
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Information on all of our fees can be found here.
