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Sensory Chat: A Sensory Perspective

Sensory Chat: A Sensory Perspective

By: Sensory Integration Education
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 Would you like to know the tips about sensory differences that therapists wish that every family knew? Listen in as experienced Advanced Sensory Integration Practitioners discuss solutions and strategies for daily life people with sensory integration or sensory processing difficulties.

Sensory Chat is a series of informal, friendly and fun chats between Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists and Speech & Language Therapists.

If you work or care for people with sensory integration or sensory processing differences, autism, ADHD, dyspraxia (DCD) or special needs, Sensory Chat is for you.

Sensory Chat is brought to you by the Association for Sensory Integration Practice (ASIP) and training course provider Sensory Integration Education.

Who’s Talking in Series 2 of Sensory Chat?

Emer Broderick is an Occupational Therapist and Advanced SI Practitioner, working in independent practice with children and young people. Emer has worked predominately with children with ASD, DCD, ADHD, CP, as well as babies with developmental difficulties.

Amy Stephens is a Speech and Language Therapist and Advanced SI Practitioner with a long experience working with children and adults with a wide range of different speech, language and communication challenges. As a coach and mentor, Amy enjoys uncovering new insights into effective and positive strategies for supporting clients as well as the families, educators and clinical professionals who support them.

Lelanie Brewer is an Occupational Therapist and Advanced SI Practitioner and also the Director of Student Development for Sensory Integration Education. A highly experienced clinician, Lelanie is currently working towards a PhD with her research focusing on self-care in children with motor difficulties.

Angela Tieman is a Paediatric Occupational Therapist and Advanced SI Practitioner with extensive experience working in Early Childhood Intervention in both Australia and the United Kingdom. Angela has been trained by and received supervision from world-renowned experts in the field of Sensory Integration, Trauma and Attachment, and also works as a clinical mentor in this field.

Emma Snowdon is a Paediatric Physiotherapist and an Advanced Sensory Integration Practitioner. With extensive experience in the public and independent sectors, Emma is also a clinical supervisor and delivers training to numerous agencies including Adoption Central England (ACE) and lectures for national conferences.© 2025 Sensory Integration Education All Rights Reserved. Hygiene & Healthy Living Parenting & Families Relationships
Episodes
  • S1 E1: Sensory Chat - Toddlers and Eating: A Sensory Perspective

    S1 E1: Sensory Chat - Toddlers and Eating: A Sensory Perspective
    Feb 4 2022
    Listen in as four experienced therapists chat about the challenges that toddlers face with mealtimes. What should we be expecting of 2- and 3-year-olds at mealtimes? What skills do toddlers need to be able to successfully eat? How does their ability to sit up and sit still at the table affect their eating? Are tablets on the table a help or a hindrance? Why do we need to consider family and cultural contexts relating to mealtimes and how do our own sensory preferences affect our children’s mealtime experience? It’s all covered in this episode of Sensory Chat along with some handy tips and reassurance for struggling parents and carers. TRANSCRIPT Lelanie: Welcome to Sensory Chat, my name is Lelanie, I'm an Occupational Therapist and an Advanced Practitioner in Sensory Integration, and I'm calling in from Germany. Amy: Hi, I'm Amy, I'm a Speech and Language Therapist and an Advanced Practitioner in Ayres Sensory Integration, and I'm calling in from Salisbury in Southwest England. Angela: Good evening everyone, I am Angela and I'm calling from Melbourne Australia. I'm an Occupational Therapist and an Advanced Sensory Integration Practitioner. Emma: Hello from me, I am Emma, I am a Physiotherapist and also an Advanced Sensory Integration Practitioner. And I'm calling in this morning from Warwickshire. Lelanie: Our topic today is Toddlers and Eating. And I'm able to hand over to Amy now to set the scene for our next discussion. Amy: So, what we're thinking about in this episode, is really sort of looking at two year olds heading into three year olds around mealtimes. So that's often a time that parents talk to me as being particularly challenging. So, because I'm a Speech and Language Therapist, they're often asking me about a child who won't eat or will only eat a certain, you know, restricted range of foods, but also issues about children not wanting to, or not being able to come and sit with the family at the table, not being able to be part of the family experience of being part of a mealtime. So I think that's what we're going to talk about today. So I suppose to start off with, it would be interesting to have a think about some of the skills that you need in order to sit at the table at two and take part in a meal, have something to eat. So if we think about sort of the motor skills, the social skills, the, the cognitive skills, the language skills that you need to be building in order to take part. So, what do you think, Angela, would you like to, what kind of, if you were looking at a two year old, two to three year old, where would you be looking at their, their motor skills and development? Angela: Yeah, while just listening to you introduce that, I'm thinking, wow, like what a complex task. If we think about all the things that you know, we're asking of little ones during meal times and this idea of trying to break it down and really unpick, you know, each element to try and figure out what might be going on is really helpful, I think. But yeah, so motor skills, I guess, you know, this idea of kids needing to be able to sit upright and to sit still, if we can do both of those, then our hands and our arms are going to be more available to feed ourselves whether that's, you know, using our fingers or having a go at, you know, using a spoon. And so I think thinking about, the size of the tables and the chairs and whether or not it's, it's appropriate for your little one to be at the same table as the family. So I guess thinking about the motor skills, you know, this idea of being able to sit upright at the table, but also sit still, are two really important elements. And so it's thinking about how do we help kids to do that. The furniture, you know, the chair and the table that we use is really important. You know, making sure that the table is not too high, and that, you know, their little arms can come over the top and rest comfortably on the table, but also thinking about some support for their feet. You know, if children have that support under their feet, they're going to feel more grounded. So I think, yeah, the seating and the table height is an important thing to think about. Amy: Yeah. Angela, if I can just pick up on that. So if you think about swallowing, so the back of your throat, the tube that goes down to your lungs for air and the tube that goes down to your stomach for food, in your throat is the same, the same area, the same pipe. And there's a little flap that moves as you swallow to make sure that food doesn't go down into your lungs, you don't choke. Now obviously, as children are learning to coordinate, those are muscles too, they're learning to coordinate that chew and swallow. And that's something that takes some practice and thinking about it sort of in terms of your body's top priority is to keep you safe and keep you alive. That if you're, if you're not stable, if you're not able to sit and feel secure in your sitting or at some level your brain recognizes ...
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    24 mins
  • S1 E2: Sensory Chat - Eating Out with Children: A Sensory Perspective

    S1 E2: Sensory Chat - Eating Out with Children: A Sensory Perspective
    Mar 3 2022
    Eating out with very young children can be a frantic rather than fun experience. Particularly if your child gets easily overwhelmed or over-excited. Listen in as four experienced therapists chat about how to make taking your toddler to a cafe or restaurant be less stressful and more enjoyable for the whole family. Get tips on how to help your child be prepared for the experience. Learn how a stomping walk beforehand can help your child sit for longer later. What should you look for when choosing a child-friendly restaurant - and we don’t just mean the menu. This episode of Sensory Chat is aimed at parents but will also be useful for teachers and professionals. TRANSCRIPT Lelanie 00:31 Hello, welcome to Sensory Chat. My name is Lelanie. I'm an Occupational Therapist and an Advanced Practitioner in Sensory Integration. I'm calling in from Germany. Amy 00:43 Hi, I'm Amy. I'm a speech and language therapist and also an Advanced Practitioner in Sensory Integration and I'm calling in from Salisbury in Southwest England. Angela 00:54 Hi everyone, my name is Angela. I am an Occupational Therapist and an Advanced Sensory Integration Practitioner, and I'm calling from Melbourne, Australia. Emma 01:06 And good morning from me, I'm Emma Snowdon and I am a Physiotherapist and I'm also an Advanced Sensory Integration Practitioner. And I'm calling in from Warwickshire. Lelanie 01:19 In today's podcast, we're going to be talking about eating out. In an earlier podcast, at the side, we were talking about difficulties from a sensory perspective, that you might see with toddlers eating and feeding at home. This podcast is for parents, but would also be useful for teachers and healthcare professionals. Amy 01:44 Right, so we were thinking really about what happens when you're going out with your little one to a restaurant, I guess that could be like a fast food restaurant, like a pizza place or a burger joint, or it could be like a, sort of a more formal restaurant, particularly if you're thinking about a restaurant where you're going out for a special occasion. So there's quite a lot of excitement and up involved in going into the restaurant. So I'm just wondering, from each of your perspectives, if parents are thinking about, maybe even dreading going to a restaurant with their little one, from a sensory perspective, what kinds of things should they just have in the back of their mind that they should be thinking about? Angela, would you like to kick us off? Angela 02:34 So, I think when we're thinking about taking our little ones to a place to eat, you know, it's all going to be very new. You know, this may be the very first time they've ever been to a place like pizza hut, and so I think if parents can begin to kind of have some conversations around, you know, what the place might look like, what sorts of things they might see in there, you know, what are the people, you know, that there'll be waiters and waitresses, and so it's about preparation. Really. It's about helping our little ones to begin to, understand what to expect. So that would be a good kind of starting point to start kind of talking about it, you know, with their child. Amy 03:24 Yeah, I agree. I think that predictability is very helpful and definitely, you might be thinking about kind of how you can bring in some of the aspects into play. So for example, the idea of having to choose food off a menu is not, I mean, in my home, maybe it's different than your home, but seldom do we have menu choices in my home. So that whole idea of actually there being a choice of foods, that's a new concept, that's a new thing, but that's something that's very easy to play when you're playing, you know, games, games with your child. Emma, what do you think? Emma 04:01 Yeah, I think the thing is the same meetings to think about isn't there, because like you say, it's a whole new experience. And I suppose specifically thinking about, the environment as well. I think we've got to consider all of those extra sensory things that we wouldn't necessarily have at home. So, you know, the noise, that's going to be very different in different places, isn't it. You know, in terms of how echoey it is and how many people are there, but there's other sensory challenges, including the smells, you know, having to sit still, thinking about sitting still, waiting, all those things that can be a real challenge for a two year old in general, but particularly for a two year old with sensory challenges, that could be difficult. So yeah, there's many things, is there an element we want to particularly discuss here? Amy 04:57 I'd love to pick up on that idea of waiting, so I know that. Yeah. So as Ayre's Sensory Integration Practitioners, you know, we think a lot, we talk a lot about the development of executive functions. So those are those higher level skills. And one of those is being able to sort of, inhibit impulses and to kind of wait and to attend those kinds of things. ...
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    19 mins
  • S1 S3: Sensory Chat - Getting Dressed: A Sensory Perspective

    S1 S3: Sensory Chat - Getting Dressed: A Sensory Perspective
    Apr 4 2022
    Is every morning a struggle to get your preschooler dressed? This episode of Sensory Chat is for you, particularly if your little one has sensory issues around clothing or struggles with balance, body awareness or fine motor skills. Listen as four international therapists draw on their personal and professional experience to chat over what difficulties your child could be experiencing around clothing and dressing along with some practical tips to try. TRANSCRIPT Lelanie Hello. Welcome to Sensory Chat. My name is Lelanie. I'm an Occupational Therapist and an Advanced Practitioner in Sensory Integration. I'm calling in from Germany. Amy Hi, I'm Amy, I'm a Speech and Language Therapist and also an Advanced Practitioner in Ayre's Sensory Integration and I'm calling in from Salisbury in Southwest England. Angela Hi everyone. My name is Angela. I am an Occupational Therapist and an Advanced Sensory Integration Practitioner, and I'm calling from Melbourne, Australia. Emma And good morning from me, I'm Emma Snowden. I am a Physiotherapist and I'm also an Advanced Sensory Integration Practitioner, and I'm calling in from Warwickshire. Lelanie Welcome to this episode of Sensory Chat. Today we're going to be looking at dressing skills in two year olds and what type of sensory challenges we might see in this group of children and what tips can we give you. This podcast is for parents, but it will also be helpful for therapists and teachers. Amy So I think when we're thinking about trying to get a child dressed or trying to help a child get themselves dressed, we have in mind preschoolers, we're thinking about two year olds. There is nothing that brings out that terrible twos as much as perhaps dressing. So I'm wondering if we're thinking about things from a sensory perspective, what kind of challenges the two year olds nervous system would be encountering with that whole procedure of getting dressed. Emma, would you like to kick us off? Emma Yeah. So there's so many things to consider again, isn't there really. If we just take it straight into getting dressed in terms of the sensory issues, I suppose the first thing most people are going to think about is the sort of texture of clothes, whether the child's going to be able to tolerate that. So there's all those elements of it, but then I think the environment bit as well about in the morning that they're waking up from hopefully a nice sleep, and where's their level of arousal? Are they going to be able to cope with that, or are we going to have to think about getting them up and getting them regulated first? Whether that's up-regulating them, getting them awake, so the sorts of issues around that. Amy When you say level of arousal as Sensory Integration Therapists, we know what that means, but obviously a parent might be horrified hearing that. What do you mean when you mean sensory arousal? What do you mean by that? Emma So just sort of how alert and how well the child is, are they still very sleepy in the morning like I am? Takes me a lot to get going in the morning, or were they the child that's been awake from 4 o'clock that morning bouncing off the ceiling? So where the child is, is going to really impact on whatever you're going to be doing, basically isn't it. So there's that to consider first, before we even think about getting dressed. I certainly know from my experience of being a parent, it was very much about "let's just get the job done". That's probably not always the best way to do it, particularly if you've got sensory demands, because for that child, probably the last thing they want to do is think about getting dressed at that point. Is that okay? Does that explain? Amy Yeah, absolutely. So I'm hearing that kind of almost you're saying in some cases, that kind of urge just to get on with it is a little bit counterproductive and actually it might be worth spending a little bit of time trying to get the child's nervous system regulated enough to be able to cope with dressing, and actually that's going to save time in the long run. Emma Absolutely. And particularly if they've got some sensory sensitivities to certain textures and things like that. And also coupled with what you're going to be doing from that point as well, because often this is a big transition for children; waking up in the morning, getting dressed and potentially going somewhere is the massive transition. So there could be other factors like I don't want to be going somewhere or what have you, that could impact that child's desire to get dressed and do what's expected of them. So we do need to look at the bigger picture, and then actually bring it right down to the textures and things of what the clothing is, that's going to be difficult. So there is preparation, I mean, I know a lot of the children I work with, parents have realized this is a really difficult time, and so they will start with some preparation. So that might be some deep pressure hugs in the morning, ...
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    18 mins

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