Sensory Inclusive Schools

In our most recent Sensory Inclusive Schools Network drop-in session, we reflected on sensory support at home. If we focus only on the classroom, we miss part of the picture. Students live within families, routines, transitions, sleep, and the realities of home. Participation is shaped not only by education, but by the wider context around them.

We spoke about a flaw in the current commissioning system: too often, we commission people in parts rather than support them as a whole person. Learning, regulation, sensory needs, sleep, emotional wellbeing, relationships, and family life are deeply connected, yet support is often split into separate strands. Families are left trying to hold the pieces together. Parents/carers are often expected to carry a huge amount while receiving little therapeutic support. In many systems, commissioning still centres on school provision while the wider family context is overlooked, leaving parents exhausted and isolated, trying to implement support without enough guidance.

We need to be clear: interventions that work in school may not work at home.

Home is not an extension of school. It has different sensory demands, routines, relationships, pressures, and often less capacity. A strategy that works in school may not be realistic at home. Sending home classroom strategies is not enough. What looks simple on paper may carry a different load at home.

This is where working together matters. When we use the PEO (Person, Environment, Occupation) model with parents, we may identify that the order, timing, or expectation of occupations needs to change. A student may be able to get dressed and eat breakfast in the morning, but adding tooth brushing into that routine may be too much. The solution may be for the school to support tooth brushing later, when the student has more capacity.

Sleep is another example. If a student has had little sleep, we have to ask whether the demands of the school day need to change. Can school reduce expectations, adjust the timetable, or lower demand so the student is not being asked to do the impossible? If sleep directly affects regulation, attention, sensory processing, and participation, it should be part of planning.

We also need to think about the sensory needs of the family. What does this family need for regulation, participation, and connection? What is realistic within the pace and pressure of their day? What support helps not only the student, but the people holding the student’s world together?

We are not only here to support work within school settings, but also to reflect on how to work alongside families to build support that is realistic, relational, flexible, and sustainable.

Supporting the student means supporting the context around them. When home and school work together, we create better conditions for meaningful progress.

All the best

Beth