Sensory Inclusive Schools

In our most recent drop-in session, we returned to the subject of skill transfer. In schools, it can be very easy to assume that if a student can do something once, they should be able to do it everywhere. If they can manage in one classroom, surely, they can manage in another. If they can line up well with one adult, surely, they can do the same with everyone. If they can use the toilet at home, surely, they can use the toilet in school. But for many students, especially those with sensory and motor differences, everyday participation is rarely that straightforward.

When a skill does not transfer from one environment to another, it is often misunderstood. It can be seen as refusal, avoidance, inconsistency, or behaviour. Yet very often what we are actually seeing is the impact of sensory processing, regulation, familiarity, and context. A student may know exactly what to do, but still be unable to access that skill in a different classroom, at a different time of day, with different sensory demands, or with a different member of staff.

In school, familiarity often plays a much bigger role than we realise. When something is repeated over and over in the same way, in the same space, with the same sequence and the same sensory cues, the nervous system begins to rely on that pattern. The task feels known. There is less need to work everything out from the start each time. That sense of rhythm and predictability can make a student appear far more capable.

But when the context changes, even in ways that seem small to us, the whole pattern can be disrupted. A different classroom, a new seating position, brighter lights, more background noise, a different smell, a change in routine, a new adult, a different way of giving instructions, or even resources being placed in a different part of the room. These may seem like minor changes, but for a student who depends on consistency to organise their sensory and motor responses, they can have a significant impact. The skill has not necessarily disappeared. What has changed are the conditions that were helping the student access it.

This is why I think it is so important that schools do not see skills as sitting only within the student. Skills happen in context. They are shaped by the environment, by relationships, by sensory cues, by routine, and by the internal state of the nervous system. When a student can do something in one lesson but not another, the most helpful question is not, “Why are they not doing it now?” It is, “What is different here, and what was the other context providing that helped the skill happen?”

Sometimes the answer lies in regulation. Even when a student has the ability to complete a task, they may not be able to access it when they are tired, anxious, overwhelmed, dysregulated, or working hard just to manage the sensory demands around them. We see this in all of us. When we are overloaded, we are more likely to forget things, lose our place, make mistakes, or struggle to think clearly. The same is true for students. When the nervous system is working hard to stay safe, there is less available for motor planning, attention, problem-solving, and coordinated action.

This is one reason why a student’s performance can vary so much across the school day. They may manage handwriting in the morning but not in the afternoon. They may cope well in one lesson but fall apart in PE or assembly. They may seem confident with one adult and completely unsure with another. This variability does not mean the student is choosing to be difficult. It may mean that the conditions needed for success are not in place in that moment.

Praxis is also an important part of this conversation. Praxis is the ability to come up with an idea, plan what to do, and then carry it out. In school, this affects participation far more than we sometimes realise. It can influence how a student gets dressed for PE, organises themselves for a classroom task, moves around the school environment, joins in with playground games, or adapts when expectations change. A student may know the goal but still struggle with the “how”. If they have practised something many times in one context, they may appear to do it well. But when the room, adult, routine, or task changes, the difficulty may suddenly become much more visible.

This is one reason why transfer can be so fragile in schools. A student may not yet have generalised the skill across people, places, and situations. Instead, they may have learned a very specific version of the task, supported by very specific routines, sensory cues, and relationships. Once those supports change, the task can feel new all over again.

For school staff, this has really important implications. It reminds us to be curious before we are critical. When a student loses a skill, avoids a task, or seems unable to do something they have done before, we need to look wider. We need to consider the environment, the sensory demands, the pace of the task, the familiarity of the routine, the style of adult support, the student’s regulation, and the relationship around the task. We need to notice what is helping the skill happen in one context and what may be getting in the way in another.

One of the most helpful shifts we can make in schools is to move away from asking, “If they can do it there, why can’t they do it here?” and instead ask, “What did that other environment provide that helped the skill emerge?” That question changes the whole conversation. It moves us away from blame and towards understanding. It helps us see that a skill does not always falter because the student has failed. Sometimes it falters because the context has changed, the demands have increased, or the supports that were quietly holding the skill in place are no longer there.

When schools understand this, support becomes more thoughtful and more effective. We stop expecting skills to transfer automatically and start recognising how much students depend on familiarity, sensory clarity, trust, and regulation in order to participate. From there, we can build environments and routines that make success more likely, not just in one moment or one room, but across the wider school day.