Occupational therapy: virtual offer

The first stage of support for children with sensory processing differences is our virtual offer. The purpose of the virtual offer is to give school staff and parents ideas to support their child to practise and develop skills prior to referring to occupational therapy (OT).

The virtual offer includes

Self-led online learning (parent and school staff)
Sensory passport
Task specific strategies

How to use the virtual offer

Supporting adults should complete the relevant self-led online workshop. These workshops aim to build knowledge and understanding of sensory processing needs and explore strategies in more detail. Future OT intervention will build on knowledge from these resources The workshops are:
- Introduction to Sensory Processing, Modulation and Sensory Strategies for use in Schools.
- Sensory Workshop for Parents and Carers.
Complete a sensory passport - Understanding sensory preferences can help identify simple changes to routines and activities to support their sensory needs.
Identify which tasks the young person is experiencing difficulties with from the task specific strategies list below and refer to the relevant worksheets for strategies to explore at home and school. The activities should be carried out for a minimum of one school term to allow for progress.

Things to note

This pack is a guide only, please ensure you only trial the strategies that you feel are safe for the young person. If you require advice or have concerns about a young person who presents with a deterioration or loss of skills, we recommend you seek to contact their GP initially.
School staff and parents should work together and use this resource pack to help with developing an appropriate support plan as part of the Graduated Approach to Supporting Young People with Special Educational Needs (SEN)- Assess, Plan, Do, Review. More information is available on the SENDIASS website.
Many of the ideas from this resource pack can be incorporated into everyday activities in the classroom and at home during leisure activities.
Many of the ideas can be delivered as whole school/whole class approaches and can be of benefit to many young people and not just individuals with SEN.
The equipment recommended in this pack, is not available via NHS funding, and therefore needs to be purchased privately by parents/carers and schools. Equipment recommended is not an exhaustive list, and parents/carers/schools are encouraged to look at other retailers as required. Always use the equipment as recommended by the manufacturer.
Keep a record of your completed resource pack so that helpful strategies can be incorporated into SEN support plans. This record can also be discussed with your occupational therapist if your child requires assessment in the future.

Parents online self-led workshop

This workshop is ideal for parents/carers looking for practical advice and strategies to address common sensory processing difficulties, linked to everyday activities, such as dressing, eating, hair washing, sleeping etc. and how to manage a child who is over or under sensitive to sensory input.

To request access email childrensot.icps@wsh.nhs.uk  adding "Sensory Workshop" in the subject title line. We need your child’s name, date of birth and NHS number – the latter can be found on any letters/reports that you have had about your child from health professionals.

Parents/carers will be contacted via email, so you must have access to an email account. Once enrolled and supplied with your log in details, the course will only be accessible for a limited period of time.

You will be able to access our presentation, which is a mixture of videos and quizzes. You will also have access to a number of resources that you can print off and keep.

It is split into small manageable chunks, and you can view these at a time convenient to you.

Read the joining instructions for parents self-led E-Learning for parents

"I found this workshop really useful. It has made me understand more about my son's behaviours and how to help manage them."
"The additional info sheets are very useful."
"Found the topics covered helped me understand further how my child feels and answers some of the questions I didn't know I needed to ask."
"We liked that strategies were given and examples of products that could help to support were given, the additional information sheets about specific issues were really useful. Thank you."
"Very informative, huge volume of additional resources signposted and included hoping these will be useful sources of reference going forward."

To gain the best possible experience from this online resource, it is recommended that it is viewed via a laptop or tablet.

If you do not have access to either of these, it can still be viewed via a smartphone, but the view will be restricted due to the smaller screen.

School teams online self-led workshop

The NHS ICPS Paediatric OT service offer a free sensory training course called ‘An Introduction to Sensory Processing, Modulation and Strategies for schools.’ This is accessible to all school staff in the West and South of Suffolk to complete. The course is run on an eLearning platform called Totara.

Click on this link Totara Log in (https://mylearningapp.wsh.nhs.uk/login/index.php?tenanttheme=school)

Click on the School Registration Form button and complete the form. Please note you cannot register with a personal account, you need to use your work email address with your school identifier.

Once you have registered and your request has been approved, then an account will be created for you. You will receive an email asking you to confirm your email address. You will then receive your new login details via email.

Read the joining instructions for self-led E-Learning for schools

"it reinforced knowledge I already had but also gave some great ideas to support staff in structuring support for children in their classes and also some whole school approaches"

"I already understood that all children had different sensory needs but the training helped me to understand why"

"It has made me view some of the children's behaviours in a different light"

"This course has given me lots of new knowledge! It was surprising to see how much a child is affected by all aspects of their environment"

Task specific strategies

If you require further support please read our referral guidance.

Occupational therapy: virtual offer

The virtual offer includes

How to use the virtual offer

Things to note

Parents online self-led workshop

What does it cover?

How do I access it?

What some of our previous parents/carers have said about the course:

School teams online self-led workshop

What does it cover?

How do I access it?

What some of our previous school teams have said about the course:

Task specific strategies