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Home Children, families and education Somerset’s SEND Local Offer Sensory Processing Handbook What to do if you are concerned a pupil is experiencing sensory processing difficulties

What to do if you are concerned a pupil is experiencing sensory processing difficulties

Clear guidance on what you can do and how to check if it is working for the pupil

Part of
Sensory Processing Handbook: Step by step

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Part of
Sensory Processing Handbook: Step by step

The eight senses - guidance for practitioners in Somerset

1Introduction

Information on the nature of sensory processing differences and the impact they can have on children and young people's lives

  1. Somerset SEND Charter
  2. About sensory processing
  3. Sensory processing differences or difficulties
  4. Interoception – the eighth sense
  5. Sensory Processing checklists and assessments

2The sensory system

Safe interventions for both children and young people, and groups

  1. Tactile
  2. Proprioceptive
  3. Interoceptive
  4. Vestibular
  5. Visual
  6. Auditory
  7. Olfactory
  8. Taste

3School approaches

Recommendations for creating appropriate learning environments for pupils with sensory processing differences

  1. Whole school approach
  2. Classroom strategies
  3. What to do if you are concerned a pupil is experiencing sensory processing difficulties
  4. Referring to the Children and Young People Occupational Therapy Service

Support

information

If you have identified that a pupil could be experiencing one or more sensory processing needs, we hope you will have found the strategies highlighted within this handbook effective in supporting them. It is important that schools implement and review one or more of these strategies to see whether or not it has had any positive effect. You may find the recording sheet below useful as a way of monitoring this.

As outlined in the SEND Code of Practice, it is expected that a clear ‘Assess, Plan, Do and Review’ (APDR) process is followed in supporting and meeting the needs of a child or young person with SEND. This would include sensory processing.

Should you be meeting with other relevant professionals about the child in question, such as educational psychologists or an advisory teacher from the Autism and Communication Service, we suggest that you talk through any concerns and the strategies that are being implemented. Further recommendations may be made.

If there is little or no progress made following a period of APDR, with relevant strategies, then you may wish to make a referral to occupational therapy which is described in the next page.

For additional advice, strategies and ideas please refer to Children and Young People’s Therapy Service school aged fact files.

Last updated: October 31, 2025

Next review due: May 1, 2026

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