Ayres Sensory Integration® Therapy
Helps us to do the things we need to do in our everyday life
Ayres Sensory Integration® Therapy is a specialist Occupational Therapy intervention for children and young people whose sensory integration differences are affecting their ability to participate in everyday activities. At Connect, ASI Therapy is delivered by appropriately trained Occupational Therapists within our specialist Sensory Integration clinic, using suspended and movement-based equipment to provide individualised sensory and motor experiences.
Intervention follows a comprehensive assessment and is guided by the child or young person’s individual sensory integration profile, functional needs and agreed therapy goals. Sessions typically last one hour and are carefully planned and adapted by the therapist according to how the young person presents and responds on the day.
What happens during an ASI Therapy session?
ASI Therapy is active, playful and child-led, so to the child it may look and feel very different from traditional therapy. A session might involve swinging, climbing, jumping, crashing, balancing, pulling, pushing, navigating obstacle courses or creating imaginative movement challenges using specialist equipment.
Behind the play, however, there is significant clinical reasoning.
The Occupational Therapist is continually observing how the child responds to vestibular, proprioceptive, tactile and other sensory information, alongside their postural control, coordination, bilateral integration, body awareness, praxis and ability to organise increasingly complex actions.
The therapist follows the child’s interests and intrinsic motivation while carefully adapting activities to provide the “just-right challenge” — challenging enough to promote development and adaptive responses, without making the activity overwhelming or unachievable.
What does the Occupational Therapist do?
The therapist is an active participant within the session, rather than simply observing or directing activities from the side.
They continually assess the child’s responses and use their specialist clinical reasoning to grade the activity, alter the sensory input, adapt the environment and change the level of challenge.
This may involve changing the speed or direction of movement, adjusting equipment, introducing additional proprioceptive or tactile experiences, changing the demands of an activity or following the child’s ideas to create new challenges.
The therapist also works to establish a safe and trusting therapeutic relationship, recognising that connection, play, autonomy and the child’s motivation are important parts of successful intervention.
Fidelity to Ayres Sensory Integration®
ASI is a specific therapeutic approach and is different from simply providing sensory activities or access to sensory equipment.
At Connect, intervention is delivered in accordance with the principles of the Ayres Sensory Integration Fidelity Measure, which helps ensure therapy reflects the core features of authentic ASI intervention.
This includes providing appropriate sensory opportunities within a specialist environment, supporting optimal levels of alertness, encouraging the child to organise their own actions, facilitating successful adaptive responses, providing the right level of challenge, collaborating with the child in activity choices and developing a positive therapeutic relationship.
The therapist therefore does not follow a fixed sequence of exercises. Therapy is dynamic and responsive, with the session continually changing according to the child’s ideas, responses and therapeutic needs.
Sensory Diets & Individualised Sensory Programmes
A sensory diet is an individualised programme of sensory-based activities and strategies designed to provide the type of sensory input a child or young person needs to support regulation, participation and engagement throughout their day. Despite the name, a sensory diet has nothing to do with food; it considers how movement, touch, proprioception, vestibular input and other sensory experiences can be incorporated meaningfully into everyday routines.
Sensory strategies can be used both proactively and responsively. For example, if we know that a particular environment, transition or activity is likely to be overwhelming, appropriate sensory input may be introduced beforehand to support regulation and preparation. Equally, where a child needs additional sensory input to become more alert, organised or ready to participate, carefully selected activities can be incorporated into their routine.
At Connect, we recognise that a sensory diet cannot be effectively developed without understanding the child, their sensory profile and the environments in which they spend their time. We therefore work collaboratively with the child or young person, their family and education setting to develop strategies that are individualised, achievable and meaningful.
How we develop a sensory diet
Our Occupational Therapist will consider the child’s assessed sensory needs alongside how they function throughout their everyday routines. This can include home and school consultations and observations, enabling us to understand how sensory needs may change across different environments, activities and times of day.
We consider factors such as:
- The child’s individual sensory processing profile and preferences
- Their responses to different types of sensory input
- Patterns of regulation across the day
- Activities, environments or transitions they find particularly challenging
- Existing home and school routines
- The physical and sensory demands of the environment
- Opportunities for movement and regulation throughout the day
- Equipment and resources already available
- Additional equipment or environmental adaptations that may be beneficial
- The child’s interests and activities they naturally seek out or enjoy
- What is realistic for families and education staff to incorporate consistently
The Occupational Therapist then develops an individualised sensory programme which identifies appropriate activities, strategies and environmental adaptations and provides guidance around when, where and how they should be used.
Wherever possible, activities are selected with the child or young person rather than imposed upon them. We want sensory strategies to be meaningful, motivating and supportive, helping the individual develop greater awareness of what their body needs over time.
Embedded into everyday life
A sensory diet is not designed to be something that happens only during a designated “sensory time”. Strategies should be incorporated naturally into the child’s home, school and everyday routines.
Parents, carers and education staff therefore play an important role in facilitating the programme, with guidance and support from the Occupational Therapist. We work collaboratively with the adults around the child so they understand not only what to offer, but why a particular strategy has been recommended and what responses to look for.
Review & Adaptation
Sensory needs are not static. A strategy that is helpful at one point may become less effective as the child develops, their environment changes or they become better able to recognise and communicate their own needs.
Our sensory diet programmes are therefore reviewed termly, where appropriate. Reviews provide an opportunity for the Occupational Therapist to discuss and observe how the programme is working, identify positive or negative changes in regulation and participation, and consider feedback from the child, family and education team.
Activities, frequency, timing, equipment and environmental strategies can then be adapted, progressed or removed according to the child’s current presentation and functional needs.
Our longer-term aim is not simply for adults to deliver a programme to a child. Wherever developmentally appropriate, we want children and young people to develop greater understanding of their own sensory needs, recognise what supports them and increasingly advocate for and access the strategies that help them participate in everyday life.