SenseUp Training - Sensory Upskilling

1 DAY TO GO - TOMORROW: AUTISM THROUGH THE SENSEUP LENS

We’re almost ready to go LIVE.

Tomorrow Kerry brings together the sensory, autonomic and relational pieces of the clinical picture to explore what may be happening when:

• strategies do not carry over
• presentation changes across environments
• regulation and participation fluctuate
• there seems to be more going on than the diagnosis alone explains

This is not another list of autism strategies.

It is a Masterclass designed to strengthen the questions we ask, what we observe and how we understand the child in front of us.

LIVE ONLINE VIA ZOOM
25 August 2026
6:30–8:00 pm AEST

1.5 PD/EU + Certificate
30-day replay
Workbook + bonus handout
LIVE Q&A

There’s still time to join us:
https://www.senseup.org/Sensory_Features_in_Diagnostic_Groups-Autism

Preparation for a knowingly tricky event. A haircut, medical appointment or community event may contain unfamiliar touch, sound, waiting, social demands and loss of control.

Preparing an autistic child should not mean rehearsing how to tolerate whatever happens.

Useful preparation gives the nervous system information and the child meaningful control: photos or video of the space, a clear sequence, sensory options, a trusted adult, an agreed signal to pause, permission to leave, reduced waiting, control over touch where possible, and a recovery plan afterwards.

Success may mean completing part of the occupation safely. It may mean gathering information for the next attempt. It may mean the child communicates no and the adult listens.

Predictability supports access, but the child may still communicate no.

Autism in community and healthcare occupations deserves the same clinical depth.
https://www.senseup.org/Sensory_Features_in_Diagnostic_Groups-Autism/

Supporting co-regulation in a way the parents feels empowered. Parents are often told that their calm will help their child regulate. That can be true and still land as one more impossible demand on an exhausted family.

A parent’s activation may reflect years of sleep disruption, public judgement, school conflict, financial pressure and constant anticipation of the next difficult transition.

A trauma-informed approach supports the adult without making them responsible for controlling the child’s nervous system.

Practical OT support may include explaining the child’s sensory and autonomic patterns, reducing shame, simplifying the recovery plan, identifying which adult can take over when capacity is low, and changing environmental demands that keep both nervous systems under pressure.

Co-regulation is relational. It is not a performance standard for parents.

The parent-child dynamic belongs in the whole clinical picture |
https://www.senseup.org/Sensory_Features_in_Diagnostic_Groups-Autism/

Clinical reasoning develops in conversation, not isolation. A complex paediatric case rarely becomes clearer because one more PDF was downloaded. Clarity often comes when an OT/AHP explains the case aloud, another clinician notices the missing context, and the group tests the interpretation against the child’s nervous system, sensory profile, relationships and occupations.

That is why The SenseUp Approach Course (TSAC Lite) includes case discussion, reflection and an OT community alongside the learning content.

The goal is not to hand you the answers. That does not adequately prepare you for the next unique case on your caseload.
It is to strengthen the way you build, question and defend your own clinical reasoning.

We don't just Educate at SenseUp, we Empower OTs and AHPs!

Next Cohort starts 1 September.

Join the next cohort: https://www.senseup.org/the-senseup-approach-course

2 DAYS TO GO - Autism Through the SenseUp Lens is almost here.

If you work with autistic children and young people and sometimes find yourself wondering why presentation can look so different across home, school and clinic, this Masterclass is designed to help you look deeper.

We bring together sensory processing and sensory integration, the autonomic nervous system, interoception, co-regulation and trauma-informed, neuro-affirming clinical reasoning through the SenseUp lens.

LIVE ONLINE VIA ZOOM
25 August 2026
6:30–8:00 pm AEST

Includes:
• 1.5 PD/EU
• Certificate of Attendance
• 30-day replay
• Workbook
• Bonus handout
• LIVE Q&A

Book your spot:
https://www.senseup.org/Sensory_Features_in_Diagnostic_Groups-Autism/

Unexpected touch can change the entire social occupation. For a child who is highly responsive to light or unexpected touch, peer interaction is not only a social demand. It is also a highly threatening sensory environment.

The crowded mat. A classmate brushing past. A hand on the shoulder without warning. The physical unpredictability of group play.

A child may avoid peers, move to the edge of the group or react strongly when someone comes close. If we interpret only the social behaviour, we can miss the sensory contribution entirely.

Practical changes may include clearer personal space, predictable seating, roles that reduce crowding, permission to step back, explicit peer consent and opportunities to connect through shared interests rather than forced proximity.

The aim is not to make the child tolerate more touch. It is to make social participation safer and more voluntary.

Explore tactile, autonomic and participation factors together.
https://www.senseup.org/Masterclass_Collection

Before reducing a stim, identify the need it is meeting. Stimming may support regulation, sensory organisation, communication, concentration or joy. It may also occasionally create a safety risk, injury or major barrier to an occupation. Those are different clinical situations.

Ask:
What changes before the stim increases?
What input does it provide?
Does the child describe it as helpful?
Is the concern about safety, pain, participation or simply how the movement looks to other people?
What happens when it is interrupted?
Is there a safer or more accessible way to meet the same need if change is genuinely required?

Neuro-affirming practice does not mean ignoring risk. It means refusing to remove a self-regulatory strategy simply because it is visibly autistic.

Nervous system first. Function and participation always:
https://www.senseup.org/Sensory_Features_in_Diagnostic_Groups-Autism/