Hi, my name is Jordan. I am a special education
teacher from the UK. I share my passion for everything
communication, sensory regulation and fun lesson
ideas for my classroom of disabled pupils aged
4 to 11. Each week I am joined by experts in
the field answering your questions and sharing
our knowledge and experience working alongside
our beautiful young people. Let's get started.
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today. Now to the episode. Hello everybody and
welcome to the Sensory Classroom podcast. My
name is Jordan and today I'm joined by Maisie
at sensory .ot .uk on Instagram and she is a
sensory occupational therapist. I'm so excited
to have her on today but she's a pediatric occupational
therapist so we're going to talk a little bit
about the early years in child development today
and in the sensory integration and movement umbrella.
Hello Maisie. Hello, thank you so much for having
me on here. I'm really excited to be here. You
are so welcome. I've really been looking forward
to this conversation. Can we start a little bit
about what it is you do, what it looks like and
who you work with? I think that's a good place
to start. Absolutely. So like you said, I'm a
paediatric occupational therapist. That's quite
a big umbrella. So I specialise mostly in sensory
integration. Which means I've done further postgraduate
study in sensory integration. But saying that.
As an occupational therapist, you still look
at the whole child. It's still very holistic.
You know, I'm still looking at fine motor skills,
gross motor skills, independent skills. Everything
is very, very linked. I work with children and
adults, actually. Although I am a paediatric
therapist, I tend to work up to about the age
of 25. However, I am also taking on adults more
recently who are just interested in learning
about their own sensory systems. Maybe I'm not
a paediatric occupational therapist anymore.
I've evolved. It's just the human experience,
isn't it? No matter what age you are, you have
sensory systems. I guess it doesn't really make
a difference what age you are because your sensory
system is still doing its thing. Absolutely.
I'm still very much learning about my sensory
systems and often I work with children, but then
their parents are really interested in theirs
because they're noticing some little sensory
preferences as well. So there really is no age
limit, but I predominantly work with children
currently. And I've spent my career working across...
private health but also NHS and working children's
mental health as well so I have quite a broad
experience around all of that and in special
needs schools. However I have kind of gone out
on my own and I'm on a bit of a mission to get
movement into schools really because time and
time again I go into schools and I just see a
lot of children very sedentary all day and It's
not good for development and it's not good for
happiness. And so I'm really on a mission to
spread that message of movement and sensory integration
and really get that out there. So I've gone out
alone and that's kind of what I'm doing at the
moment. Oh, this is music to my ears. I'm part
of the specialist provision. I'm attached to
a mainstream school and I definitely see this
need, like regardless of diagnosis, like let's
just... put them all under this one umbrella
of everybody needs movement my team need movement
I need movement I notice it in staff meetings
I notice it at god those awful safeguarding training
that lasts all day at the beginning of term I'm
looking around and just thinking we need movement
oh a hundred percent I mean when I do my training
so I do some training for schools and for businesses
as well actually when I do them the first thing
I do is hand out a box of fidgets or putty and
things that people can fiddle with because it
will just help them to concentrate and immediately
before we start we get up and we move Because
it's so important. I mean, I can't sit and write
a report if I'm not on a spinny chair. No chance.
It's really, really important. It's so important.
We see also over social media that lots of experts
are saying, you know, movement breaks, sensory
diet, sensory circuits. There's so many terms
for this kind of movement we're talking about.
But what is the importance of movement, I suppose,
for everybody, but then also particularly for
those either... those with sensory regulation
needs or those in the early years? Okay, so if
I start really at the beginning, movement is
essentially the foundation for all learning and
development. So in those early years, every little
wiggle, crawl, reach, stretch. It's not only
developing the body but it's really developing
the brain and it's kind of wiring together those
neural connections and that's so important because
that helps us to develop those really important
skills for later on in life like attention, emotional
regulation, motor coordination, you know all
the things that we need. to be at school to be
learning and just to be engaging in daily life
and so in those very early months of life babies
have kind of automatic movement patterns these
are called primitive reflexes you might have
heard of those before and that's things like
people will know of kind of grasp reflex or sucking
reflex or the startle where the baby might hear
a sudden noise or there'll be a sudden movement
or that kind of experience of falling and the
baby will throw their arms and legs out and extend
their fingers and then they'll retract back in
and cry. So these are all examples of primitive
reflexes. And these are really important because
if that baby then gets the movement that it requires,
If they start to, you know, roll, they start
to lift their head up, they start to explore
their environment. Those reflexes kind of integrate
back into the body and they're replaced with
much more voluntary movements, which is a really
important process. But if those babies don't
get that movement for whatever reason. you can
get these reflexes being kind of retained in
the body so they haven't integrated they're just
kind of sticking around and they can stick around
for life and interestingly we see this in the
neurodivergent population as well they often
have a lot of retained reflexes so one we need
the movement to kind of integrate them in the
first place but two Where there's just so many
children these days who do have these retained
reflexes, we really need to be getting a lot
of movement in, particularly that kind of early
developmental movement, to help them integrate
because that has a knock -on effect on skills
in later life. Again, like the attention, emotional
regulation, etc. So that's really why movement
is so important in those early years. Does that
kind of make sense? It does. It does. So interesting.
I do a course on intensive interaction and it's
exactly the same there where those primitive
reflexes teach us about reception and communication
skills. It's so interesting to know that it also
teaches us about movement. I had no idea. So
that makes so much sense why lots of our neurodivergent
and PMLD learners are. struggling in that area
or are less developed in that area and then are
therefore needing more why would a typically
developing child still need movement even in
year three four five six what might be happening
there the brain is just still developing and
movement is helping the brain kind of connect
up it's helping the brain talk to you know build
those pathways so we need movement for life but
it is very very crucial in childhood particularly
up to the age of seven but I say that but even
then you need a load of movement after that and
I think what I often find quite interesting is
I go into I've been into so many schools and
it's really always the same story and it's through
no fault of the school at all because it's just
the education system that we have currently,
but it's almost like at the moment it seems to
be a day full of academics and I get asked, how
do we add the movement in? But in my mind, it
should be a day full of movement and then we
think, okay, how do we add the academics in?
That is the dream, isn't it? And I feel like
that's what special education schools, well,
the ones that I run. well because it absolutely
is movement and regulation first absolutely like
without any what like wobbles at all like if
all of our children do in a week is regulate
and connect with others like we still see that
as a win you know and we still see that as learning
we don't say well they didn't learn anything
this week we still we like oh we learned this
this week like that it just is it's just set
to meet their basic care needs and then regulate
it's kind of like the order in which we would
do things the pyramid of learning and you can't
we literally follow it follow that through that's
a really good point actually sorry to cut you
off there the pyramid of learning is that explains
it really well why we need movement because if
you so if you imagine that pyramid you've got
the central nervous system at the very bottom
and that is our things like our reflexes and
then we've got the sensory systems we've got
our I'll tell you a little bit about the sensory
systems as we're there. So we've got eight sensory
systems, the five that we typically kind of all
know about. So our sight, touch, taste, hearing,
smell. And they typically tell us about the world
around us. And then we've got three that are
more about telling us what's going on inside
our body. So we've got proprioception, which
is a sense of... body awareness, kind of knowing
where we are in space, knowing how much force
to use in space. And it's a really important
sense in helping us feel grounded in ourselves
and as a person. Then we've got the vestibular
sense, which is our sense of balance and motion.
And that's all about kind of where our head is
moving through space. So that helps to keep us
nice and upright and brings us back to equilibrium
if we're kind of off balance. upside down if
we're seeing the children in white glass yeah
yeah always upside down yeah and actually that
has a very key role in arousal it's a vestibular
system and then you've got the interception system
which is picking up on those internal body cues
so that might be knowing when we're hungry or
thirsty, knowing when we need the toilet, when
we're in pain, when we're too hot or too cold.
And that plays a really key role in emotional
regulation as well, because if we don't know
how we're feeling inside our body, how do we
know what emotion we're feeling? And then how
do we know? I love the Pyramid of Learning. For
those that don't know, it's by Marianne Trott,
who's an occupational therapist. Look up the
Pyramid of Learning on my website or anywhere
on Google and you'll find it. And it really is
the fundamentals, isn't it? It really is the
foundations for everything else. And you'll see
above that, it goes to gross motor skills, fine
motor skills. And you'll see right at the top
there is managing their own behavior. And then
right at the top is academic learning. It can't
happen unless you've got all these fundamental
skills. And that is exactly what Maisie is talking
about. if we haven't learned these skills if
we haven't got them integrated we couldn't possibly
expect our young people to manage their bodies
manage their behaviors manage their feelings
in a safe way and certainly not academically
learn and I love that it's called academic learning
as well because there's learning all the way
through but that's spitting down academic learning
but so often schools are asking about young people
they couldn't possibly do those things. It's
very unrealistic to ask our young people to do
those things if they haven't learnt the other
star. Absolutely. Yeah, it just builds up and
up. It's like if you imagine a house, if you
build a house on a wobbly foundation, the rest
of the house is going to be wobbly. And it's
exactly the same. If those sensory systems aren't
well developed, then everything above it on that
pyramid is going to be quite patchy. And sometimes
the nervous system finds alternative routes around
and can kind of get those skills in a bit of
a strange way. But it's often a lot more effortful
for the child when that happens. And it often
results in kind of issues in later life. It could
be inappropriate or hurting. Yeah. You know,
we're seeing those either self -hurting or hurting
others. Perception was a classic example you
gave of knowing how much force to give. Yeah.
We see really tight hugs or really hard pushes
and they're just trying to play. And you can
see that all over the face. It's certainly not
malicious. But it's that not knowing or understanding
their own strength, their own force that's needed,
appropriate force. It's just classic. You know,
we see it all the time. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah,
it's a really important way to look at it. And
I think that's probably a real key message for
schools to take away is that if there is a child
in your class who... you know is struggling with
their academic learning or has got some behavioral
challenges I hate that word because you know
yeah absolutely still don't like that it's not
so whether we you know whether it challenges
us or not you know It's certainly not the child
that challenges. Exactly, exactly. And so I would
always encourage them, okay, go back down that
pyramid and figure out what's going on at the
bottom because that's often the missing piece
of the puzzle. And that might change. day to
day, minute by minute. They might have been fine
the day before. They might have been regulated
in their body. They might be managing their fine
motor skills. They might be managing their behavior,
their body and able to academically learn. And
then something happens. Maybe they're feeling
poorly. Maybe they are tired. Maybe something's
happened at home. You know, all of those things
can then take a backward step because it's so
fundamental, because regulation is so fundamental
to everything else. If we're not regulated. All
of a sudden, we can't do anything else. It's
just like that fight, fright, flee, freeze mode,
right? None of us can academically learn in that
mode. So if our students are feeling like that,
they're certainly not going to be ready to learn
either, even if they've learned all these things
and they could do them yesterday. Absolutely.
Regulation always has to come first. And yeah,
so the reason this kind of relates to movement
is that movement is so key for, first of all,
that reflex development. And then you move up
and it's so important for the development of
the vestibular and proprioceptive systems. And
they kind of come alive with movement. So if
you don't get enough of it, you're not stimulating
them enough. And it has that knock -on effect
on the rest of the pyramid. Do you feel like...
Everybody that works in offices that doesn't
get much movement and those kind of jobs, regardless
of neurodiversity or not, would benefit from
regular breaks. Absolutely. Yeah, I've been doing
a lot of reflecting on this recently, actually.
I recently went on some... I'm currently doing
some training called rhythmic movement training.
And within that, I discovered that I have a lot
of retained reflexes for whatever reason. I've
made the links and I can see how that impacts
me. And it might not. I mean, I'm generally quite
self -aware anyway, but some people might not
even notice that these little things impact their
daily life. And actually, if we could address
them through movement. life would feel so much
easier. On the inside and the outside of our
bodies, I can imagine, you know, I'm sure it
will affect mental health as well as physical
health. Yeah, absolutely. How long should we
be asking children to sit for then? Because unfortunately,
we haven't got a movement curriculum that we
can just sprinkle academic learning in. Unfortunately,
maybe one day when I'm prime minister or whatever.
But we haven't got it currently. So how long
should we be asking children to sit for? How
regular should these movement breaks be? It really
depends on age and the individual child. However,
I wouldn't necessarily think of it as movement
breaks as much as that's great as a starting
point. I would try and think, okay, we're learning
this today. How can we incorporate some movement
into that? So it's not about... You know, I see
children sitting there all for an hour listening,
sitting in their chair and, you know, they're
reminded to put their feet on the floor and turn
around. And it's really, really difficult to
do even as an adult. So that is far too long,
first of all. But again, it does depend on the
child. And I just would be interspersing it every
kind of. maybe even 10 minutes or so just some
kind of movement or having access to things that
can allow them to move so it might be that actually
we use more dynamic seating or we might have
access to things that they can fiddle with or
in fact seating is a whole other topic that I
could talk about for ages because that would
really make a big difference in children's ability
to focus but yeah it's just about opportunities
to stand opportunities to pace Even turning to
a partner and back again, even just that cross
-body movement could be really helpful. Yeah,
definitely. You know, if we're writing, why do
we need to be writing on a chair at a table in
horizontal? Why can't we have some paper up on
the wall and we can, I don't know, be in high
kneeling and do some writing or drawing like
that? And laying on the floor. Yeah, absolutely.
In fact, that's a really good point because tummy
time. We think of babies when you say tummy time.
Tummy time is so important for any age, I would
say. It's really good at integrating the proprioception
and vestibular systems. And in turn, it's developing
those other skills. If you can get your learners
on the floor on their tummies, not only is it
developing their sensory systems, it's developing
their core strength, their upper body strength,
their visual skills. It's just it's really good
position to be in. So it's not really any reason
why more activities couldn't be on the floor.
And the teachers, I suppose, that are struggling
to fit movement breaks in, well, you wouldn't
need to if it was embedded and integrated in
your lesson plans. Yeah. It wouldn't need to
be extra. I mean, ultimately, that is the goal
here, isn't it, is to have it so well integrated
that it just is and you don't have to think about
it as extra. Yeah. It's just there. Yeah, absolutely.
It is definitely a mindset shift and it's a whole
kind of culture shift that is really needed in
the education system. Because teachers, though,
even though we do have certain requirements and
curriculum to use, we still do in this country
have enough freedom. I would like to speak for
all teachers, but maybe some schools don't. But
certainly the ones that I've worked with and
have visited and worked in, teachers still have
enough. um autonomy to be able to do this um
if it just takes a little bit more thought I
guess yeah they might not feel like they have
enough time to add it to anything they're already
doing integrating it feels different to me I
still feel like teachers on the whole could if
they really wanted to spend the time learning
that muscle memory of kind of those and teaching
their class you know ways that we can do movement
I still feel like we've got autonomy to add that
in I think you just need to be really committed
to learning yourself and making that happen finding
ways of embedding that absolutely and I know
teachers are so overstretched and it almost feels
like another thing to do and another way to think.
And I do actually offer that. I know we'll talk
about kind of what I can offer, but I do offer
that as a service. If any teachers have a lesson
plan and they're not sure how to get movement
into it, you can send it to me and I will help
you. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about
that. It's the perfect time to move that and
to talk about that now. So what is that called
and how does that work? So it's a very kind of
relaxed service that I do at the moment. I just
offer that. So when teachers are writing their
lesson plans, if they don't have time, they don't
have the kind of the brain space, the energy
to be able to do that themselves, send it my
way and I will go through your lesson plan and
I will just write down ideas of what you could
do, where you could do it, what position to do
it in, how you could incorporate other fine motor
skills, gross motor skills. So it's a very kind
of... holistic approach on the learning and I
suppose once you've got that for one lesson plan
you could then very easily repeat that and it
will become easier the more you do it like all
of these things everything we learn becomes easier
the more we do it and then hopefully in three
it takes three weeks to make a habit right hopefully
in three weeks it will just be happening without
you having to really think about it absolutely
yeah or even if you just need some training around
what to do and why to do it then like a one -off
that can really help as well so I can be quite
flexible with what I can offer around that so
if you do have any teachers or school staff that
are interested do just get in touch and we can
have a chat about how I can help and offer that
sounds incredible be careful I have got a lot
of you might be inundated with 140 ,000 emails
asking you to look through their lesson plans
be very careful but no it's such a fantastic
offer because Teachers do really, really want
to get this right. Without a doubt. It's not
through lack of wanting. It's through lack of
energy, time, know -how. Access to occupational
therapists is a huge, it's a huge one. So being
able to just have access to you and your feedback
is crucial. It's kind of why I started this podcast
in the first place, just to allow access, you
know, to experts. So that's awesome that you
offer that. I suppose it goes along with asking
what happens to our learners if they can't access
this needed movement? I suppose that will answer
the why it's so important. What happens to their
bodies? What happens to their learning? What
happens to their brain? Yeah. So, I mean, you
can think of this in two ways, really. I like
to think of this with the kind of sensory cup
analogy. I don't know if you've heard that before.
So you can imagine that each of our sensory systems,
we have a different size cup for. So for instance,
a child who needs a lot of vestibular input,
a lot of movement input, might have a really,
really big cup for vestibular. And the aim is
we are trying to fill up the cup to the top so
they are regulated. without it overflowing when
it's overflowing they're overstimulated so it's
a fine art getting it full without tipping it
over and that same child might have a really
small cup for auditory so they might find loud
noises really really difficult to tolerate so
their auditory cup is actually very small it
will only take a tiny bit of input to fill up
that cup and make it overflow Whereas the movement
cup, they need loads and loads and loads and
loads because that threshold is very high. So
when we start to think about our learner's sensory
systems like cups, we can start to think about,
OK, what do we need to top up and what do we
need to empty? And if we're just focusing on
movement, we're probably thinking about that
vestibular cup and that proprioception cup. If
a child who has a very, very big vestibular cup
is not getting enough movement, they will not
be regulated. You regulated, I don't mean calm.
And I think this often gets you. Yeah. So regular.
We don't mean calm and sitting. Yeah. Yeah. Still.
That's what it means. Regulated doesn't mean
still. Absolutely. It doesn't mean still. It
means whatever nervous system state you need
to be in to do the task at hand. So, you know,
if you're just about to go to bed, you do need
to be in a calm state. So that would be calm.
That would be regulation at that point. But if
you are Christmas morning and you're just about
to open your presents. Yeah, absolutely. A regulated
state might be jumping and clapping and stimming
and... And stimming vocally and that would be
an appropriate regulated state. Absolutely. Yeah,
spot on. Or if you had to do, I don't know, an
interview or a test or something, you need to
be a little bit nervous because you need to be
at that level of alertness that is appropriate
for the activity. You're certainly not calm in
an interview state, are you? But you can feel
regulated and do things to make you feel more
grounded and more steady to listen to the question,
but you're certainly never calm. You're probably
needing to be still. But you're certainly not
calm. Yeah, that's a really, really great point.
Yeah. And also, sometimes your learners could
be still, but not regulated. They're not listening.
They're not focused. They're inside their own
heads. They're a complete in fawn or fright mode.
And they're still. They're certainly not regulated.
So, yeah, that's a really good point for teachers
to look around. Don't aim for still. Aim for
regulated. Absolutely. And that is a good point
that you raised is that I often will go into
a classroom and the teacher might say, oh, this
child is very regulated in the day. Or, you know,
parents have told me when they get home, they
kind of have a big meltdown and it all comes
out. That kind of after school restraint collapse,
we'd call it. So then I go into school and they
say, oh, he's very regulated at school. But actually,
no, he's very quiet, masking, quite tense, sitting
there. He might look regulated because he's not
bouncing around and kind of being disruptive
in any way. But that's not regulation. And I
suppose if you're adding that embedded movement
into his day, hopefully his cut point would be
so overflowing when he gets home that then he
gets, you know, it gets dangerous. Yes. or completely
overwhelmed and that happens so often I hear
it often It does. Yeah. And so when we think
about those cups, we are trying to fill them
up to the right level for that child. So if they're
not getting enough, they probably will seek it
in other ways, which are often quite unsafe and
aren't things that we want them to be doing in
the classroom. Or they will mask it. And like
you said, it will come out at home. And then
equally for those children that you often don't,
often not so much of an issue at school with
the children who need less movement. because
they usually are quite sedentary but you do have
to watch out for that in things like PE if you've
got a child with a very small vestibular cut
up you need to be careful about things like them
taking their feet off the floor or balancing
because that or kind of tipping their head back
because that could feel very very unsettling
for them and that can really trigger that fight
or flight response so I guess with the movement
it's about knowing what the children need and
that brings me on nicely to proprioception because
proprioception is almost a bit of a magic sense
if you want to call it that because it's really
good for most children and it's really regulating
for most children. You can't really overstimulate
with it and that's the type of movement that
I would love to see more of in. schools so what
would that look like in take your mainstream
average class you've got 33 kids one adult what
does it look like to have embedded proprioceptive
in your lesson yeah so the great thing about
proprioceptive input is it can kind of be as
creative as you want with it and use the children's
interests it's essentially anything that is going
to put resistance to the muscles and the joints
really so anything involving pulling or pushing
lifting or carrying chewing biting squeezing
so just if you're watching your learners always
think the nervous system knows what it needs
so really watch your learners and see what they're
doing chances are they're probably seeking some
proprioception along the way somewhere if they're
squeezing or pushing pulling so in a mainstream
classroom That could be carrying books, going
to get the register, carrying heavy things, pushing,
stacking the chairs at the end of the day. Things
like this, just tiny little things. Doesn't need
to be a big fidget or a... Yeah. I was just imagining
a child I was like how do my children do it and
I think they're getting a bit of vestibular I've
always seen it as vestibular but maybe it's proprioception
as well when they're rocking on their chair and
they're pushing the table yeah to get that rocking
motion I mean obviously I've always seen it as
rocking motion which would be vestibular but
maybe it is that resistance of the table as well
yeah in that proprioception I mean that would
be a great one I mean how many teachers have
said stop rocking on your chair It's such a great
regulation tool, isn't it, to be able to do that?
Absolutely, yeah. And you see it in mainstream
schools. Children will seek it in very subtle
ways. So to the untrained eye, you probably wouldn't
notice it, but they're doing little things with
their body. It could be stamping or tiptoe walking
even, couldn't it, feeling that resistance up
their legs. So I certainly see, I mean, God,
I can't. avoid seeing tiptoe walking on the playground
with our mainstream students and it just being
such a red flag to me that they're needing more
because obviously then that gives all bloody
pressure and resistance up your calves doesn't
it and they're not flapping and they're just
playing football whatever it is they're doing
but I'm just seeing that slight tiptoe walk and
that is just That's a really key thing to look
out for. And just being particularly stampy as
well, I find, just gives that resistance when
they're walking. We all know those kind of children
that stamp down the corridor or run their hand
along the wall as they're walking to assembly
that cannot keep their hands down. It's all of
those little tells, isn't it? is yeah you have
to put on your detective hat and just have a
look at what your learners are doing and really
think what is that giving them how would that
feel in their body even do it yourself kind of
mimic it and see how that feels because it's
providing the body with something and the key
is figuring out what that is and then putting
in something that can replace that in a more
kind of adaptive way yeah is so so obviously
we would ideally have individual approaches for
every single child but i know teachers listen
to this or think well that's impossible and turn
it off you know that but then i suppose proprioception
if you're thinking about that if if you can do
as much of that for the most part without getting
overstimulated maybe that's a good place to start
for a one size helps most help all kind of approach
is looking at that resistance because If they
don't need it, they can't get overstimulated
with it. So it's fine. It's still movement. But
if they do need it, then it's putting that stuff
in. So maybe when we're looking at whole class
approaches, you know, it's better than nothing.
Yeah. Maybe start with those approaches. So if
we're thinking about sensory circuits or whole
class movement dances or movement breaks or play
-doh, whatever it is that you're doing as a whole
class to get that movement in. Great. Fantastic.
We love that. We'd way rather that than nothing.
yeah but maybe start thinking about that resistance
because it probably will help most as a kind
of blanket rule and then maybe you could get
some individual stuff in there as well definitely
it's always always my first what after environment
proprioception is environment is very key proprioception
is the thing that I would get in there without
I mean I don't really even need to see the class
I can just say have you tried proactively and
that's the key thing putting heavy work input
throughout the day we don't want to wait till
the children are already dysregulated because
by that point you're just giving them another
thing to process it needs to be this proactive
approach let's get that in first nine times out
of ten it results in a class full of regulated
children and you don't need anything else. So
it's a really, really good one to think about.
Yeah, and I want to be fair as well. We're coming
from decades of experience of adding this. So
for us both, it is muscle memory to just do those
things. But I suppose some people listening to
this may have never done it before. So I suppose
maybe just think in your first lesson of the
day. think about adding one thing in for the
week just add one thing into your first lesson
every day and then build up to it you know I've
got 16 years of doing this I don't want you to
feel like you have to know it all and then it'd
be overwhelming I'd way rather you do one thing
and add that in see the impact experiment like
you said put your detective hat on does this
work do they need more right okay and then when
you feel comfortable with that when your class
are ready with that then add something else and
then maybe by the end of the year think how where
you'd be you know you might have integrated it
throughout your year and it will feel easy to
you so don't feel like you have to do all of
this on day one I'd write way rather you do it
once absolutely yeah the last thing I would ever
want to do is make teachers or school staff feel
any more overwhelmed than they already feel and
I feel very passionately about that I really
don't want to add to the workload um so yeah
like you said do it very slowly do it very small
things build up and you'll start to see over
a period of time the difference and it will just
become second nature and also if you can get
the staff involved as well it helps everyone's
nervous system so everyone will start to get
the benefit of that and really i'm a huge advocate
for that no one is standing around watching everybody
yeah you'll always get that one same team member
behind the ipad like taken an observation come
on now you're dancing to footloose just as much
as the rest of us come on now exactly yeah exactly
right people are gonna want to know how to get
hold of you especially for the lesson plans but
for everything else you offer so you do you it's
magic moves isn't it that you do it's a movement
-based program for schools and a six -month program
for parents do you want to talk about that a
little bit Yeah, so my school's program is called
Magic Moves. It's a movement program. So it's
essentially 40 weeks of movement videos that
tell a story. So each week is a different story.
So maybe week one might be jungle theme, week
two might be under the sea or whatever. And each
day builds upon the story. Every video... is
only about five minutes long so it's about five
minutes a day it's really great for a movement
break and all the movements are those early developmental
movements plus proprioceptive input plus interoception
as well so it helps children tune into themselves
so it's essentially a program that I pulled together
because I It was everything I want to kind of
see happen in schools that I say over and over
and over again. And I thought, actually, why
couldn't I bring this all together and do it
in a really fun story based way? It's a pre -recorded
thing that you could either play on your whiteboard
or play at home whenever you need that really
rich, well put together movement break. Yeah.
Or movement. It'd be a really good thing to play.
That's awesome. I love the sound of that. you've
also got calm the chaos as well can you tell
us a little bit yes sure in fact actually before
i talk about calm the chaos i might just say
on that you can also add other bits so i i also
do sensory champion training so i like training
kind of one or two or a few staff in a school
to be almost sensory champions so they are kind
of the sensory lead for that school and it's
quite an intensive training that I do with them
and intensive support and they have a lot of
access to me and it helps filter down those kind
of sensory bits throughout the whole school.
It really adds it then in the whole school. Yeah
absolutely and I think it's quite a empowering
role for a member of staff to have as well especially
when you start seeing the kind of impact of it.
And I'm sure every headteacher or SENCO listening
to this can immediately think of somebody in
their school that would be a great advocate,
that's already a great advocate, really harness
that interest and really boost out the skills
in you to get everybody else levelled up, I suppose.
Absolutely. And what's lovely about that is we
also have a monthly. Q &A session for all the
sensory champions so all the staff from the different
schools can come together and talk about what
they're doing in their school and it's a really
nice kind of networking opportunity as well so
that's been really lovely and then I've got my
parent program which is Calm the Chaos so it's
a six month quite intensive support package again
because working in previous roles I was never
able to give families the level of support that
they needed and the kind of long period of time
that they needed to embed things and just to
have someone there for them so I've developed
that so I can kind of feel a bit like a family
member to them and they can just rely on me when
they need me yeah absolutely and I'm with them
every step of the way and so in that you've got
some coaching with me you've got training videos
based on your child's needs you've got sensory
screenings you've got support for the school
you've got the movement videos um there's a lot
in it and it's quite an intensive package but
it's really wanted it to just feel like a hug
for a family and it's to support the whole family
and I can help with multiple children I can even
help adults understand their own sensory needs
so those are my two um main packages really.
Oh that's they sound incredible and it's so what's
needed like I said I mean I'm in Cornwall and
getting access to anybody is so so difficult
that's if you know what you're even after you
know so often it's so difficult to even know
who you need in the therapy kind of world so
that sounds amazing and I would say from my experience
of working with a load of different experts regulation
is first. So if you're struggling with any other
areas, behaviour, communication, whatever it
is, eating, everything, all comes back down to
regulation. So I would say, I would advocate
that it's a really good place to start if you're
unsure. Yeah, 100%. Regulation before everything.
I will die on that hill. I mean... Everyone will
expect you to say that because you're an occupational
therapist. Occupational therapists say that.
So I've just got to put my thing as well. I agree.
I'm a special education teacher. I teach lots
of different things. I speak to lots of different
people. And I agree with you that regulation
is key. It has to come first. It really, really
does. Without that, you can't hope you could
have the best systems in the world. You can have
the best communication, iPad and training and
expertise in the world. It will not. support
in the as well as it can do unless your children
are regulated so yeah I definitely I would die
on that hill too thank you if you want to contact
Maisie I'm sure you all will with your lesson
plans now see her website or her instagram which
is at sensory .ot .uk thank you so much Maisie
for your time and for joining us today thank
you so much for having me it's been really great
and I really appreciate you having me on the
podcast Thank you.