The first Sensory Ladders were made in 2001 for adults with sensory integration difficulties receiving help with mental health difficulties in Cornwall. Influenced by the paediatric Alert Program, they offered therapists a way to combine Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Ayres’ Sensory Integration, addressing the development of the person’s self-awareness in collaboration with ward staff on an…
Category: Occupational Therapy
Ayres’ Sensory Integration and the great outdoors
The “just right challenge: for this plucky young lady. She clearly likes the sensory input these activities are providing to her body and brain. These are exactly the outdoor sensory system challenging opportunities afforded by climbing trees and jumping streams that Jean Ayres’ wanted to recreate in her therapy spaces. For those of us lucky enough to…
All About Ayres’ Sensory Integration
When a person registers, processes and responds to sensory input we call this Sensory Integration (Ayres 1972). Sensory Integration happens when a person uses sensory input from inside their own body and from the world around them to understand the world, what just happened, is happening and what might happen next. When sensory integration and…
Research Update: What is Ayres’ Sensory Integration Therapy(ASI) and what is not? Do not believe everything you read – ASI shows promise as an intervention for those with Autism.
It is so disappointing to once again read research about Ayres’ Sensory Integration purporting to examine ASI versus other therapies, reporting ASI does not have an effect. This is especially important when there is an evidence for ABA, the behavioural intervention in these studies possibly resulting in trauma. 2011 – Comparison of Behavioral Intervention and…
Evidence-Based Guidelines for Occupational Therapy Using Ayres Sensory Integration
ICEASI has recommended education standards for competency to practice Ayres Sensory Integration. AOTA have published an article, including the table below, in their publication OT Practice in 2017 discussing this in more detail. Sadly the full article is not accessible to those who are not AOTA members. This publication makes recommendations for international education standards for Ayres’…
Changing lives with trauma; Sensory Ladders, Sensory Strategies and Ayres’ Sensory Integration
Last week I found a copy of a therapy review that a young person wrote a few years ago. “My sensory me is about me – and only me. It’s not about anybody else. It helps me be me. I don’t worry about what other people think I should be. I am starting to like me…
About Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Ayres Sensory Integration
This feature article was written by Claire Smith, one of the first UK OT’s to deliver Sensory Integration alongside Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). I am delighted to introduce Claire to you, as she was one of the first people I ever lectured about how to apply Sensory Integration’s in Mental Health. That was way back…
Why how a child moves, stands and sits is essential to eating and more
Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists and Speech and Langauge Therapists practicing Ayres SI are frequently asked about eating difficulties; this is a common feature of sensory integration difficulties for many young babies and children. Sensory and motor based eating issues require a whole child approach, starting with how a child moves and sits. Adequate and stable postural…
When trauma occurs, the brain changes
Bessel A. van der Kolk M.D. is a clinical researcher who integrates developmental, neurobiological, psychodynamic and interpersonal aspects of the impact of trauma and it’s treatment. Learn a bit more from him about how perceptual changes happen because of trauma, and how this impacts on engaging with ordinary situations, focus as well as attention. Hear how this can impact…
Developing self-regulation is important
Many children may have difficulties with self-regulation, especially those who have had tricky starts; including from traumatic illness, accident, trauma or neglect. Increasingly OT’s are using Ayres’ Sensory Integration in combination with CBT( Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), adapted DBT (Dialectical Behavioural Therapy) and Attachment based approaches in CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental health Services) and other paediatric roles to assess…
Ayres’ Sensory Integration Evidence 