The information below is particularly relevant for practitioners working with children in the early years or those at a similar developmental stage. ‘Practitioners need to decide what they want children in their setting to learn, and the most effective ways to teach it.
Practitioners must stimulate children’s interests, responding to each child’s emerging needs and guiding their development through warm, positive interactions coupled with secure routines for play and learning.’ (Early Years Foundation Stage EYFS 1.16)
Sensory processing refers to the way in which an individual registers, processes and responds to sensory input from the environment. It can affect how the brain pays attention and learns and is linked with the ability to self-regulate.
Websites
The Children’s Integrated Therapies Oxfordshire website offers practical strategies and advice for supporting children with sensory processing differences.
Self-help resources
The SENDCO Helpdesk is a free early advice service that can discuss concerns at an individual or whole school/setting level. It is aimed to help support SENDCOs (or practitioners supporting SEND in early years) to consider the next steps when implementing the Graduated Response so that the needs of children with SEND are met as early as possible.
The Inclusive support - Sensory processing is a strengths-based tool, used to help identify reasonable adjustments which support inclusive practices. An Early Years version will be available by October 2025.
The Children’s Integrated Therapies website offers practical advice, resources and activities for children who may experience difficulties with the following:
- Brushing Teeth
- Eating
- Busy Environments
- Hair Care
- Dressing
- Sleep advice
- Sensory - oral skill development
- Sensory - touch
- Sensory - auditory sensitivities
- Movement breaks with a peanut ball
Training
Introduction to supporting sensory processing differences in the Early Years This session was developed by a Lead Specialist Children’s Community Occupational Therapist and takes a practical approach to considering how you can support children in your setting with sensory processing differences.
Sensory Processing: What it is and why it matters The RISE (Research and Improvement for SEND Excellence) Programme, offers a free e-learning course on sensory processing, covering sensory systems, practical applications, and sensory environments.
Understanding Behaviour in the Early Years Understand what children may be communicating through their behaviour. Gain a deeper understanding of children’s social and emotional development, and the factors influencing this. Find out how to provide, develop and maintain an emotionally secure provision for all children.
Specialist support in setting
A Single Point of Request for Involvement (SPORFI) (docx format, 170KB) is a multiagency form used to request support from various educational and health teams for children under 5 with special educational needs and/or disabilities. For further information see the Single Point of Request for Involvement (SPORFI) Flowchart (pdf format, 200KB).
Complete the SPORFI form (docx format, 500KB) to make a request. Services that can be requested include:
- Speech and Language Therapy
- Speech and Language Therapy (feeding)
- Physiotherapy
- Occupational Therapy
- Early Years SEND team
- SENSS – Physical Disability
The Occupational Therapy service helps children participate in everyday life and become as independent as practically possible at school and at home. The service provides assessments, advice, activity programmes and therapy for children with a range of physical or developmental conditions that affect their daily life.
The Early Years SEND Advisory team work with individual children under 5 years of age who have complex learning, communication and/or social interaction differences. Individual children can be referred using an Early Support SPORFI form (docx format, 585Kb). Support is given to the family and/or the child’s early years setting or nursery class in collaboration with other agencies from education, health and social care.
The Early Years SEND Advisory team also provide universal and targeted support to Oxfordshire early years settings and schools in order to promote effective inclusion of children with SEND. Settings and schools can use the SENDCO Helpdesk to ask for ‘no names’ advice and targeted setting support.
Health Visiting Services offer support to families at home and in the community from pre-birth until the child turns 8 years old. See information on how Health Visiting and early years settings working together.
The Speech and Language Therapy service support children and young people who have speech, language and communication difficulties to develop the best possible communication skills that they can. For some, this might be spoken communication, and for others it might be learning to use a communication aid, or an approach based on signs, symbols or gestures. Speech and Language Therapists also assess, treat and advise on eating, drinking and swallowing problems.
Early Help Children’s Services Early help refers to the collaborative approach taken by all services working with children and families to provide support for a family before problems escalate. Accessing early help can address potential issues and improve outcomes for children, young people, and families. More information can be found on Early Help Children's Services.
The Communication and Interaction team is a countywide Special Educational Needs (SEN) teaching and advisory support service for schools supporting children from reception age onwards.
The Behaviour Inclusion team offer guidance, advice and support to aid inclusion of children in school-age classes with SEMH needs, preventing suspension and exclusion and supporting reintegration into education. Advice from Behaviour Inclusion Officers can be accessed via the SENDCO Helpdesk or the schools linked Exclusion and Reintegration Officer to support a referral.