Minimise sensory challenges
Help ākonga to be successful in the learning environment by understanding and minimising sensory challenges.
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Understand and manage sensory differences
Understand and manage sensory differences
- Understand how the student is affected by different types of sensory input.
- Understand behaviour triggers such as sensitivity to sounds, lighting, tastes, colours, smells, textures or fabrics.
- Develop the student’s awareness of their sensory challenges and strategies to cope with overload and anxiety.
- Develop and share systems to identify and manage the early stages of sensory overload.
Find out about sensory challenges and preferences
Find out about sensory challenges and preferences
Closed Captions
Prepare your learning spaces
Prepare your learning spaces
- Allocate the student a dedicated, quiet, low traffic seating area so they can concentrate.
- Create a quiet, low sensory space in your room where the student can go at any time.
- Design the furniture and use room dividers such as bookcases and cabinets to create zones that reduce sensory challenges.
- Consider sensitivities, for example, seat a child who is light sensitive away from windows.
- Offer the student a breakout area for when the classroom is overwhelming, for example an outdoor area, breakout room or home base.
- Keep the classroom consistently organised in terms of furniture and spaces. Signal and prepare the student for reorganisation of spaces.
- Consider specialised furniture such as a rocking chair or bean bag to help with calming
- Provide earphones or ear plugs to block out disturbing sounds for students with auditory sensitivity.
Recognise the onset of sensory overload
Recognise the onset of sensory overload
Always monitor the impact of the sensory landscape of your learning space.
Ask for feedback from students.
Closed Captions
Design the day to meet the student's unique needs
Design the day to meet the student's unique needs
Each student will have different needs so collaborate with the ākonga, whānau and the school team to:
- Reduce daily choices and decisions by creating a predictable personalised timetable.
- Design a timetable to suit the learner with regular quiet or low sensory times during the day. For example use of breakout spaces, a walk outside or additional quiet play period.
- Limit the number of different people the student needs to interact with and the time spent with larger or noisy groups of students.
- Use Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to provide flexible learning options to suit your students.
- Design transition signals and consider personalised systems. For example timers, music, traffic light systems.
See our Planning innovative learning environments (ILEs) for more information.
Next steps
More suggestions for implementing the strategy “Key areas of support”:
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Strategies for action:
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Identify needs and how to provide supportShow suggestions for Identify needs and how to provide support
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Key areas to supportShow suggestions for Key areas to support
- Support communication
- Foster social interaction
- Minimise sensory challenges
- Support positive behaviour
- Support self-management
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Helpful classroom strategies years 1-8Show suggestions for Helpful classroom strategies years 1-8
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Helpful classroom strategies years 9-13Show suggestions for Helpful classroom strategies years 9-13
