Occupational therapy

Sensory processing and your child’s day

Every child takes in information through their senses and has to make sense of it — noise, light, touch, movement, taste and smell, plus the two senses most people never hear about: where the body is in space, and the balance system in the inner ear.

Some children find that information overwhelming, some do not seem to register enough of it, and many are a mix depending on the sense and the day. Our occupational therapists help families across Springfield and Ipswich understand what their child’s sensory world is like and set up days that work with it rather than against it.

Request an appointment

The senses we look at

  • Touch — clothing tags, seams, textures, hair brushing, messy play, light touch versus firm
  • Sound — hand dryers, assemblies, busy classrooms, background noise
  • Sight — fluorescent lighting, visually busy rooms, screens
  • Taste and smell — a common driver of food refusal, which we work on alongside our dietitians
  • Proprioception — the sense of where the body is and how much force it is using; this is why some children crash, squeeze and lean
  • Vestibular — movement and balance; why some children never stop spinning and others will not leave the ground
  • Interoception — noticing internal signals like hunger, thirst, needing the toilet, or the body’s early warning signs of distress

Signs you might notice

  • Covering ears, or distress in noisy or crowded places
  • Strong reactions to clothing, labels, socks, haircuts or nail cutting
  • Avoiding messy play, or conversely seeking out mess constantly
  • Constant movement — climbing, crashing, bumping into people and furniture
  • Seeming not to notice pain, temperature, or a full nappy
  • A very narrow range of accepted foods, driven by texture or smell
  • Meltdowns after school that seem out of proportion to the trigger
  • Difficulty settling to sleep, or being woken by things others sleep through

How our occupational therapists help

We start by building a picture of your child’s sensory preferences across a whole day, then work on three fronts at once. We change the environment where we can, because removing an unnecessary trigger is the cheapest win available. We build in regular, planned sensory input that suits your child, rather than waiting for things to go wrong and reacting. And we gradually widen tolerance where a sensitivity is genuinely getting in the way of ordinary life.

We are careful about what we claim here. Sensory strategies help children get through their day more comfortably; they are not a treatment for an underlying condition, and we will say so plainly rather than overselling. Many of the children we see this way are also autistic or have ADHD, and the work sits alongside, not instead of, support for those.

What sessions might look like

Movement, resistance and deep pressure, usually disguised as play — swinging, climbing, pushing and pulling heavy things, obstacle courses, and quiet spaces to come down in. Then the part that matters most: working out with you what to lift out of the clinic and into your actual week, school mornings and bedtimes included.

We also help your child build words for what they are feeling, so that over time they can ask for what they need instead of reaching a crisis.

What an assessment involves

A sensory assessment builds a profile of how your child responds across each sense, in the places that matter. It is usually one appointment plus questionnaires completed by you and, with your permission, by educators.

  1. Your history and concerns. What a hard day looks like, what a good day looks like, and what you have already tried.
  2. Standardised sensory questionnaires. Completed by you, and where useful by your child’s educator, so we can compare home and school.
  3. Observation in play. Watching what your child seeks out, avoids and tolerates when they have a free choice.
  4. A day-in-the-life map. Walking through a typical day hour by hour to find the pinch points — usually mornings, transitions and the end of the school day.
  5. Trigger and recovery patterns. What tips your child over, how long recovery takes, and what actually shortens it.
  6. A look at sleep, mealtimes and self-care. These are where sensory differences bite hardest in family life.
  7. Environment review. The classroom, the bedroom and the car, because changing a setting often beats changing a child.

We will talk you through what we found in plain language, show you what it means day to day, and agree the first goals with you before any therapy starts.

Where we see children

  • In our Springfield clinic
  • At home
  • At daycare, kindy or school
  • In the community

Related pages

Frequently asked questions

Is “sensory processing disorder” a real diagnosis?

It is not a standalone diagnosis in the main diagnostic manuals, and we do not diagnose it. What is well recognised is that sensory differences are real, are common in autistic and ADHD children, and affect daily life. We describe what we observe, we help you work with it, and we are careful not to claim more than the evidence supports.

Will a weighted blanket or a sensory swing fix this?

Equipment can be useful as part of a plan, and some children clearly settle with deep pressure. But the evidence for any single piece of equipment as a treatment is weak, and they are expensive. We would rather trial something properly and see whether it earns its place before you spend money on it.

My child is fine at school and falls apart at home. Why?

Very commonly because holding it together all day takes everything they have, and home is the safe place where it finally comes out. It is not a sign that you are doing something wrong. It usually responds to reducing demands in that first hour home and building in recovery time, rather than to more consequences.

Ready to make the day feel more manageable?

We’ll partner with you to create a plan that works for your family — with access, empathy and hope.

Request an appointment Occupational therapy

Or call 0480 841 300 · hello@accesstotherapy.com.au