Skip to main content
Kent Academic Repository

The sensory school: working with teachers, parents and pupils to create good sensory conditions

Martin, Nicola, Milton, Damian, Krupa, Joanna, Brett, Sally, Bulman, Kim, Callow, Danielle, Copeland, Fiona, Cunningham, Laura, Ellis, Wendy, Harvey, Tina, and others. (2019) The sensory school: working with teachers, parents and pupils to create good sensory conditions. Advances in Autism, 5 (2). pp. 131-140. ISSN 2056-3868. (doi:10.1108/AIA-09-2018-0034) (KAR id:73446)

Abstract

Purpose: An alliance of schools and researchers formed a collaborative community of practice in order to understand and improve the sensory school environment for pupils on the autistic spectrum, and incorporate the findings into school improvement planning. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach: Representatives of special and mainstream schools in South London and a team of researchers formed the project team, including an autistic researcher. The researchers and a named staff member from each of the schools met regularly over the course of 18 months in order to work on an iterative process to improve the sensory experience pupils had of the school environment. Each school completed sensory audits and observations, and was visited by members of the research team. Parents were involved via meetings with the research team and two conferences were organised to share findings.

Findings: Useful outcomes included: developing and sharing of good practice between schools; opportunities for parents of autistic pupils to discuss their concerns, particularly with someone with insider perspective; and exploration of creative ways to achieve pupil involvement and the idea that good autism practice has the potential to benefit all pupils. A resource pack was produced for the schools to access. Plans are in place to revisit the initiative in 12 months’ time in order to ascertain whether there have been long-term benefits.

Originality/value: Projects building communities of practice involving autistic people as core team members are rare, yet feedback from those involved in the project showed this to be a key aspect of shared learning.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1108/AIA-09-2018-0034
Uncontrolled keywords: Communities of practice, Collaboration, Autism, Parents, School environment, Sensory sensitivities
Subjects: H Social Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research > Tizard
Depositing User: Damian Milton
Date Deposited: 10 Apr 2019 11:27 UTC
Last Modified: 04 Mar 2024 19:04 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/73446 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.