Physical and sensory development 

At Field End Infant School, we support children with their physical and sensory development. Some children with physical and sensory needs may have difficulties with: 

• Fine motor skills 

• Gross motor skills 

• Visual perception  

• Self-care skills  

• Sensory processing 

What will every child access as part of their day-to-day learning? 

Within all classrooms, staff ensure that there is high quality, inclusive teaching for the children within the classroom. Below are some of the things teachers consider when planning learning:   

• Quality first teaching   

• Multisensory teaching approaches 

• Purposeful seating arrangement 

• Physical – visual – abstract concept used within learning   

• Opportunities to support and facilitate early play skills  

• Physical and visual prompts to support language 

• Working Walls 

• Visual timetables to help children understand the structure of the day  

If my child is struggling, what additional support might they be able to access in school?  

Some children may need ongoing support with their physical and sensory development. This might be due to a specific learning difficulty such as hearing loss, vision loss or due to a moderate or severe learning difficulty. We use a range of teaching strategies and make adjustments in the learning environment / lessons to ensure children’s needs are catered for.  

For children that require additional support, we run a range of interventions and use additional resources such as:  

• Move ‘n’ sit cushions 

• Theraputty  

• Gross motor support groups 

• Sensory room  

• Fine motor support groups 

• Handwriting support  

If my child has more complex needs, how might the school make provision for them?  

If a child has physical or sensory needs, the school will be in regular communication with the child’s parent / carer to ensure both home and school are working in partnership to support the child.  

Sometimes the school or parent / carer might feel a child would benefit from the support of an external agency and with parental / carer consent, a referral might be made for the child to be assessed by someone such as a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist, audiologist or a member of the vision impairment team. If a child does require additional external agency support, where possible, members of staff will attend the sessions with the therapist to ensure the activities can be continued throughout the week. 

Useful Websites:  

Tiny Happy people offers support and strategies on a variety of topics including children's physical development: 

National Autistic Society gives further information, videos and resources about Autism; in particular differences in sensory sensitivity that can be experienced by people with autism: 

Hillingdon Children's Integrated Service (CITS) provides advice sheets and videos on how to support your child at home.