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Physical and/or Sensory Needs

Sensory and/or Physical:

Some examples of sensory and physical needs include:

Hearing Impairments:

In educational settings, pupils are typically considered to have a Hearing Impairment if they require hearing aids or adaptions to their learning environment in order to access the National Curriculum.

Visual Impairment:

In general, a Visual Impairment is defined as an eyesight problem that cannot be corrected with glasses, contact lenses, or surgery.

In educational settings there a few different terms that may be used including partially sighted, low vision, legally blind, and totally blind to describe the level of sight a student has and help determine the adaptations that they may benefit from.

Sensory Processing Difficulties:

Children with sensory processing difficulties may be sensory avoiders, or sensory seekers. This can result in them avoiding certain experiences or becoming anxious or overwhelmed by sensory input. It can also cause children to seek out sensory input, for example by making repeated movements, chewing items or fiddling. Sensory processing issues are particularly common among Autistic pupils, and providing a learning environment that meets these needs will enable pupils to learn more easily and improve wellbeing.