Do you know that you don't like bright lights, or loud noises, or tags in your clothes, and suspect there's more to it than that, but are not quite sure how to figure out how it all impacts you on a day-to-day basis? And do you struggle to explain to others why that matters?

Learning to recognize when a sensory experience is effecting your mood, concentration, or comfort, is the first step to building a sensory life that works for you, not against you. The second step is communicating that in a way that helps other people understand, so they can help you make things better.

Because it does matter. Every living person experiences the world through their senses, all day, every day, but we generally don't learn much about our senses past kindergarten. 

In this class, we're going to explore the eight most common senses (yes eight, not just five), some simple techniques to figure out for yourself how they impact you, how to talk to other people (parents, teachers, extended family, peers online and off) about what you're experiencing and what you need to function at your best.

This class is designed for teens whose sensory processing differs from the perceived norm, who identify as Autistic, highly sensitive persons, SPDers, and anyone who simply wants to understand their own sensory experiences better. All are welcome.


—•—•—•— What to expect in this class —•—•—•—

Exploring your senses this way is actually not that hard once you get the hang of it. It's even easier with a guide to help you get started asking useful questions, showing you how to get to know your own sensory experiences better.

Week 1: Intro to sensory exploration, why it matters, how to become a sensory detective. Introduce the idea that you can communicate your needs better.
Week 2: Vision/seeing
This includes your experience with different colors, lights, busy or minimalist spaces, reading, etc.
Week 3: Auditory/hearing 
This includes loud and soft noises, how many noises, sudden vs expected noises, etc.
Week 4: Touch/feel
This includes clothes touching your skin, temperature, firm vs light hugs, textures, etc.
Week 5: Taste/mouth 
This includes taste, the intensity of flavors, textures of foods, brushing teeth, the dentist, etc.
Week 6: Olfactory/smell 
This includes pleasant versus unpleasant odors, intensity of odors, how long they last, etc.
Week 7: Proprioception 
This includes how you can tell where your body is in space, whether you bump into things, can catch balls, etc.
Week 8: Interoception 
This includes your internal sense of hunger, tiredness, the need to go to the bathroom, etc.
Week 9: Vestibular
This includes how easily you get nauseated or comforted by movement, swinging, spinning around, reading in a car, motion sickness, etc. Recap of takeaways from the whole class.
Other topics integrated throughout all classes: How to integrate your new sensory understand into your life, how to ask for sensory accommodations when you need them (from teachers, friends, etc.) so that you're more likely to get a helpful response. 

We'll spend some time each class talking about one of the senses, then start to explore common situations in day-to-day life that use that sense. Questions will start with big picture ideas like bright lights and loud noises, and get increasingly detailed to guide learners to think about the various ways their personal sensory experience may be different from that of others, and the effects of that in their own lives.

Between classes, learners will get a handout of additional questions that they can use for further reflection, and to talk to family about if they wish. When we meet for the next class, we'll share some observations that learners found most interesting, and then move on to the next sense.

We will also discuss how to use the information gleaned to communicate your needs with others. Because often even small changes can improve your quality of life. For example, when you become aware that a fan is bothering you, you can turn it off, or move to a different room, or get a quieter fan. It's not being picky or needy, it is finding the things that are sucking your energy and adapting them to be less of an energy drain. When you spend a lot of your energy fending off your physical environment, you don't have the energy to learn and grow and be social and do all of the things that you want to do in life.

This type of inquiry isn't particularly difficult, and once learners get the hang of it, they can continue it on their own long after the class is over.


—•—•—•— Why I made this class —•—•—•—

I grew up knowing that I was sensitive to lights and loud noises and tags in my clothes and a few other things, but did not realize the extent that my sensory differences were impacting my life until I spent some time really delving deeply into how I experience day-to-day touch and smells and colors and all the other senses that make up our experience of the world.

It shocked me how much energy I was using to deal with things that other people seemed to think were no big deal. It also surprised me how easy it was to make small improvements that made big differences in my life. 

But the biggest shock was that other people didn't seem to mind my simple requests. I had so much anxiety around asking for what I needed, because when I was little I had been labeled as stubborn or picky or needy, so I had stopped asking. I had stopped thinking that anything could be different, or than it even should be. It took time, and a lot of positive experiences, for my anxiety to lower, but it has lowered considerably, as I learned how to ask for accommodations in ways that other people responded positively to.

You don't have to reinvent the wheel. I've spent years helping others figure out their own sensory profiles. In this class, you will learn these simple techniques for yourself.


—•—•—•— A few other notes —•—•—•—

This class is a welcoming place for diverse learning and communication styles. Students are welcome to participate with camera on or off, to communicate via chat or voice or listen quietly, to move around or doodle or stimm, and to request accommodations as needed.

This group is a welcoming place for LGBTQIA+ teens (cis, trans, nonbinary, and gender expansive teens welcome), for teens on and around the autism spectrum (no diagnosis needed), and teens with sensory processing differences, highly sensitive persons, and anyone else wishing to understand their sensory profile better.

This is not intended as therapy or medical intervention of any sort. It is a recognition that each of us have a different and unique sensory experience of the world, which is valid and good, and teaches a way to start exploring your own experiences in more detail and you may have before.

The questionnaires for each profile were developed entirely by myself, over the course of years of experience working with teenagers and adults on the autism spectrum and with sensory differences. My own sensory exploration started with several excellent books on sensory differences (authors include Shannon Heller, PhD, Rachael Schneider, MA, MHC, and Elaine Aron, PhD), and with the guidance of occupational therapists trained in sensory integration, yet these resources didn't satisfy my curiosity for how all of my day-to-day interactions affected me. As a professional sensory coach, I developed the questionnaires to help my clients get more detailed information on their own day-to-day sensory experiences more easily.