NDIS Sensory Processing Assessments
Available across Greater Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, the Gold Coast, and Toowoomba.
Sensory processing affects how a person notices, understands, and responds to information from their body and the environment.
People Centred Therapies provides individualised sensory assessments for NDIS participants across different life stages. Our occupational therapists explore how sensory processing patterns may affect regulation, attention, comfort, behaviour, relationships, everyday activities, and participation.
The assessment findings are used to develop practical strategies, environmental adjustments, and recommendations suited to the participant’s needs, goals, routines, and circumstances.
What Is Sensory Processing?
Sensory processing is the way the nervous system receives information from the body and the environment, organises and interprets that information, and produces a response.
People experience sensory information differently. A person may notice certain sensations very quickly, respond strongly to them, seek additional sensory input, or have difficulty noticing sensory information that other people detect more readily.
Sensory processing differences may affect how a person feels, moves, communicates, regulates their emotions, completes daily activities, interacts with others, and participates across different environments.
What Is a Sensory Processing Assessment?
A sensory processing assessment is an occupational therapy assessment of how a participant receives and responds to sensory information during everyday life.
The assessment considers the participant’s sensory preferences, sensitivities, regulation needs, routines, environments, interests, strengths, and functional challenges.
It may explore:
Sensory experiences that support calmness, alertness, or engagement
Sensory experiences that cause discomfort, distress, or withdrawal
Situations in which the participant seeks additional sensory input
Sensory information the participant may not readily notice
The effect of sensory processing on daily activities
Differences across home, community, education, employment, and social settings
Strategies already being used by the participant or support network
Environmental changes that may improve comfort and participation
The purpose is not simply to assign a sensory-processing label. It is to understand how the participant’s sensory patterns affect their everyday life and identify practical supports.
When May a Sensory Assessment Be Helpful?
A sensory assessment may be helpful when sensory experiences appear to affect the participant’s regulation, comfort, safety, or participation in everyday activities.
The participant becomes overwhelmed in busy or noisy environments
Particular sounds, textures, lights, smells, tastes, or movements cause discomfort or distress
The participant frequently seeks movement, pressure, touch, sound, or oral input
The participant appears not to notice important sensory information
Sensory needs affect personal care, dressing, eating, or sleep
The participant has difficulty remaining alert, calm, or engaged
Sensory experiences affect education, employment, or community access
Sensory differences affect relationships or social participation
Emotional regulation appears connected to sensory demands
The participant avoids particular activities or environments
Support people are unsure how to recognise or respond to sensory needs
Existing sensory strategies are inconsistent or no longer effective
Practical recommendations are required across multiple settings
Sensory factors may be contributing to behaviours of concern
Sensory processing is one possible influence on behaviour or participation. The assessment considers sensory factors within the participant’s broader functional, health, communication, social, and environmental circumstances.
What Sensory Processing Patterns May Be Considered?
Depending on the participant and the assessment method used, the occupational therapist may consider four broad sensory-processing patterns.
A participant may show different patterns across different sensory systems, activities, and environments. Assessment findings should not be reduced to one overall category.
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Sensory seeking describes a pattern in which a person actively looks for additional sensory experiences.
This may include seeking movement, touch, pressure, sound, visual stimulation, strong tastes, chewing, or other forms of sensory input.
The assessment considers whether these experiences support participation or contribute to safety, attention, regulation, or social difficulties.
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Sensory avoiding describes a pattern in which a person attempts to limit or control sensory experiences.
The participant may avoid particular environments, activities, textures, sounds, foods, movements, or forms of physical contact.
Avoidance may help the participant manage their environment, but it may also restrict activities or participation.
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Sensory sensitivity describes a pattern in which a person notices sensory information quickly or experiences it intensely.
This may affect concentration, comfort, emotional regulation, or participation, particularly when several sensory demands occur at the same time.
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Sensory registration describes how readily a person notices sensory information.
A participant with a higher registration threshold may require stronger, clearer, or repeated sensory input before responding. This may affect awareness of their body, personal needs, other people, or events within the environment.
What Sensory Systems May Be Assessed?
The occupational therapist examines the sensory systems relevant to the participant’s circumstances and reason for referral.
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How the participant notices and responds to voices, background noise, alarms, music, sudden sounds, repetitive sounds, and busy auditory environments.
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How the participant responds to lighting, visual movement, colours, patterns, clutter, screens, crowds, and other visual information.
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How the participant responds to physical contact, clothing, personal care, grooming, textures, temperatures, messy activities, and unexpected touch.
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How the participant responds to movement and changes in position, including walking, running, swinging, spinning, transport, stairs, lifts, and uneven surfaces.
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How the participant receives information from their muscles and joints about body position, movement, force, and pressure.
This may affect posture, coordination, body awareness, movement seeking, and the amount of force used during activities.
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How the participant responds to taste, texture, temperature, chewing, oral movement, and sensations in and around the mouth.
Oral sensory patterns may affect food preferences, eating, drinking, oral care, chewing behaviours, or the use of oral input for regulation.
How Can Sensory Processing Affect Everyday Life?
Sensory processing patterns may affect the participant differently across activities, people, and environments.
The assessment may consider the effect on:
Personal care and grooming
Dressing and clothing tolerance
Eating, drinking, and mealtimes
Sleep and rest
Attention and task engagement
Emotional regulation
Communication
Social interaction
Relationships
Education and learning
Employment
Community access
Transport
Exercise and movement
Leisure and recreation
Household activities
Health appointments
Safety and environmental awareness
Behaviour
Participation in meaningful activities
The occupational therapist also considers the participant’s strengths, interests, preferred activities, and environments in which they already participate successfully.
Sensory Processing, Regulation, and Behaviour
Sensory information may influence alertness, emotional regulation, attention, engagement, and behaviour.
The occupational therapist may consider whether sensory demands appear connected to:
Emotional distress or escalation
Withdrawal or shutdown
Avoidance
Reduced attention
Restlessness
Repetitive movement
Seeking strong sensory input
Difficulty transitioning between activities
Changes in social interaction
Reduced participation
Fatigue
Difficulty recovering following sensory overload
A sensory assessment does not assume that behaviour is caused by sensory processing.
Behaviour may also be influenced by communication, health, pain, environmental demands, relationships, learning history, trauma, access to preferred outcomes, or other factors.
Where behaviours of concern require detailed functional assessment, a Functional Behaviour Assessment may also be appropriate.
How We Complete a Sensory Processing Assessment
The assessment process is individualised according to the participant’s age, communication needs, goals, environments, circumstances, and reason for referral.
Step 1: Referral and Assessment Planning
PCT reviews the referral to understand the participant’s sensory concerns, functional needs, goals, environments, and the information required.
Step 2: Participant and Support-Network Consultation
The occupational therapist meets with the participant and, where appropriate, relevant family members, carers, support workers, educators, employers, or other people who know the participant well.
The consultation explores sensory experiences across the participant’s history, current routines, activities, environments, and relationships.
Step 3: Review of Relevant Information
With appropriate consent, the occupational therapist may review:
Previous occupational therapy reports
Functional Capacity Assessments
Behaviour Support Plans
Allied health reports
Medical information
Support plans
Education or employment information
Progress notes
Incident information
Existing sensory strategies
Information about current medication or treatment
Step 4: Observation
The occupational therapist may observe the participant during relevant activities or within relevant environments.
Observation may help identify sensory demands, regulation patterns, environmental influences, coping strategies, and supports already being used.
Step 5: Sensory Assessment Tools
The occupational therapist may use an age-appropriate formal sensory questionnaire or another structured assessment method.
The selected tool may examine sensory seeking, avoiding, sensitivity, and registration patterns, together with responses across individual sensory systems.
Results are interpreted alongside the participant’s history, everyday experiences, strengths, goals, observations, and information from relevant support people.
Step 6: Analysis and Report Preparation
The occupational therapist analyses the available information and prepares a report describing the participant’s sensory-processing patterns, functional impact, and recommendations.
What Is Included in a Sensory Assessment Report?
The exact content depends on the participant and the purpose of the assessment. It may include:
Relevant diagnostic and health history
Current living and support arrangements
Education or employment information
Current presentation
Relevant treatment and medication information
Interests and meaningful activities
Sensory-processing patterns
Formal assessment results
Auditory processing findings
Visual processing findings
Touch processing findings
Movement processing findings
Body-position processing findings
Oral sensory processing findings
Behavioural, attentional, and social-emotional responses
The effect on everyday activities and participation
Participant strengths and existing strategies
Sensory and environmental recommendations
Guidance for family members and support teams
Occupational therapy recommendations
An implementation and review plan
What Recommendations May Be Included?
Recommendations are individualised and based on the participant’s sensory patterns, functional needs, goals, preferences, routines, and environments.
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Strategies may be developed to support regulation, alertness, engagement, comfort, and participation during particular activities or times of day.
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Recommendations may involve changes to noise, lighting, visual clutter, seating, movement opportunities, clothing, personal space, activity setup, or the timing and location of activities.
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Recommendations may help the participant prepare for sensory demands, include helpful sensory experiences within everyday routines, and recover following challenging activities or environments.
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The occupational therapist may provide guidance about recognising sensory needs, offering appropriate choices, using strategies consistently, and responding without unnecessarily increasing distress.
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Where clinically appropriate, recommendations may involve trialling equipment, everyday items, visual resources, seating, movement supports, or other practical tools.
Equipment is recommended according to an identified functional need, rather than simply because it is described as a sensory product.
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Ongoing occupational therapy may be recommended to trial strategies, embed them across settings, educate support people, develop resources, monitor outcomes, and revise the approach over time.
From Assessment to Practical Support
A written sensory profile is most useful when recommendations are implemented and reviewed within the participant’s everyday life.
Where included in the agreed service, occupational therapy may support:
Trialling recommended strategies
Identifying which strategies are helpful
Embedding strategies into daily routines
Developing visual or written resources
Educating family members and support workers
Consulting with education or employment settings
Reviewing environmental adjustments
Monitoring participant feedback
Reviewing participation and functional outcomes
Adjusting strategies when needs or circumstances change
Preparing progress and outcomes reports
Strategies should be reviewed according to observable outcomes, rather than continued solely because they appear in an assessment report.
Our Approach to Sensory Assessment
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We examine how sensory processing affects activities, regulation, relationships, and participation, rather than viewing assessment scores in isolation.
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We consider the participant’s health, communication, cognition, behaviour, interests, routines, environment, support network, and life experiences alongside their sensory patterns.
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The assessment considers sensory experiences, strategies, interests, and environments that already support comfort, engagement, and successful participation.
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Where appropriate, findings draw on participant input, stakeholder consultation, observation, document review, clinical reasoning, and structured assessment tools.
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Recommendations are designed to be realistic, understandable, and relevant to the participant’s actual activities and environments.
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Where ongoing intervention is provided, strategies can be reviewed according to their effect on regulation, comfort, independence, and meaningful participation.
Sensory Assessment FAQs
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No. Sensory processing can affect people across different life stages.
The assessment methods and recommendations are adapted to the participant’s age, communication needs, activities, environments, goals, and circumstances.
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The assessment describes sensory-processing patterns and their functional impact.
The occupational therapist focuses on how sensory experiences affect everyday activities, regulation, and participation, rather than relying on a sensory label alone.
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No. Assessment methods are selected according to the participant’s age, communication needs, presentation, circumstances, and reason for referral.
A formal questionnaire may be used alongside interviews, observation, document review, and information from the participant’s support network.
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Yes. With appropriate consent, people who know the participant well may provide information about sensory responses across activities, environments, and different periods of the participant’s life.
This information is considered alongside other assessment evidence.
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Yes. The assessment may consider whether sensory experiences appear to influence regulation or behaviour.
However, a sensory assessment does not replace a Functional Behaviour Assessment when detailed assessment of the function of behaviour is required.
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Yes. Recommendations may include sensory strategies, environmental adjustments, routine changes, guidance for support people, equipment trials, and further occupational therapy.
Recommendations are based on the participant’s individual needs and circumstances.
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Some interviews, questionnaires, stakeholder consultation, and information gathering may be completed through telehealth where clinically appropriate.
In-person observation may still be recommended when the occupational therapist needs to assess activities, environments, responses, or safety directly.
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The time required depends on the participant’s circumstances, assessment methods, environments involved, people consulted, documentation available, and report complexity.
PCT will discuss the proposed process and estimated service requirements after reviewing the referral.
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No. The assessment provides occupational therapy evidence and recommendations.
Funding decisions remain the responsibility of the NDIA.
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PCT provides sensory assessments across Greater Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, the Gold Coast, and Toowoomba.
Availability depends on the participant’s location, assessment requirements, travel considerations, and clinician capacity.
Sensory Assessments Across Brisbane and Surrounding Regions
People Centred Therapies provides sensory processing assessments across:
Greater Brisbane
Ipswich
Logan
The Gold Coast
Toowoomba
Assessments may occur in the participant’s home, community, education setting, employment setting, or through telehealth where clinically appropriate.
Service availability depends on the participant’s location, assessment requirements, travel considerations, and clinician capacity.
Request a Sensory Processing Assessment
Complete our referral form with information about the participant, the sensory concerns affecting everyday life, the relevant environments, their location, and the preferred contact person.
Our team will review the referral and contact the nominated person to discuss service suitability, availability, assessment requirements, and the proposed next steps.