Event: 2025 Fall Conference: Rooted in Care

E04: Supporting Sensory Overload in Toddlers and Preschoolers: Tools for Calm and Connection in a classroom & Designing for Differences: Creating Sensory-Smart Classrooms That Support Regulation, Personality, and Emotional Wellbeing

Morning Session: Supporting Sensory Overload in Toddlers and Preschoolers: Tools for Calm and Connection in a classroom with Bengisu Gonul This session introduces sensory processing differences and explores how these differences can deeply impact behavior, learning, and social participation in young children. Participants will learn to identify common sensory challenges in toddlers and preschoolers - such as hypersensitivity to sound, touch, or movement - and how these might show up as distress, withdrawal, or “challenging behaviors.” Through real-life examples, case scenarios, and hands-on demonstrations, school staff will learn how to use developmentally appropriate sensory tools and strategies to support regulation and engagement in early learning settings. Afternoon Session: Designing for Differences: Creating Sensory-Smart Classrooms That Support Regulation, Personality, and Emotional Wellbeing with Bengisu Gonul This session equips educators with practical tools to support diverse learners by combining two key lenses: sensory regulation and individual personality styles. Participants will explore how environmental factors interact with each student’s sensory-emotional profile and impact nervous system regulation. Educators will also gain insight into how traits such as sensitivity, flexibility, introversion, or intensity often reflect deeper sensory and emotional processing patterns - not misbehavior. The session focuses on creating inclusive spaces and routines that help all children feel safe, understood and ready to learn. As part of this training, educators are briefly introduced to the Foundational Model™ from Great Kids Place - a neurodevelopmental framework that highlights how sensory, motor, emotional, and relational foundations shape behavior and learning. This model helps educators recognize when challenging behaviors may stem from unmet foundational needs and respond with empathy-based strategies instead of behavior management alone.

Date: November 7, 2025
Time: 8:30 AM
Location: Morning & Afternoon Session: Belvedere Golf Course