This workshop explores the relationship between ADHD and the sensory system, helping participants understand how sensory processing can shape behaviour, focus, and daily functioning. Everyone experiences the world through their senses, but for those with ADHD these experiences can often feel heightened, under-responsive, or inconsistent, creating challenges with learning, attention, and emotional regulation.
We will look at all eight senses and how they connect to executive functioning:
- Sight (Visual): how the brain processes colours, patterns, and movement, and how visual overload or distraction impacts attention.
- Hearing (Auditory): the effect of background noise, sensitivity to sound, and difficulty filtering out distractions.
- Smell (Olfactory): how scents can trigger strong reactions, overwhelm focus, or provide comfort.
- Taste (Gustatory): food preferences, aversions, and the role of diet in regulation.
- Touch (Tactile): sensitivities to textures, clothing, and physical contact, and how these affect comfort and focus.
- Balance (Vestibular): the sense of movement and spatial orientation, influencing coordination, restlessness, and activity levels.
- Body Awareness (Proprioception): knowing where the body is in space, and how difficulties can affect organisation, clumsiness, or restlessness.
- Internal Sensing (Interoception): recognising signals from the body such as hunger, thirst, pain, or emotional states, which are often harder for those with ADHD.
By the end of this session, participants will have a clearer understanding of how sensory differences link to ADHD challenges and strengths, and practical strategies to support regulation, learning, and everyday success.
