COLLABORATION BETWEEN PROFESSIONALS AND PARENTS IN DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING A SENSORY DIET

Abstract

This article examines the contemporary understanding of the Sensory Diet method and the characteristics of partnership-based collaboration between professionals and parents of children with special educational needs (SEN) in the process of its planning and implementation. The aim of the article is to present the authors’ conceptual approach to planning and implementing a sensory diet, based on a pedagogical interpretation of the Person–Environment–Occupation (PEO) model, and to substantiate a partnership-based model of collaboration between professionals and parents as a prerequisite for integrating sensory diet strategies into the child’s everyday life. Based on an analysis of Ukrainian and international research, the article identifies the key characteristics of contemporary partnership-based collaboration between professionals and parents and traces the evolution of the Sensory Diet concept – from the use of isolated sensory techniques to a comprehensive system of sensory support integrated into the daily life of a child with SEN. The findings demonstrate that the development of scientific views on the sensory diet has been accompanied by a shift from a predominantly therapeutic perspective toward understanding it as a means of supporting the child’s participation in everyday life. The article presents the authors’ interpretation of the PEO model, adapted for planning and implementing a sensory diet, in which the child’s participation in everyday life is regarded as the central condition for expanding opportunities for development and learning. The differences between traditional and partnership-based approaches to collaboration between professionals and parents are systematized, and the necessity of continuous interaction throughout the entire process of planning and implementing the intervention programme is substantiated. Particular emphasis is placed on systematic parent counselling as a key component of partnership-based collaboration, enabling the integration of sensory strategies into naturally occurring daily situations. The study demonstrates that, within this approach, collaboration between professionals and parents becomes a process of co-designing the child’s everyday life, in which the combination of professional expertise and the family’s lived experience creates favourable conditions for supporting the child’s development, learning, and active participation in everyday activities. The proposed approach broadens the contemporary understanding of the sensory diet by viewing it not as an isolated therapeutic technique but as a comprehensive means of organizing the child’s everyday life through a partnership between professionals and parents.