Making the day make sense: sequenced learning in a SLD/ASD classroom
9 October 2026: 9 am – 12.30 pm
In this practical session, Nick looks at how to sequence the teaching day for learners with autism, severe learning difficulties, or both. Working from the learner’s perspective and drawing on the Engagement Model, he explores how routines, resources, and teaching moments can be structured so learners know what is happening now, what is coming next, and how they can take part.
The focus is on turning the whole day into a connected learning journey, rather than a series of separate activities. Nick will share practical ideas for readiness to learn, snack time, sensory stories, literacy, play, regulation, movement, early maths and home time routines.
This session will help class teams think about how everyday moments can become meaningful learning opportunities when they are well planned, clearly cued and repeated with purpose. The aim is simple: a day that staff can manage, learners can understand, and everyone can build on.
9 am Admissions and virtual tea/coffee to start the session
9.05 am Welcome & a warm up!
9.15 am Session 1: Getting ready to learn!
Learning starts before the first lesson. In this opening session, Nick looks at how to support learners as they move from the bus to the classroom, through arrival routines, mini-transitions, and all the small moments in between.
The focus will be on helping pupils arrive safely, happy and with a clearer understanding of what is happening next. Nick will explore practical ways to use familiar routines, sensory cues, movement, expectations, and consistent staff responses so that learners feel regulated, ready, and able to engage with the day ahead.
9.45 am Session 2: Snack Attack!
Snack time can be one of the most motivating parts of the day, so let’s cash in. In this session, Nick looks at how food, choices and simple routines can become powerful learning opportunities for learners with autism and SLD.
The focus will be on using snacks to explore big and small, more and less, full and empty, waiting, choosing, problem-solving and even treasure hunts. Nick will share practical ways to build communication, anticipation, early maths and conceptual understanding — without turning snack into a worksheet.
10.00 am Session 3: Literacy for All!
Sensory stories are not just for PMLD pupils. In this session, Nick looks at how sensory storytelling can support learners with autism and SLD in exploring literacy in a practical, active, and meaningful way.
The focus will be on building an ASD-friendly sensory story that helps learners work through difficult-to-learn concepts, engage with repeated experiences and develop a genuine love of literacy. Nick will explore how to use the Engagement Model, objects, sensory cues, structure, movement and yes — even a bit of mess — to make literacy accessible, purposeful and worth getting stuck into.
10.30 pm Session 4: Let’s get playful!
Play tells us a lot about how pupils learn, grow and communicate. In this session, Nick explores how schematic play and Piaget’s stages of play can help staff better understand what learners show us through their actions, interests, and repeated patterns.
The focus will be on noticing what is really happening in play, then building on it with purpose. Nick will share practical ways to use playful interaction to support communication, problem-solving, flexibility and learning — without taking over the play or turning it into a task.
10.45 am COFFEE BREAK
11.00 pm Session 5: Chicken and Egg
Stressed teacher, stressed team, stressed pupils. In this session, Nick looks at how to keep the class steady during tricky parts of the day while still offering challenge, purpose and meaningful learning.
This is not “YouTube o’clock”. The focus will be on practical regulation strategies, mindful activities, calm routines and easy wins that help staff and pupils stay focused when things start to wobble. Nick will share off-the-shelf ideas, useful resources and the much-anticipated “purple boxes” to help keep the day manageable, purposeful and onside.
11.30 pm Session 6: Moving Afternoons
They have had lunch. You have done the story. Now what? Maths — but not sat at a table with a worksheet.
In this session, Nick looks at how to make the most of the afternoon with practical ideas that bring together movement, maths and conceptual learning. The focus will be on getting learners active while exploring tagging, sorting, matching, big and small, full and empty, more and less, movement routes and hands-on maths opportunities that help pupils stay engaged beyond lunchtime.
12.00 pm Session 7: Calm home time routines
Home time can be one of the hardest transitions of the day. Stuck in a corridor with a pupil while the angry bus driver is waiting? Been there!
In this final session, Nick looks at how to make the end of the day calmer, clearer and safer for learners, staff and transport teams. The focus will be on helping pupils understand that school is finishing and home is next, using clear routines, transition planning, abstract and conceptual cueing, and practical do’s and don’ts to give learners the best chance of getting home happy, settled and safe.
12.15 pm Questions and Answers
12.30 pm Thank you and goodbyes!
This course will be appropriate for classroom practitioners from special schools and colleges, mainstream settings with specialist SEN provision and early years settings, and working with pupils with severe learning needs and autism, or both.
Over the past several years, Nick Sheffield has been a valuable training associate for Hirstwood Training, bringing expert insight into curriculum design, assessment, and meaningful engagement for learners with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) and complex needs. Nick has developed and led sessions that help practitioners understand and implement the Engagement Model effectively, breaking down statutory guidance into practical, usable approaches that support everyday classroom practice. He’s also contributed to conference presentations on creating inclusive curricula that are manageable, impactful, and centred on pupils’ engagement, and has written foundational practitioner guides on the Rochford Review and the Engagement Model, completed by thousands of learners. Nick’s training combines professional knowledge with up-to-date classroom experience, helping teachers, leaders, and support staff feel confident in delivering structured, reflective, and learner-focused practice. His contributions have been consistently high quality and have supported a broad range of settings in improving outcomes for neurodiverse learners and those with severe and complex needs.
All the resources from this event will be in your account at online.hirstwood.com. You will access these using the email address on the booking form and your password (instructions in the joining information for creating your password.)
Here you will find:
a digital recording of the event
resources shared or signposted during the session
a transcript of the Zoom chat
your certificate of attendance
These will be available for 10 days after the event.
Join our Facebook Group Sensory Support Spaghetti to connect with us and other like-minded professionals – for everything sensory!
The cost is £149 plus VAT per delegate. You can select multiple places on the booking form.
You can pay by credit card for this booking or request an invoice.
UPDATED FOR 2026!
