Playful Learning = Powerful Outcomes: a conference!
cket
with Chris Barson, Carol Allen, Bex Watton and Matt Laurie.
Including a mini online conference course written by Richard Hirstwood.
We are announcing our first conference of 2026!
A practical one-day online conference focused on strategies, resources, and environments that support meaningful play and learning for pupils with autism and other neurodiverse needs.
This conference will focus on designing engaging, purposeful learning experiences through play, sensory exploration, and creative classroom strategies for neurodiverse learners.
Across five impactful sessions, you’ll learn how to create a classroom environment where every learner is supported, motivated, regulated, and inspired to explore and connect.
Ideal for teachers, TAs, and anyone supporting play-based learning for pupils with autism, complex needs, or sensory challenges.
Getting started with Self Regulation with Chris Barson
Understanding and supporting self-regulation is key to helping autistic learners thrive. In this practical session, Chris will break down the core ideas around regulation – what it is, why it matters, and how it can go wrong. He’ll explore common autistic triggers, how to spot early signs of dysregulation, and how to adjust your classroom to promote calm and focus. You’ll leave with practical strategies, low-prep ideas, and ready-to-use tools to help learners regulate and engage.
The Principles of Play and the Play Cycle with Matt Laurie
This interactive session introduces the key principles of play and the play cycle, based on the work of Perry Else and Gordon Sturrock. Through a playful group activity, Matt will guide you to experience the concepts for yourself, looking at cues, returns, frames, and flow. The session finishes with video examples that bring the theory to life, offering practical ways to identify and support genuine, meaningful play in your setting.
‘If it’s fun, they will come: building intrinsic motivation in the classroom’ with Bex Watton
How do we make play something that learners want to join in with? In this session, Bex explores how to utilise intrinsic motivation to engage learners with autism in meaningful and joyful play. You’ll examine how small changes in planning, language, and environment can lead to greater engagement and deeper learning. This session is ideal if you want to move beyond ‘tick-box play’ and create a space where learners are drawn in because it’s fun, not forced.
Autistic Play Audit: Are you enabling best practice? with Carol Allen
Play looks different for every child—but it must be accessible, valued, and truly child-led. In this practical session, Carol will help you reflect on your current approach to play for autistic learners. She’ll explore how to create environments that invite exploration, connection, and communication, while also meeting sensory needs. You’ll also look at the adult role in supporting play—when to step in, when to step back, and how to offer just the right level of support.
Sensory Play Opportunities: a mini online conference course written by Richard Hirstwood
Richard will share practical and affordable ideas for integrating sensory play into everyday classroom practice. From vibration tubes to salad spinners and simple sound makers, he’ll demonstrate how low-cost resources can become powerful tools for engagement, interaction, and learning. You’ll explore how sensory play supports motivation, storytelling, regulation, and more – all through hands-on examples that are easy to set up and adapt to your learners.
9 am Admissions and a virtual tea or coffee to start the day!
9.05 am Welcome, introductions and a warm-up activity.
9.15 am Session 1: Getting started with Self Regulation with Chris Barson
10.15 am Session 2: The Principles of Play and the Play Cycle with Matt Laurie
11.15 am Coffee
11.30 am Session 3: ‘If it’s fun, they will come: building intrinsic motivation in the classroom’ with Bex Watton
12.30 pm Lunch
1.30 pm Session 4: Autistic Play Audit: Are you enabling best practice? with Carol Allen
2.30 pm Session 5: Breakout Room Activity This session will reflect on the key messages from today’s four sessions and explore how they can be applied in your setting.
2.50 pm Q & A
3 pm Thank you and close of the day
Click on the names below to read more about our conference presenters!
Bex Watton
This conference will be appropriate for classroom practitioners from special schools and colleges, mainstream settings with specialist SEN provision and early years settings, working with pupils with autism and neurodiverse learning needs or both.
The recording of this event will be in your account at online.hirstwood.com. You will access this using the email address on the booking form and your password (instructions for creating your password are in the joining information).
Here you will find:
a digital recording of the event
a transcript of the Zoom chat
These will be available for 10 days after the event.
Early Bird Tickets cost £275 plus VAT per delegate until 28 November 2025. You can select multiple places on the booking form.
Standard Tickets cost £295 plus VAT per delegate after 29 November 2025.
You can pay by credit card for this booking or request an invoice on the booking form.
