From special education to entrepreneurship, Julia DeNey founded Sense-ational You to help her students thrive.
Sensory dysregulation was so often miscategorized as bad behavior in school settings. However, for autistic children their sensory needs have to be met before any learning, connection, or communication can occur.
My Experience
As a special education para in an autism classroom, our students were often dysregulated right off of the bus. As soon as they walk through the school doors, the bright fluorescent lights would flicker in their eyes, the hallways would be loud with hundreds of students talking and making their way to their lockers, and demands were being put on them by their teachers. This was a rough way to start the day- at a maximum of sensory input.
When students then didn’t follow a direction or acted out, it was seen as behavior. Rather than what it really was, a lack of sensory support and regulation.
Their unsupported sensory needs also lead to exclusion from activities and events with the school community and their neurotypical peers. Our autistic students were often labeled as not being able to handle or be a part of certain events.
But the truth is, with the right sensory tools and supports they absolutely could.
My Solution
Our school did have some sensory tools available for students, but there were often not many making them hard to find in the moment you needed it and it was hard for staff to always have them on hand when leaving the classroom- there are simply not enough hands!
To help my students, I created sensory tools they could always have on them by integrating them seamlessly into sensory friendly clothing!
Key sensory features include:
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No tags and flat seams
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A sound reducing hood (in a hoodie)
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An eye mask that can pull down
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Built-in adjustable compression (just like a compression vest, but already on them!)
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Integrated fidgets
My mission is to increase the inclusion and academic success of autistic children through clothing that helps them regulate! That is why I created Sense-ational You so that I can help more students than just those in my classroom.