{"id":15188,"date":"2022-10-24T11:37:32","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T10:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/?p=15188"},"modified":"2026-03-10T17:29:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T17:29:58","slug":"for-mckayla-sense-play-became-a-reason-to-smile-and-speak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/blog\/for-mckayla-sense-play-became-a-reason-to-smile-and-speak\/","title":{"rendered":"For McKayla, Sense play became a reason to smile and speak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

McKayla is five years old, she\u2019s about to start school. She has autism and pica (the eating of non-foods). Her development, happiness and confidence were shaken by bad nursery experiences. Mum, Laura, told us that since coming to Sense, McKayla is never without a smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you saw McKayla arriving at Sense TouchBase Pears, you\u2019d think she owned the place! It\u2019s become like a second home to her. She\u2019ll walk in and say hi to everyone, she\u2019ll kick off her shoes at the door and run straight up to the support workers she knows. I\u2019ve never seen her that confident outside our home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been such a relief to find a place where McKayla was comfortable. It took a long time for us to get her ready for nursery, for this big change in her routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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McKayla in the early intervention and play room at Sense TouchBase Pears<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Feeling misunderstood<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Going to nursery was a really emotional, upsetting event for McKayla. She really didn\u2019t want to go and then the first experience she had, before Sense, wasn\u2019t a good one. They didn\u2019t understand her needs and their ways of dealing with her just caused her so much distress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every bad day at nursery knocked her development backwards. Her behaviour really changed. She became quiet, stopped using her potty, she didn\u2019t want to eat\u2026stuff like that. With her pica, if she\u2019s anxious she\u2019ll start biting herself and things around her. It was clear she didn\u2019t really feel safe or happy there. I felt heartbroken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I explained to her nursery what was happening at home, but they didn\u2019t seem to take it on board. At that time, McKayla had stopped speaking and I couldn\u2019t ask her what was happening. She was becoming more and more frustrated and upset, even lashing out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning things around<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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McKayla at Sense TouchBase Pears, sporting a sensory medal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I started taking McKayla to the Early Intervention and Play group at Sense once a week. I would talk to the team there about McKayla\u2019s experience at the other nursery. We reviewed the situation for a few weeks before deciding to take McKayla out of that environment completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team were really supportive. I trusted them; I knew they were looking for the best outcome for my daughter. Sense was really focused on what McKayla was interested in, what she enjoyed. She\u2019s happiest in messy, sensory play so the team would always have the sand and playdough at the ready for us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every session we went to was tailored to her. By the second week, I could see the difference in McKayla. Instead of being scared \u2013 clinging to the door not wanting to leave \u2013 she\u2019d run to get her shoes on for Sense! Even now, she gets so excited when she knows that\u2019s where we\u2019re going. McKayla really loves it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t rate the early intervention and play team enough. They\u2019ve really helped to turn things around for McKayla, and for my family. McKayla\u2019s a happy ball of energy now \u2013 she\u2019s got her cheeky smile back.<\/p>Laura, McKayla’s mum<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When we first went to Sense, she only had about five or six words she would say. McKayla stopped speaking shortly after her first birthday, she just had a few key words. It was scary and we\u2019ve been doing years of speech and language play to encourage her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after joining Sense, she started talking again. The team there make her feel so safe and she obviously loves playing with them. When they spoke to her, she really wanted to join in. It\u2019s sort of blossomed from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sense children\u2019s play services offer families with complex needs the chance to come together to develop, communicate, and connect with others. Find out more:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Support for children<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After some bad nursery experiences, it was such a relief for McKayla’s mum to find a place where her daughter was comfortable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"display_author":[348],"class_list":["post-15188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","display_author-laura"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15188"},{"taxonomy":"display_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_author?post=15188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}