Course Library
About

Sensory Defensiveness:

A Comprehensive Treatment Approach

5th and 6th of August, 2023

 15.5 CPD Hours

 

Hornsby RSL Club

Sydney, NSW

 

Hosted by MoveAbout Therapy Services

Presented by Julia Wilbarger, PhD, OTR

 

 Ticket sales for this event have now closed. Join our mailing list to be the first to hear about future events!

Join the Mailing List

Sensory Defensiveness: A Comprehensive Treatment Approach

Are you looking to enhance your ability to identify and treat sensory defensiveness in your clients? Do you want to learn a comprehensive, clinical approach to confidently address this problem?

This workshop is designed to help you identify sensory defensiveness across multiple age and diagnostic groups. You'll learn how it disrupts occupational performance, and the relation between sensory defensiveness and emerging psychological and neuroscience theories of behavior. 

Through clinical labs and practicum exercises, you'll receive training in specific assessment and treatment techniques, including developing a sensory diet, managing individual cases, and administering the Wilbarger Therapressure Protocol. Join us to gain your accreditation and to advance your clinical reasoning skills in the treatment of sensory defensiveness. 

This is the first time in 5 years that this course has been offered in Australia. 

Registrations for Sensory Defensiveness: A Comprehensive Treatment Approach are open now.  

 

Register before July 24th to take advantage of the Early Bird price of $997 ($1097 normally).

This event will sell out!

 

The Venue

Hornsby RSL Club

4 High Street, Hornsby 2077

Join us for the incredible Sensory Defensiveness workshop coming to Sydney this August. Conveniently located in Hornsby, we have booked the combined Acacia, Boronia, and Waratah rooms at Hornsby RSL to ensure a comfortable and spacious learning environment. 
 
Getting there: 
Hornsby RSL’s central location allows easy access to public transportation and is located just off the M1. Just a 5 minute walk from Hornsby Station, Hornsby RSL also has on-site parking available via the Hornsby RSL Club and Community Carpark, which can be easily found via GPS.  
 
Public Transport: 
Numerous bus routes are available near Hornsby RSL, all of which are within a 5 minute walk from the venue. Hornsby Station is also a short 5 minute walk away, which serves the T1 North Shore & Northern Lines - allowing easy access from various locations in Sydney. Hornsby Station also conveniently connects to the Central Coast and Newcastle Line.  
 
Parking: 
Hornsby RSL is easily accessible by car and offers ample on-site parking facilities. The multi-story car park can be accessed via William Street and is a 3 minute walk to the venue from here. 
 
Meals: 
Light refreshments will be served for morning and afternoon tea throughout the day. Hornsby RSL is located in the hub of Hornsby with a variety of lunch options available a short walk away. 
 
Run Times: 
Saturday 5th August 8:30am-8:30pm (TBC)
Sunday 6th August 9am-5pm (TBC)
 
Accessibility:
The best accessibility for wheelchair access is from the rear foyer. There is designated disabled parking close to the entrance and then a ramp leading up to the foyer which is located just in front of the function rooms. There are toilets with a disabled cubicle next to the function rooms, as well as the lift going up to the Courtyard café and restaurant which also has a unisex disabled toilet.
 

Schedule

(15.5 Contact Hours)

Day 1

8:30- Introduction & Overview of Key Issues
10:30- Theoretical & Neuroscience Basis of Sensory Defensiveness
12:00- Lunch Break
1:00- Integrated Treatment Process & Assessment
3:30- Sensory Diets & Professionally Guided Treatment
5:00- Dinner Break

Mandatory Evening Lab Session

6:30 - 9:00- Lab 1 (please note that with more hands on lab trainers this time could be shorter)

  • Group Practice of Assessments 
  • Using The Therapressure® Program and Oral Technique (The Wilbarger Protocols)
Day 2

8:30- Neuroscience Concepts related to the Treatment of Sensory Defensiveness
9:30- Protocol Check-out & Problem Solving Exercise
11:00- Treatment Implementation: Assessment and Treatment Programs across Ages and Stages
12:00- Lunch Break
1:00- Treatment Implementation: Designing and Implementing Intensive Intervention Programs
3:30- Treatment Implementation: Problem Solving
4:15- Clinical Reasoning across Specific Clinical Populations
5:00- Adjourn

(Additional breaks midmorning and midafternoon daily)

Course Objectives

  • Understand the key features of sensory defensiveness and how it disrupts occupational performance.  
  • Identify symptoms of sensory defensiveness at different ages using a specialized clinical interview. 
  • Provide direct clinical management for the treatment of SD including developing client awareness, creating a sensory diet, and applying a direct treatment approach to various clinical populations across the age span. 
  • Design a ‘sensory diet’ for a variety of individuals with sensory defensiveness. 
  • Have an overview of the emerging psychological and neuroscience theories related to this condition as a basis for further study and research

 

Click here to watch the Free 60-minute Recorded Webinar with Julie Wilbarger

About Julia Wilbarger:

Julia Wilbarger, PhD, OTR/L, received a BS in Physiological Psychology from UC Berkeley, a MS in OT from Boston University, and a PhD in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Denver, Colorado. She has practiced as an OT in early intervention with high risk and developmentally delayed infants and toddlers, in the public schools and in private practice.

At The Children’s Hospital, Denver, she served as a clinical specialist in sensory integration. She joined the faculty at Dominican University of California in the Occupational Therapy Department as an Associate Professor in 2013. Dr. Wilbarger has done extensive research, published and presented on issues of sensory processing, sensory modulation disorders, and sensory integration in children. Her research is focused on the study of affective and sensory processing in a range of clinical populations.

 Ticket sales for this event have now closed. Join our mailing list to be the first to hear about future events!

Join Our Mailing List to be the first to hear about future events and learning opportunities!