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2 contributions to The Sensory Ladders™️ Project
Sensory Ladders & Night Terrors
Hello! I'm wondering if a sensory ladder could be used to support night terrors and if anyone has any experience around supporting families whose children experience frequent night terrors and the impact on sleep that this has for the whole family.
0 likes • Jun 6
This reply isn’t from an SI perspective, but more from a lived experience point of view and just in addition to Katie’s brilliant response. I used to have night terrors as a child and adolescent (and sometimes still do as an adult depending upon how much stress I’m under). My eldest son also had night terrors as a toddler during big developmental milestones (again, probably will do throughout the rest of his life if he’s like me), and I now understand how scary they can be for parents when you don’t understand what’s going on. My husband was very worried when our son would wake up in middle of the night screaming for the best part of an hour without anything comforting him, and I can completely understand how hard it is for parents to see that level of distress in their child. However, from my personal experience of night terrors, I never really remember having them at all. I looked awake, but I was fast asleep and didn’t know what was happening at all - I was more confused by how upset my parents were when I woke up! Knowing this as a parent helped me to be grounded and allow my natural parenting instinct to come through. What I found to be most helpful for my son was to sit with him and hold him through the tears and screams. It’s really hard to stay grounded as a parent when there is that level of distress, so maybe (like Katie said) sensory spiders might be helpful for parents - especially to think about what keeps them calm when the terrors are occurring and so they can be the grounded individual to support co-regulation. My personal calming strategy was to send my husband away, as I couldn’t deal with his panic and also stay calm for my child! I completely appreciate how much of a challenge this will be for the family you work with. It does very much impact sleep and can create more stress and anxiety around what night time will bring, which in turn then fuels night terrors. My son did stop having night terrors after about 12/18 months and my husband became much calmer when our youngest started having them. My youngest only had the odd one or two, and not really as intense as my eldest, but my husband was able to deal with them, as he had a better understanding of their being developmentally normative for our children and something that would pass with time.
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When you upload a Sensory Ladder example, you are doing something quietly powerful. You are showing what co-production looks like in real life, not in theory, but in the everyday moments where participation either opens up or closes down. Sharing matters because it helps us learn together. We start to notice patterns across settings. We gather ideas that are adaptable rather than prescriptive, so each person can shape what fits their own sensory world. Sharing matters because it builds a community of practice.A place where people can borrow courage, borrow words, and borrow a starting point, then co-create something uniquely theirs. If you have one to share, please upload it. A photo, a sketch, a template, a story. It does not need to be perfect. It just needs to be real.
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4 likes • Feb 22
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Lydia Bartlett
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@lydia-bartlett-3656
Occupational Therapist

Active 4d ago
Joined Feb 18, 2026
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