Webinar: Highly Sensitive Children in School: New Findings and Resources
24th March 2025 - By Prof Michael Pluess, Prof Francesca Lionetti, Prof Luciana Castelli, Dr Jenni Kähkönen, and Mrs Cherry Hirst
About the authors
Prof Pluess, Prof Lionetti, Prof Castelli, and Dr Kähkönen are psychologists and represent the research team behind the reported research on highly sensitive children in school. Mrs Hirst is a psychologist who was involved in developing the presented resources.
Summary
In this webinar, we share the latest research on highly sensitive children in primary school and present new resources, including our revised website, a new teacher questionnaire to identify sensitive children, a new online training module for teachers about sensitive children, and a professional assessment of highly sensitive children.
In this webinar, we share the latest research on highly sensitive children in primary school. Every child is different in how they experience and respond to the world around them. Some are more sensitive than others and have a natural ability to notice small details and think deeply about their experiences.
Whilst many children find this gives them an advantage at school, some will find the busy and chaotic school environment overwhelming and overstimulating. It is common to find a range of sensitivity levels in any classroom with up to 30% being highly sensitive.
After the welcome by Prof Michael Pluess, Prof Francesca Lionetti, Dr Jenni Kahkonen and Prof Luciana Castelli present the findings of our recent research in Switzerland and the UK, highlighting how highly sensitive children experience school differently, and how they can be easily and consistently identified by teachers(1-5).
Cherry Hirst then presents the new training resources for teachers who wish to find out more about the trait of high sensitivity. These resources contain tips and strategies developed in collaboration with experts in the field that teachers can use to support highly sensitive children so that they thrive academically, socially and emotionally.
Finally, Prof Pluess and the team respond to questions from participants in a Q&A session.
Please follow these links to access the presented resources:
- Webpage on sensitive children (https://sensitivityresearch.com/sensitive-children/)
- Teacher questionnaire on sensitive children (https://sensitivityresearch.com/self-tests/test-a-student/)
- Online Teacher Training Module on highly sensitive children (https://sensitivityresearch.com/sensitive-children-education/)
- We are also offering bespoke workshops for teachers. If you are interested, please contact us under training@sensitivityresearch.com
- We are currently in the process of setting up the professional assessment for highly sensitive children. If you are interested, please contact us under info@sensitivityresearch.com
A PDF copy of the slides can be downloaded here: Webinar Slides
References
- Kähkönen, J., Lionetti, F., Castelli, L. & Pluess, M. Assessing Environmental Sensitivity in the Primary School Context: The Development and Validation of the Highly Sensitive Child in School Scale (HSC – School). PsyArXiv (2024).
- Kähkönen, J. E., Lionetti, F., Castelli, L. & Pluess, M. Development and validation of the highly sensitive child interview for the assessment of environmental sensitivity in primary school children. Pers. Individ. Dif. 222, 112592 (2024).
- Kähkönen, J., Lionetti, F. & Pluess, M. Environmental Sensitivity in Children is Associated with Emotion Recognition. Emotion (In Press)
- Kähkönen, J., Lionetti, F., Castelli, L. & Pluess, M. Environmental Sensitivity in Primary School Children: A Longitudinal Analysis in Switzerland and the UK. Child Dev. (Submitted).
- Kähkönen, J., Lionetti, F. & Pluess, M. Environmental Sensitivity in Children is Associated with Visual Working Memory and Visual Search Performance. Infant and Child Development (Submitted).