About Us

Senstional Kids is an award-winning social enterprise

Today, 1 in 4 children in Ireland has a special educational need. This means that there are 420,000 children in Ireland who have additional needs such as those with autism, down syndrome, adhd, dyslexia, dyspraxia and many other developmental delays. Identifying and treating these difficulties at a young age will allow a child to truly realise their potential.

Accessible & Affordable Intervention Services

Sensational Kids is an award-winning social enterprise, that has already changed the lives of over 8,700 children, saving their families over €2 million in therapy fees. We provide vital front-line therapeutic supports for children with additional needs, ensuring that these children in need have access to vital supports when and where they need them.

With 70,000 children on waiting lists for speech therapy & occupational therapy our services are a lifeline for families whose children would otherwise be waiting 3-4 years to access services and would lose the opportunity for timely intervention and better outcomes for their children.

Sensational Kids operates four nationwide Child Development Centres in

providing affordable, accessible and timely intervention services, such as occupational therapy, speech & language therapy, and play therapy.

Fundraising and earned income from Sensational Kids’ Child Development & Learning Store and training workshops help to subsidise our therapy services, so that we can bridge the gap between public and private therapy services, providing a practical, accessible, and affordable service for those in need.

Take a Look at what we do in our short videos

Sensational Kids is a high impact not-for-profit organisation delivering life-changing, accessible and affordable, timely interventions to 6,800+ children of all abilities over the last 10 years, saving their families over €1.5 million in therapy fees.

CEO, Karen Leigh is the founding member of Sensational Kids. Having experienced lengthy waiting lists and a lack of affordable and accessible occupational therapy services for her own children, Karen founded Sensational Kids in 2007 , bridging the gap between public and private therapy services for children of all abilities.

Today Sensational Kids employs 28+ staff, including a highly skilled clinical team across our child development centres in Kildare, Mayo, Monaghan and West Cork, providing vital supports such as occupational therapy, speech & language therapy, play therapy and hippotherapy.

Sensational Kids is Ireland’s leading non-profit provider of affordable and accessible early intervention services for children with additional needs in Ireland.

Our service model is built around three pillars:

Access

  • To Assessments
  • To Nationwide Locations across three centres of excellence
01

Nurture

  • Occupational Therapy
  • Speech & Language Therapy
  • Hippotherapy
  • Reading Tuition
  • Play Therapy
  • Educational Psychology
02

ENLIGHTEN

  • Training Workshops &
  • Learning Resources
03
For parents, teachers & healthcare professionals

Our Vision

To be the leading, innovative, child development social enterprise in Ireland

Our Mission

To provide affordable, accessible family centred, clinical and educational services, and products to children of all abilities, through therapy, training and professional support that directly impacts lives

Our Values

  • Family Centered
  • Inclusive
  • Respect
  • Trust
  • Fun
  • Excellence

Our Main Objective

“To promote the health and welfare of children with special needs and children in need of additional supports by managing and operating a centre in County Kildare to enable such children to develop to their full potential by providing clinical assessments, occupational therapy, sensory integration therapy, speech and language therapy, psychological services and evidence-based therapies which impact on child development and wellbeing, and to make such services available to a wider population within the Republic of Ireland by endeavoring to open further such centres.”