How Therapists Can Use Superspace to Support Sensory Regulation, Executive Functioning & Twice Exceptional Kids
- Your Friends at Superspace
- Sep 24
- 5 min read
In therapy rooms across the country, there’s a quiet shift happening—one that centers kids’ voices, gives them agency, and transforms traditional sensory tools into dynamic experiences. Superspace, a modular, flexible play system, is leading that shift. Therapists everywhere are discovering just how powerful this tool can be when working with children who struggle with regulation, social communication, executive functioning, and those unique twice exceptional (2e) profiles that need a little something extra.
1. A Sensory Haven That Kids Design Themselves
Many kids, especially those with sensory processing differences, benefit from calming, quiet spaces. But what if they could build their own space—choosing how it looks, feels, and functions? Superspace gives them that chance. Therapists can use this as a co-regulation tool, allowing children to engage in hands-on construction that promotes sensory organization. The act of building becomes part of the regulation process itself.
When children create something tangible with their own hands, they're also constructing internal structure, both emotionally and neurologically. This type of agency-based sensory play supports self-awareness and builds confidence over time.
2. Empowering Kids to Set Personal Boundaries
Many children in therapy struggle with body awareness and understanding social boundaries. Superspace offers a safe, creative way to explore those concepts. A child can choose who’s allowed into their space, ask peers or adults to wait outside, or even adjust the physical environment to meet their comfort level. These seemingly simple actions help kids practice consent, social navigation, and self-advocacy in a therapeutic setting.
3. Supporting Gifted and Twice Exceptional Children
Gifted and 2e kids often live in a paradox. They might excel cognitively while struggling with emotional regulation, sensory sensitivity, or social connection. Superspace provides a bridge. It stimulates their imagination and creativity while offering a physical outlet for calming their nervous systems.
Therapists working with 2e kids can:
Integrate complex building tasks that engage higher-level thinking
Introduce engineering or storytelling prompts to expand on play
Use Superspace as a retreat for emotional regulation between challenges
This blend of creative autonomy and sensory support meets both the advanced and the developing sides of these children.
4. Executive Functioning in Motion
Executive functioning involves a range of skills like planning, organizing, working memory, and self-regulation. Superspace turns these abstract skills into real-life practice. As kids plan how to build their structure, they’re sequencing tasks, prioritizing steps, and making adjustments along the way.
Instead of asking a child to complete a worksheet on “planning,” you can watch them plan in real-time as they collaborate, experiment, and problem solve. Superspace is a tool where the task is the therapy.
5. Flexible Thinking and Pretend Play
Open-ended play naturally fosters flexible thinking. When kids use Superspace to build forts, hideouts, or imaginative worlds, they're making choices, adapting ideas, and staying engaged in the process. Therapists can guide this play to strengthen perspective-taking, help kids break out of rigid thinking patterns, and encourage them to work through social narratives in a hands-on way.
This is especially beneficial for children with autism, anxiety, or social communication challenges who may find abstract role-play difficult without a tangible, visual anchor.
6. Real-Time Social Collaboration
Superspace offers a built-in opportunity for social communication work. Whether kids are building side-by-side or co-creating a shared structure, they’re naturally required to:
Listen and respond to peers
Express their needs clearly
Compromise on shared goals
Navigate turn-taking and space-sharing
This is the heart of what therapists often call “serve and return” interaction. Superspace doesn't script these moments — it invites them organically.
7. Supporting Down Syndrome and Other Developmental Profiles
For children with Down syndrome and other developmental conditions, therapy often focuses on strengthening motor coordination, sequencing, and language. Superspace is versatile enough to support all of these areas at once.
Therapists can:
Incorporate gross motor tasks by having children move, lift, and build
Boost fine motor skills with fasteners or attachments
Model and scaffold language around building tasks
It’s inclusive by nature, inviting kids of varying physical and cognitive profiles to engage together.
8. Movement-Based Regulation
Movement is one of the most effective tools for emotional regulation. Superspace encourages movement that is purposeful and self-directed. Instead of relying only on external prompts, children engage in climbing, crawling, or lifting as part of their play, which helps regulate their systems.
This is especially important for kids with ADHD, sensory processing disorder, or emotional dysregulation who often need proprioceptive and vestibular input during a session.
9. Strengthening Motor Skills
Superspace is more than a visual tool. It's physical. Children develop both gross and fine motor skills as they maneuver panels, connect pieces, and crawl through spaces they’ve created. Therapists can use this in sessions to target coordination, balance, and strength without it feeling like “therapy work.”
When motor planning is embedded in play, engagement and retention improve significantly.
10. Creating “Safe Zones” in Group Therapy
In group therapy sessions, overstimulation can be a barrier for many children. Superspace gives therapists the ability to create calming zones within the group dynamic. Children can build their own retreat spaces, self-initiate breaks, or invite others into collaborative zones—all without leaving the therapeutic setting.
This honors each child’s regulation needs while still maintaining connection with peers.
11. A Launchpad for Creative Play
Pretend play is a goldmine for therapy. It builds language, abstract thinking, social cues, and emotional processing. Superspace gives children the setting they need to immerse themselves in storytelling. It becomes a spaceship, a cave, a bakery, or a school—whatever they dream up.
Therapists can guide these sessions subtly, introducing prompts or challenges that align with therapy goals while still keeping the child in the driver’s seat.
12. Inclusive, Adaptive, and Scalable
One of Superspace’s biggest strengths is its adaptability. Therapists working in schools, clinics, or even homes can configure it to fit their setting and their client’s specific needs. Whether you’re supporting a preschooler with SPD or a middle schooler working on teamwork skills, it scales up or down with ease.
There are no "right" or "wrong" ways to use it. The play evolves with the child.
13. Parent Involvement Made Easy
Therapists often look for tools that can transition into home life. Superspace is parent-friendly, meaning it can be used outside of sessions to reinforce therapy goals. Invite parents to observe, co-build, or replicate some of the activities during sessions so they can carry that confidence and structure into daily life.
When parents see their child empowered and engaged, they’re more likely to support sensory play at home.
14. Therapist Testimonials Speak Volumes
Many therapists describe Superspace as the most-used and most-requested item in their practice. Why? Because it works. Kids gravitate toward it, sessions become more dynamic, and the therapy process feels less clinical and more connection-driven.
It’s not about the product itself—it’s about what it unlocks in the child: agency, creativity, and regulation.
15. Evidence-Informed, Child-Led
What makes Superspace truly effective is that it’s supported by modern research in sensory integration, executive functioning, and child-led learning. Studies show that child-directed, open-ended play fosters long-term improvements in cognitive flexibility, emotional resilience, and motor coordination.
In a world where therapy tools often come with rigid guidelines, Superspace invites exploration. And in that exploration, kids grow.
Want to bring Superspace into your practice? Consider how you can tailor it to your specific clients, especially those who need both challenge and comfort. It’s not just a play system. It’s a therapy revolution in disguise.
References
Pfeiffer, B. et al. (2018). “Effectiveness of sensory integration interventions in children.” American Journal of Occupational Therapy
Diamond, A. & Ling, D.S. (2019). “Review of the evidence on executive function and early education.” Annual Review of Psychology
Tomlinson, C. A. (2017). How to Differentiate Instruction in Academically Diverse Classrooms. ASCD
National Center for Learning Disabilities (2021). "Understanding Twice-Exceptional Learners."
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