The Guild of Sensory Development 

Setting the standards for the safe, professional practice of positive touch and sensory development with infants, children and young people.

The GofSD is the independent regulatory body for positive touch and sensory development teaching in the UK.  This covers a breadth of activities, including baby and child massage, baby and child yoga, baby shiatsu, peer-to-peer massage, music, movement and rhyme, baby signing, infant reflexology, baby swimming and baby sensory classes with babies and children.

No matter what your age, there are a host of benefits to be gained from receiving sensory stimulation. The physiological effects are particularly well documented, but the above activities go far beyond these, as they can have a positive influence on the emotional and cognitive development of the baby and enhance a strong parent-child bond.

These activities empower parents; raises their self-esteem and confidence, enhances parenting skills and encourages parents to undertake other learning opportunities.  

The Guild's aim is to educate and support parents to understand more about these activities, and to empower you to know what is best for you and your baby.

We provide information from research for parents, professionals and policy makers, about the critical importance of safe pactice.  We do this through our website in the form of free handouts for parents, our national conferences and lectures, our quarterly publication-Connections and our Research Summaries on recent relevant research and papers.

Whether you are an expectant or new parent, a professional working with parents or young children, or somebody involved with policy development, The Guild of Sensory Development will be of interest.