Sensory Integrative Therapy and Autism Ranking:

Aims and Claims

Aims

- What is sensory integration?

Sensory integration is the ability to receive, process, and make sense of multiple sensory inputs at the same time. Sensory inputs include vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch (tactile) as well as the vestibular (balance and movement) and proprioceptive (feedback from muscles and joints) senses.

People with poor sensory integration often struggle with a range of tasks and behaviours. For example, according to Pollock (2009),  

“Ayres hypothesized that some children have an impairment in sensory integration which manifests in difficulties observed in purposeful behaviours. This dysfunction in sensory integration may explain why some children have trouble learning new skills, organizing themselves, regulating their attention, participating in school or play activities, and engaging in positive social experiences.”

- What is sensory integrative therapy designed to do?

Sensory integrative therapy is designed to improve a person's sensory integration by changing the way that the body processes sensory inputs.  This may in turn improve their ability to engage in appropriate tasks and behaviours. For example, according to Case-Smith et al (2015), 

“… the goal of SIT is to increase the child’s ability to integrate sensory information, thereby demonstrating more organized and adaptive behaviors, including increased joint attention, social skill, motor planning, and perceptual skill. “

Claims 

There have been various claims made for the use of sensory integrative therapy as an intervention for autistic people. For example, 

• Karim and Mohammed (2015) claimed that sensory integrative therapy resulted in significant improvement in gross and fine motor skills in pre-school autistic children.
• Pfeiffer et al (2011) claimed that sensory integrative therapy resulted in significantly fewer autistic mannerisms in primary school autistic children.
• Sankar (2015) claimed that sensory integrative therapy reduced self-stimulating and self-injurious behaviours in primary school autistic children.
• Schaaf et al (2014) claimed that sensory integrative therapy led to improvements in a range of functional skills (such as self-care, mobility and social skills) in primary school autistic children.

Updated

16 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Apr 2018

Next Review

01 May 2024