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Sensory Integration as a Treatment for Automatically Maintained Stereotypy
Author(s) -
Moore Keira M.,
CividiniMotta Catia,
Clark Kathy M.,
Ahearn William H.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
behavioral interventions
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.605
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1099-078X
pISSN - 1072-0847
DOI - 10.1002/bin.1405
Subject(s) - stereotypy , autism , sensory system , psychology , sensory processing , psychological intervention , developmental psychology , neuroscience , psychiatry , amphetamine , dopamine
According to sensory integration (SI) theory, many symptoms of autism are caused by an inability to integrate and adaptively respond to sensory input. Despite little evidence supporting SI, this form of therapy is a popular treatment for children with autism. Should these treatments work, they should be most effective for behavior maintained by sensory consequences (automatically maintained). SI activities may make these sensory consequences less reinforcing. The purpose of this study was to determine whether SI treatments could reduce automatically‐maintained stereotypy. Five individuals with autism participated. An occupational therapist prescribed sensory activities that competed with stereotypy for SI treatments. Two types of SI treatments were tested: sensory diets and brushing with deep‐pressure therapy. The effect of these treatments on stereotypy was evaluated in an ABAB design. Neither the sensory diet alone, brushing and deep pressure alone, nor both treatments combined were effective interventions for stereotypy. These results do not support the use of SI as a treatment for stereotypy. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.