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Memory and standing balance after multisensory stimulation in a Snoezelen room in people with moderate learning disabilities
Author(s) -
Toro Brigitte
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
british journal of learning disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.633
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1468-3156
pISSN - 1354-4187
DOI - 10.1111/bld.12289
Subject(s) - psychology , balance (ability) , analysis of variance , learning disability , repeated measures design , physical medicine and rehabilitation , developmental psychology , mindfulness , audiology , stimulation , physical therapy , clinical psychology , medicine , neuroscience , statistics , mathematics
Accessible SummaryMultisensory stimulation improves attention, which can also improve memory and standing balance of people with learning disabilities, even at a high age. Improved standing balance and body awareness may help reduce falls in people with moderate learning disabilities. Therapeutic treatments could be more effective if preceded by multisensory stimulation.Abstract Background The Snoezelen room provides a multisensory environment for people with learning disabilities. Method Thirty‐five residents were recruited from a convenience sample of people living in a residential centre. A repeated‐measures, within‐subject design was used to evaluate the participants during three conditions: a) Snoezelen room, b) control period and c) watching television. The outcome measures were digit span memory tests and Romberg balance tests. One‐way repeated‐measures ANOVAs and paired‐samples t tests were performed on the data. Results ANOVA results show that there was a significant effect over time in the amount of digits remembered and in balancing ability between the three conditions ( p < .0005). T tests confirmed that the Snoezelen condition was responsible for the significant improvements in memory and balancing ability. Conclusion Participants performed significantly better with memory tasks and balancing skills after having attended multisensory stimulation in a Snoezelen room. This may be due to improved mindfulness, which is correlated with improvements of concentration, learning ability and motor skills caused by neurophysiologic changes of the brain.