One of the disorders sensory integration (SI) therapy is
said to help with is the decrease of behavioral excesses in children with
autism. In a new single-subject experimental design to evaluate the efficacy of
various SI techniques on reduction of stereotypic behaviors, a net swing, “deep pressure,” and a sensory diet consisting of “deep compression” via
a therapy ball, “deep pressure” via heavy work activities, “meatball squeeze,”
and joint compression were examined with three preschoolers with autism.
Single-subject studies are truly experimental; the other
truly experimental type of research is randomized control trials.
Single-subject studies involve a small number of participants but many data on
the dependent variable are collected over time. What you give up in the number
of participants, you gain in the number of observations per participant.
Furthermore, the controls on the independent variable (i.e., the treatment) are
very tight. Finally, you can see the exact results of the difference between conditions—between
baseline and treatment, for example.
The study is by Sniezyk and Zane and was published in March in
Focus on Autism and Other DevelopmentalDisabilities, Volume 30, Number 1. The occupational therapists conducting
the treatments had the freedom to determine what specific behaviors to target
and what exact treatments to use. The study used rigorous inter-observer
agreement procedures, to ensure the reliability of the data, and they measured
the fidelity of the procedures to ensure the children really were receiving the
SIT described by their therapists. Quoting the abstract, “The results showed
that there was no causal relationship between the sensory procedures and
improvements in the targeted dependent variables. Thus, SIT remains an unproven
treatment for autism.”
The purpose of this post isn't simply to bash SIT, which is too easy, but rather to encourage the evidence-based treatments for reducing stereotypies. The National Professional Development Center on ASD has an excellent review of evidence-based practices.
The purpose of this post isn't simply to bash SIT, which is too easy, but rather to encourage the evidence-based treatments for reducing stereotypies. The National Professional Development Center on ASD has an excellent review of evidence-based practices.
