Sensory integration therapy

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Sensory integration therapy (SIT) was originally developed by occupational therapist A. Jean Ayres in the 1970s to help children with sensory-processing difficulties. It was specifically designed to treat Sensory Processing Disorder (sometimes called Sensory Integrative Dysfunction). [1] Sensory Integration Therapy is based on A. Jean Ayres's Sensory Integration Theory, which proposes that sensory-processing is linked to emotional regulation, learning, behavior, and participation in daily life. [2] Sensory integration is the process of organizing sensations from the body and environmental stimuli.

Contents

Theoretical concept

A. Jean Ayres' sensory integration theory describes the following:

Sensory integration theory is used to explain why individuals behave in particular ways, plan intervention to ameliorate particular difficulties, and predict how behavior will change as a result of intervention. [6] Dr. Ayres defines sensory integration as the organization of an individual's senses for use. The brain’s ability to organize sensations supports a person in moving, learning, and reacting to situations appropriately. [1]

Individuals with sensory-processing difficulties often experience delayed or impeded typical behaviors and functioning as a result of interferences in neurological processing and integration of sensory inputs. [7] Sensory dysfunction affects the neurological processing of sensory information and sensory systems which causes negative impacts on learning and development. [8] Ayres Sensory Integration (ASI) highlights the critical influence that sensory-processing has on a child's growth and development. [9] It contributes to the understanding of how sensation affects learning, social-emotional development, and neurophysiological processes, such as motor performance, attention, and arousal. [9]

ASI has been studied by different professions on diverse levels, such as by occupational therapists and researchers as a foundation for occupational performance and participation, and by psychologists on a cellular level as multi-sensory integration. [10]

As an intervention approach, it is used as "a clinical frame of reference for the assessment and treatment of people who have functional disorders in sensory processing". [8]

Practice

Individuals with sensory processing disorder or sensory integrative dysfunction experience problems with their sensory systems, also known as basic senses of touch, smell, hearing, taste, sight, body coordination, and movement against gravity. They might also experience difficulties in movement, coordination, and sensing where one's body is in a given space, also known as proprioception. [10] Each individual sensory system has specific receptors or cells within the body that deliver messages to the brain. These receptors are located in specific parts of the body - gustatory/taste (mouth), olfactory/smell (nose), visual (eye), auditory (ear), and vestibular (inner ear). Other receptors are spread throughout the body - tactile (skin) and proprioception (muscles and joints). [10] [11]

Sensory Integration Therapy, also known as sensory-based treatments or interventions, are designed to provide sensory activities or experiences to help individuals respond better to environmental stimuli (i.e., sensory input). [7] [12] The main goal and priority for the use of sensory integration therapies is to improve internal sensory processing, improve self-regulation, develop adaptive functioning skills, and to help the child successfully become participate in daily life experiences and activities. [7] [5] Sensory-based interventions or activities are structured and individualized per each child's specific individual needs. They range from passive activities (i.e., wearing a weighted vest, weighted blanket, receiving hugs, playing with shaving cream) to active activities (i.e., spinning around, jumping on a trampoline, running, climbing, walking on patterned blocks). [12] [5]

According to proponents of sensory integration therapy, sensory integrative dysfunction is a common disorder for individuals with neurological learning disabilities such as an autism spectrum disorder, [13] [5] attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, [14] and sensory modulation dysfunction. [15]

Occupational therapists are uniquely equipped to practice Ayres Sensory Integration (ASI) or Occupational Therapy Sensory Integration (OT-SI). During sessions, activities are presented to both challenge capabilities and assist and regulating a child (Parham & Mailloux, 2015). [16] Activities are often specially tailored to meet individual needs. The goal of these sessions is to assist a child in gaining competence in participating in everyday activities in settings such as school, home and extra curriculars. Active participation is emphasized in order to maxims gains and learning. Children who require more structure are given modified activities that continue to offer freedom of choice in order to foster self-direction (Parham & Mailloux,2015). [17]

Sensory hyper- and hyposensitivity examples

Visual

Auditory

Tactile

Gustatory (Taste)

Olfactory (Smell)

Vestibular

Proprioceptive

Sensory activity examples

Visual

Auditory

Tactile

Gustatory (Taste)

Olfactory (Smell)

Vestibular

Proprioceptive

Evidence and Effectiveness

While sensory-based interventions are highly advocated for, there continues to be a lack of empirical support. There is disagreement over their therapeutic worth, largely due to problems with methodology and confusion of terms and conflation with similar and related approaches. [7] [12] [18]

Ayres' theory of sensory integration is frequently critiqued. Emerging evidence with improved methodology, the development of a Fidelity Measure and increasing focus of resources on areas of practice that might not typically attract medical research funding, means that the much needed evidence for Ayres SI is now emerging. [19] [11] Since much of the effects of sensory based interventions are hard to quantify and measure, this is why it seems there is not much evidence for it.

Hume and colleagues support the use of Ayres’ Sensory Integration (ASI), making the case for why review of science and evidence should be ongoing. [20]

The current report updates and extends the work on evidence-based, focused intervention practices begun with an initial review of the literature from 1997 to 2007 (Odom et al. 2010a, b) and extended through a second report that covered the literature from 1990 to 2011 (Wong et al. 2015); extending this systematic review through 2017 added 567 articles to the review. As the intervention literature has provided more empirical information and as practices have evolved, some of the classifications required reconceptualization and revision of previous definitions. In an active research area, knowledge does not stand still, and in fact, identification of EBPs should be dynamic, reflecting the growth of knowledge across time (Biglan and Ogden 2019).

In their article they clearly state the importance of clearly defining what sensory integration therapy is and what it is not; helping to clarify and delineate the clinical practice reported in their article, from other related approaches based on Ayres’ SI theory. [20]

It is important to note that Sensory Integration refers explicitly to the classical sensory integration model developed by Jean Ayres (2005) and not to a variety of interventions that address sensory issues but have been found to be unsupported (Case-Smith et al. 2015; Watling and Hauer 2015). [19]

History

In the 1950s, Dr. A. Jean Ayres, an occupational therapist and psychologist, developed the theory and framework of sensory integration. Her book Sensory Integration and the Child, first published in the 1970s, was a means of helping families, therapists, and educators of children with sensory-processing difficulties and sensory processing disorders to better organize and improve self-regulation of body and environmental sensory inputs. [1] [2]

Ayres' approach has proliferated among therapy and educational professionals over the past several decades. It has been met with some resistance within the occupational therapy profession and in other disciplines. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Occupational therapy</span> Healthcare profession

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Ayres, A. Jean (2005). Sensory integration and the child : understanding hidden sensory challenges (25th anniversary ed., rev. and updated ed.). Los Angeles, CA: WPS. p. 5. ISBN   978-087424-437-3.
  2. 1 2 3 Smith Roley, Susanne; Mailloux, Zoe; Miller Kuhaneck, Heather (September 2007). "Understanding Ayres' Sensory Integration". OT Practice. 12 (17): CE1-8.
  3. ↑ Mulligan, Shelly (1998). "Patterns of sensory integration dysfunction: A confirmatory factor analysis". American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 52 (10): 819–828. doi: 10.5014/ajot.52.10.819 .
  4. ↑ Mailloux, Zoe; Mulligan, Shelly; Roley, Susanne S.; Blanche, Erna I.; Cermak, Sharon (2011). "Verification and clarification of patterns of sensory integrative dysfunction". American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 65 (2): 143–151. doi: 10.5014/ajot.2011.000752 . PMID   21476361.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Dawson, G.; Watling, R. (October 2000). "Interventions to facilitate auditory, visual, and motor integration in autism: a review of the evidence". J Autism Dev Disord. 30 (5): 415–21. doi:10.1023/A:1005547422749. PMID   11098877. S2CID   9012157.
  6. ↑ Murray, Anita C.; Lane, Shelly J.; Murray, Elizabeth A. (2001). Sensory integration (2 ed.). Philadelphia: F.A. Davis. p. 5. ISBN   0-8036-0545-5.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Barton EE, Reichow B, Schnitz A, Smith IC, Sherlock D (2015). "A systematic review of sensory-based treatments for children with disabilities". Res Dev Disabil. 37: 64–80. doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.11.006. PMID   25460221.
  8. 1 2 3 Parham, D. & Mailloux, Z. (2010). Sensory Integration. In Case-Smith, J. & O’Brien, J. (Eds.), Occupational Therapy For Children (6th ed.). (pp 325–372). Maryland Heights, Missouri: Mosby Elsevier.
  9. 1 2 Smith Roley, S. & Jacobs, E. S. (2009). Sensory Integration. In Crepeau, E. B., Cohn, E. & Boyt Schell, B. (Eds.), Willard & Spackman’s Occupational Therapy (11th ed.). (pp. 792–817). Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
  10. 1 2 3 Wallace, Mark T.; Stein, Berry E. (1997). "Development of multisensory neurons and multisensory integration in cat superior colliculus". Journal of Neuroscience. 17 (7): 2429–2444. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.17-07-02429.1997 . PMC   6573512 . PMID   9065504.
  11. 1 2 Lane, Shelly J.; Mailloux, Zoe; Schoen, Sarah; Bundy, Anita; May-Benson, Teresa A.; Parham, L. Diane; Smith Roley, Susanne; Schaaf, Roseann C. (2019-06-28). "Neural Foundations of Ayres Sensory Integration®". Brain Sciences. 9 (7): 153. doi: 10.3390/brainsci9070153 . ISSN   2076-3425. PMC   6680650 . PMID   31261689.
  12. 1 2 3 Case-Smith J, Weaver LL, Fristad MA (2015). "A systematic review of sensory processing interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders". Autism. 19 (2): 133–48. doi:10.1177/1362361313517762. PMID   24477447. S2CID   44303535.
  13. ↑ Marco EJ; Hinkley LB; Hill SS; Nagarajan SS (May 2011). "Sensory processing in autism: a review of neurophysiologic findings". Pediatr. Res. 69 (5 Pt 2): 48R–54R. doi:10.1203/PDR.0b013e3182130c54. PMC   3086654 . PMID   21289533.
  14. ↑ Ghanizadeh A (June 2011). "Sensory processing problems in children with ADHD, a systematic review". Psychiatry Investig. 8 (2): 89–94. doi:10.4306/pi.2011.8.2.89. PMC   3149116 . PMID   21852983.
  15. ↑ Miller, L. J.; Reisman, J. E.; McIntosh, D. N.; Simon, J. (January 2001). S. S. Roley; E. I. Blanche; R. C. Schaaf (eds.). An ecological model of sensory modulation: Performance of children with fragile X syndrome, autistic disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and sensory modulation dysfunction (PDF). Tucson, AZ: Therapy Skill Builders. pp. 75–88. ISBN   9780761615156. OCLC   46678625. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-25. Retrieved 2013-07-26.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  16. ↑ Parham, L. Diane; Mailloux, Zoe (2015). Sensory Integration (7th ed.). Occupational Therapy for Children and Adolescents: Elsevier Moby. p. 259-295. ISBN   978-0-323-16925-7.
  17. ↑ Parham, L.Diane; Mailloux, Zoe (2015). Sensory Integration (7th ed.). Occupational Therapy for Children and Adolescents: Elsevier Mosby. p. 259-295. ISBN   978-0-323-16925-7.
  18. ↑ Schaaf, Roseann C.; Dumont, Rachel L.; Arbesman, Marian; May-Benson, Teresa A. (2018-01-01). "Efficacy of Occupational Therapy Using Ayres Sensory Integration®: A Systematic Review". American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 72 (1): 7201190010p1–7201190010p10. doi:10.5014/ajot.2018.028431. ISSN   0272-9490. PMID   29280711. S2CID   4018104.
  19. 1 2 Watling, Renee; Hauer, Sarah (September 2015). "Effectiveness of Ayres Sensory Integration® and Sensory-Based Interventions for People With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review". The American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 69 (5): 6905180030p1–12. doi: 10.5014/ajot.2015.018051 . ISSN   0272-9490. PMID   26356655.
  20. 1 2 Hume, Kara; Steinbrenner, Jessica R.; Odom, Samuel L.; Morin, Kristi L.; Nowell, Sallie W.; Tomaszewski, Brianne; Szendrey, Susan; McIntyre, Nancy S.; Yücesoy-Özkan, Serife; Savage, Melissa N. (2021-01-15). "Evidence-Based Practices for Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Autism: Third Generation Review". Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 51 (11): 4013–4032. doi: 10.1007/s10803-020-04844-2 . ISSN   1573-3432. PMC   8510990 . PMID   33449225.
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