Author: Swati Phatak
Phatak, Swati, 2019 Effects of a sensory integration intervention on behaviours of students with Autism: engagement, social and emotional behaviours, Flinders University, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
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According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual - fifth edition (DSM-5), the diagnostic criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) includes difficulties with social interactions and communication, verbal and non-verbal, restricted and repetitive behaviours and atypical engagement with sensory feedback from the environment. These characteristics have a significant impact on classroom engagement for students with autism.
This study used a single-case, multiple-baseline design to evaluate the effect of a Sensory Integration Programme (SI intervention) on task-engagement, social interaction, and emotional behaviours for students with autism and intellectual disability in their first year at school. A repeated measures design using the Sensory Processing Measure (SPM) was used to evaluate the effect of the SI intervention on sensory sub-scales, such as Planning and Ideas, Body Awareness, Balance and Motion, Social Participation, Vision, Hearing, Taste, Smell, Touch and Total of all sensory processing scores.
The effect of the SI intervention was evaluated from two perspectives: (a) Data from direct observations were analysed using the Excel Package for Randomisation Tests version 2.1 (ExPRT), and (b) teacher perceptions were used to determine changes in the nine subscales from a Sensory Processing Measure (SPM). Data from direct observations were analysed and the findings indicated an overall large effect on task engagement, when the SI intervention implementation was supervised by expert occupational therapists, such as in 2013 (d = 1.04) and 2014(d = 2.57). There was a negative effect on student-initiated social interactions in 2012 and 2013, while having a large effect in 2014. The duration of emotional behaviours displayed a large effect in 2012, and a moderate effect in 2013and 2014. The frequency of emotional behaviours displayed a moderate effect (d = 0.56) in 2012 and 2014, with a small effect in 2013.SPM was completed at T0, T1 and T2 by the class teachers and analysed using repeated measures ANOVA. The repeated measures ANOVA results of the nine subscales indicated improved outcomes for six subscales in 2012, five subscales in 2013, and three subscales in 2014.
These findings indicate that a class-based SI intervention can be effective in improving task engagement and in reducing the frequency and duration of emotional behaviours for some children with autism and intellectual disability. The impact of SI intervention or of SI intervention in conjunction with specific communication and language-based intervention for improving initiation and maintenance of social interactions requires further investigation.
Keywords: autism, sensory integration, sensory processing, sensory modulation, classroom behaviours, task engagement, social interactions, emotional behaviours, efficacy of sensory integration intervention, education policy, integrated models of practice
Subject: Education thesis
Thesis type: Doctor of Philosophy
Completed: 2019
School: College of Education, Psychology and Social Work
Supervisor: Dr Julie McMillan