Autism study to evaluate sensory integration therapy
By Bill Snyder
January 15, 2010
Vanderbilt University researchers have received a two-year federal stimulus grant to evaluate sensory integration therapy, a widely used but controversial method for improving communication skills in children with autism.
Children with autism have difficulty taking in and integrating sensory information from the outside world, particularly auditory information.
The suppression or misinterpretation of auditory information can prevent the development of language.
Sensory integration therapy, or SIT, uses “desensitization” techniques such as joint massage and tactile brushing to overcome this difficulty. But SIT has never been thoroughly evaluated scientifically.
Supported by a two-year, $670,000 grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, Stephen Camarata, Ph.D., and Mark Wallace, Ph.D., will compare SIT to a well-established language acquisition technique in a pilot group of 40 children with autism.
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