Sensory Integration

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Sensory Processing and Autism

Now days our society is seeing a high increase in the diagnosis of Autism. In the United States the prevalence is 1 in 150 births. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, boys are affected more than girls. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in social skills, nonverbal and verbalcommunication. It involves repetitive behaviors and unusual interests (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). There is another area that has received great consideration lately, because there are many children with autism that have unusual ways of learning, attending and responding to sensory experiences. People with autism have reported (Shoener, Kinnealey, & Koenig, 2008) that self-stimulatory behaviorsoften serve as a regulatory function, allowing them to process sensory information from the world around them and attend without the alternative, which is sensory overload. Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID, also called sensory processing disorder) is a neurological disorder causing difficulties with processing information from the five classic senses (vision, auditory, touch, olfaction, andtaste), the sense of movement (vestibular system), and/or the positional sense (proprioception). For those with SID, sensory information is sensed normally, but perceived abnormally. This is not the same as blindness or deafness, because, unlike those disorders, sensory information is sensed by people with SID, but the information tends to be analyzed by the brain in an unusual way that may causedistress or confusion reduction of autistic mannerisms or self-regulatory behaviors may be indicative of a better ability to process sensory stimuli in the environment without the need for regulatory strategies.

Jean Ayres developed the theory that is known today as the Sensory Integration Theory. Later on, the Model of Sensory Processing was developed by Karin Dunn. This model was based inknowledge from neuroscience and behavioral science. The model conceptualizes sensory processing’s contribution to a child’s behavior. Dunn’s model hypothesizes that an interaction between neurological thresholds and behavioral responses exists (Dunn, 1997). This model illustrate that the neurological thresholds indicate the amount of stimuli needed for a child to notice or react to it. Thebehavioral responses indicate the manner in which a child responds to stimuli. According to this model, neurological thresholds and behavioral responses fall on a continuum and interact with each other. This is how the four sensory processing patterns that include registration, seeking, sensitivity, and avoiding evolved giving an insight to possible interpretations of a child’s behavior. Theinteraction of neurological thresholds and behavioral responses provides a method for explaining how children process sensory information and guidance for intervention planning (Dunn, 1999).
Children with autism have difficulties responding to sensory experiences. They may react in unusual ways. These kids show an apparent inability of the autistic brain properly to encode, decode, integrate andcoordinate simultaneously. Humans have interactive sensory systems that include the tactile, vestibular, proprioceptive, visual and auditory information processing. Children with autism may be sensitive and overreact to the different stimulation people encounter in a day. A good example of this could be if a child with autism is overreacting to auditory stimulation and this child could try to escapethis stimulation by withdrawing. Other children with autism may exhibit self-stimulatory, and repetitive behaviors such as rocking, spinning, or flapping their hands, these children may be seeking vestibular input. Children with autism often don’t recognize the sensory input that it is important; at other times, they are overly sensitive to sensory input and withdraw from stimuli (Ermer & Dunn,...