Differentiated Effects of Sensory Interventions on Aberrant Behavior and Sleep Patterns in Children with Autism

Background: The complexity of the central nervous system is abstract; yet, neuroscientists demonstrate evidence that sensory input evokes physiological changes in the body (Ben-Sasson et al., 2008). Sometimes we observe these changes in persons who seem to react strongly to everyday sensory input, particularly individuals on the autism spectrum who generally have more frequent and intense reactions to external sensory stimuli. A person with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) typically has trouble processing information from the outside world because sensory problems literally make it difficult to understand what is being seen, heard, and touched. Although the severe reactions to various external sensory stimuli have been discussed in the literature for decades (Baranek, Wakefield, & David, 2008), there is little to no empirical evidence or systematic interventions to address the sensory problems. Objectives: Determine the effectiveness of sensory related interventions on aberrant behavior and sleep patterns in children with ASD. Methods: The subjects were referred by a local autism center that provides services for children with autism spectrum disorder and their parents. The subjects' diagnosis of ASD was confirmed by a review of records and the completion of the ADI-R. Aberrant behavior and abnormal sleep patterns were confirmed by direct observations conducted independently by two data collectors. Interviews and direct observation measures previously developed by the authors were used to determine appropriate interventions for the aberrant behavior and abnormal sleep patterns. Following the identification, an alternating treatment design was utilized to show a functional relation to the identified intervention compared to other interventions (Kennedy, 2005). The researchers trained data coders to collect data who were blind to the study. Results: The sensory interventions identified through the interviews and direct observations demonstrated differentiated effects on aberrant behaviors of the subjects. That is, the identified sensory interventions were the only interventions that resulted in the aberrant behaviors reducing to and remaining at zero. Further, as evidenced by the differentiated effects in the alternating treatment design, sleep patterns improved for the subjects. Conclusions: Findings of this study show the utility of a systematic interview and direct observation measures in identifying sensory interventions to decrease aberrant behaviors and improve sleep patterns of individuals diagnosed with ASD.