A STUDY TO IDENTIFY EFFECTS OF SENSORY INTEGRATION (SI) THERAPY ACTIVITIES TO REDUCE SELF-STIMULATING AND SELF-INJURIOUS BEHAVIOURS IN CHILDREN WITH AUTISM: A PILOT STUDY

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the effectiveness of Sensory Integration (SI) therapy to reduce self-stimulating and self-injurious behaviours in children with autism. Ten children with autism were included through convenience sampling procedure. Five children included in experimental group and 5 children included in control group randomly. This study compared the effects of Occupational therapy using sensory integration therapy activities with tabletop activities.The results found that self-stimulating and self-injurious behaviours were significantly reduced by 13% one hour after SI therapy activities in comparison with the tabletop activities.There was no significant change immediately following SI intervention or tabletop activities.Further results revealed that there was a positive correlation between teacher rating of children behaviour in classroom and investigators observations. These findings concluded that an SI activity is effective to reduce self-stimulating and self-injurious behaviours in children with autism.