Effect of Sensory Integration Therapy on Self-Stimulating and Self-Injurious Behaviours in Children with Autism: A Pilot Study

Dr. U. Ganapathy Sankar

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to identify 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 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.

Keywords: Sensory Integration therapy, tabletop activities, Autism, Self-stimulating behaviours, Self-injurious behaviours