Hi there, I’m interested to know what types of interventions, assessment tools and outcome measures that people are using when considering sensory integration with children and particularly why. Most research refers directly to children with autism however I’m interested to know if anyone is aware of the evidence base of their sensory practice. All studies I have come across have been very small scale with little evidence base. It has me thinking that this area is so widely used within OT what influences and guides practitioners sessions? particularly interested in the use of DPPT and joint compressions.
Farrah
Hi @Farrah,
A comment from Ben, via the SI4OT Facebook group... "There are two main systematic reviews in 2018 and 2019, that found evidence for ASI in children with ASD, when following the ASI criteria. The first was looking at all evidence for ASI in OT, between 2007 and 2015, but could only find papers involving children with ASI: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&q=sensory+integration+systematic+review
The second paper, with similar findings:
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=sensory+integration+systematic+review+learning+disabilities
It's worth noting one of the papers (I cannot remember which) doesn't actually follow the ASI fidelity criteria when selecting the papers. Evidence outside children with a diagnosis of ASD is, to my knowledge, often found to be lacking, limited in size and with a high risk of bias. The latest systematic review of SI that I am aware of in the LD population (2014) concluded that 'There was little evidence that SI was an effective intervention for any diagnostic group, particularly when functional blinded outcome measures were examined.'"