Occupational therapy using an Ayres Sensory integration® approach for school-age children – a randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT

Sensory-based interventions, for children with problems regarding sensory integration (SI), have become recognised by the public in recent years; many advertised intervention programmes do not truly reflect the principles of Ayres Sensory Integration approach (ASI®). Furthermore, there is still a lack of evidence-based practice to support its clinical application in Hong Kong. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of occupational therapy (OT), with ASI® interventions, for school-age children with SI problems through randomised controlled trials. Fifty-two subjects were randomly assigned to an experimental or control group; 27 participants in the experimental group received 16 sessions (45 min each) of ASI® intervention. Pretest/posttest changes in scores for goal attainment scaling, the Sensory Integration and Praxis Test (SIPT), and the Chinese Sensory Profile showed significant improvement in the experimental group. The results indicate that the ASI® intervention is effective in treating children with SI problems.

KEYWORDS:

• Occupational Therapy
• Ayres Sensory Integration
• randomized controlled trial
• school-age children

Data availability

Due to privacy and ethical concerns, supporting data cannot be made openly available.

Trial registry

This work was registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov Protocol and Results System (PRS). The protocol ID is KC/KE-13-0135/FR-3.

Authors’ contributions

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully thank the children and parents who participated in this study. We also wish to thank Vanessa Chan, Dora Chan, Tiffany Chau, Kristy Yuen, Fion Lee, Sara Choy, Wendy Tam, and Katharine Wu for their assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Hospital Authority Princess Margaret Hospital Clinical Research Centre Mini Research Grant.