Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Table 7

Sensory integration therapy in ASD.

Author	Year	Type and duration of study	Sample size	Type of intervention	Comparators	Dose	Outcome measure	Findings	Comments
Fazlioglu and Baran [72]	2008	Randomized, parallel group; Duration: 12 weeks	(M 24; F 6); Age: 7–11 years	Sensory diet consisting of brushing and joint compression followed by activities liked by the child and integrated in the daily routine ()	Control ()	24; 45-min sessions (2 days a week)	Checklist developed by the investigators to quantify severity of sensory processing abnormalities	Significant improvement in treatment group	Small sample size; Blinding not reported; Not standardized outcome measure; No sufficient information on treatment and control activities
Pfeiffer et al. [73]	2011	Randomized, single blind, parallel group; Duration: 6 weeks	(M 32; F 5); Drop-out; Age: 6–12 years; Diagnosis of ASD only in 21 patients	Sensory integration according to Parham ()	Fine motor control group ()	18 45-minute sessions	SPM, SRS, GAS, and QNST-II	Significant improvement in mannerism and in GAS score in sensory group compared to fine motor activity	Small sample size; High drop-out rate (almost 10%); Only per-protocol analysis; Baseline characteristics different at baseline between the two groups; QNTS-II not available for 30% of subjects in both groups
Reilly et al. [74]	1983	Randomized, crossover; Duration: unclear, probably all sessions were provided in one day	(M 15; F 3); Age: 6.2–11.7 years	Sensory integration	Fine motor activities (puzzle)	Two 30 min sessions	ASIEP	Significant difference in variety of speech and length of utterances favoring fine motor activity	Small sample size; No standardized sensory integration therapy
Thompson [75]	2011	Open label; Duration: unclear	(M 26; F 24); Age: not reported; Diagnosis of ASD only in 10 patients	Sensory integration according to Parham	None		Sustained focus based on observation	Significant improvement in sustained focus in patients with ASD	Small sample size; Not specific for autism; Open label trial; Data collectors not blinded; Statistical analysis not optimal; No standardized outcome measure; Insufficient baseline data

ASIEP, Autism Screening Instrument for Educational Planning; GAS, Goal Attainment Scale; QNST-II, Quick Neurological Screening Test-II; SPM, Sensory Processing Measure; SRS, Social Responsiveness Scale.