Sensory Treatment for the Reduction of Stereotypic Behaviors in Persons with Severe Multiple Disabilities

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of excitatory and inhibitory multisensory stimulation for reducing instances of stereotypic behavior (STB) in a severely multiply disabled population. Thirty-six subjects were randomly assigned to three groups (excitatory stimulation, inhibitory stimulation, and control groups), and the two experimental groups received a treatment intervention for 30 days. The multisensory stimulation consisted of vestibular, tactile, auditory, and visual input designed to be either excitatory or inhibitory. STB was measured before, after, and 2 months after the intervention period. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between tests, but not between groups. Propositions are set forth and examined for factors that could have influenced the results.

This publication has 13 references indexed in Scilit: