Meta-analysis of Research on Sensory Integration Therapy for Individuals with Developmental and Learning Disabilities

Sensory integration therapy (SIT) is a widely used intervention for people with disabilities to address educationally related outcomes and has been subject to ongoing controversy. The outcomes from 30 comparison group studies on sensory integration therapy for people with, or at-risk of, a developme...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of developmental and physical disabilities Vol. 27; no. 2; pp. 183 - 206
Main Authors Leong, Han Ming, Carter, Mark, Stephenson, Jennifer R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Boston Springer US 01.04.2015
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Addition
Autism Spectrum Disorders
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Child and School Psychology
Control Groups
Developmental Disabilities
Effect Size
Evidence Based Practice
Interrater Reliability
Intervention
Learning disabilities
Learning disabled people
Meta Analysis
Morality
Occupational Therapy
Original Article
Outcome Measures
Pediatrics
People with disabilities
Primary Sources
Psychology
Public Health
Sensory integration
Stimulation
Young Children
Sensory integration therapy
Outcome studies
Developmental disabilities
Evidence-based practice
Meta-analysis
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Summary:Sensory integration therapy (SIT) is a widely used intervention for people with disabilities to address educationally related outcomes and has been subject to ongoing controversy. The outcomes from 30 comparison group studies on sensory integration therapy for people with, or at-risk of, a developmental or learning disability, disorder, or delay were reviewed and analyzed. Studies comparing SIT to no treatment yielded a statistically significant but small effect. However, when SIT was compared to alternative interventions, differences were non-significant. Numerous methodological flaws were identified, such as issues in clearly defining treatment and evaluating integrity, poor quality of research, and diversity of outcome measures. There was little evidence that SIT was an effective intervention for any diagnostic group, particularly when functional blinded outcome measures were examined. Minimum methodological requirements for any future research studies are discussed.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ObjectType-Feature-3
ObjectType-Evidence Based Healthcare-1
ISSN:1056-263X
1573-3580
DOI:10.1007/s10882-014-9408-y