The use of Multi-Sensory Environments with autistic children: Exploring the effect of having control of sensory changes.
Katy L Unwin, Georgina Powell, Catherine Rg Jones
PMID 34693744WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic children showed fewer repetitive movements and better attention when they controlled sensory equipment versus when it changed automatically.
However, anxiety, social interaction, positive affect and arousal did not differ between the two conditions.
Key findings
01Children who controlled the sensory equipment showed fewer repetitive motor behaviours and shorter durations of these movements compared to when the equipment changed automatically.
02Attention was significantly higher in the condition where children had control over the sensory changes.
03There were no significant differences between the control and non-control conditions for social behaviours, anxiety, positive affect or heart rate variability.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The Active-Change condition had more sensory changes than the Passive-Change condition, so it is unclear whether the benefits came from control itself or from the increased stimulation. The iPad was only available in the Active-Change condition, meaning the presence of the device itself could have influenced the results rather than the control it provided. Coders were not blind to the condition, which could introduce bias, although inter-rater reliability was high. The study did not compare MSE use to a non-sensory control environment, so it cannot determine if MSEs are superior to other settings. Data on ethnicity and socioeconomic status were not collected, limiting generalisability. The study did not consult the autistic community in its design. The session was only 15 minutes per condition, which may not reflect the effects of longer or repeated MSE use.
Declared interests
The research was funded by the ESRC and Cardiff University. Mike Ayres Design, a commercial MSE provider, donated an MSE to Cardiff University but did not contribute to the design, data collection, analysis or write-up.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that Multi-Sensory Environments are superior to other play settings or that control specifically causes the behavioural changes. The study did not compare the MSE to a non-sensory environment, and the Active-Change condition involved more sensory changes and a unique device (the iPad), making it difficult to isolate control as the sole active ingredient.