Sensory Integration Therapy with Learning Disabled Children: A Critical Review

Abstract

This paper is a reaction to the profound impact which sensory integration theory has had on theory and practice in occupational therapy. Five key outcome studies employing sensory integration therapy with learning disabled children are critically reviewed. In four of the five studies, the possibility of Type I error, destroying their internal validity, is strongly suggested as a result of inadequate sampling and matching procedures; lack of definition of the subject population; potential Hawthorne effect; the use of gain scores; possibility of tester bias; and absence of relevant information regarding reliability and validity of measures and levels of significance. In one of the studies, the possibility of a Type II error is evident because of unequal samples and the considerable variability among subjects indicated by the data. It is concluded that at least some of the research to date is fraught with serious methodological errors and that there is the need for controlled, systematic investigation of sensory integrative therapy.