Disturbed Children Under Reduced Auditory Input: A Pilot Study

Abstract

This study investigated attention and performance on simple tasks as well as classroom attention of seriously disturbed, communication impaired, “autistic” children under conditions of reduced auditory input (using ear protectors) and under conditions of normal auditory input (using a placebo device). Under ear protector conditions, there was a significant increase in the amount of attention given to most of the tasks and a significant improvement in performance on two of five tasks. In addition, teacher ratings indicated a significant improvement in classroom attention under ear protector conditions. It was concluded that a significant number of “autistic” children do improve in classroom attention and show some gains in attention and performance on certain tasks under conditions of reduced auditory input.