Sensory correlations in autism.
This study examined the relationship between auditory, visual, touch, and oral sensory dysfunction in autism and their relationship to multisensory dysfunction and severity of autism. The Sensory Profile was completed on 104 persons with a diagnosis of autism, 3 to 56 years of age. Analysis showed a significant correlation between the different processing modalities using total scores. Analysis also showed a significant correlation between processing modalities for both high and low thresholds, with the exception that auditory high threshold processing did not correlate with oral low threshold or touch low threshold processing. Examination of the different age groups suggests that sensory disturbance correlates with severity of autism in children, but not in adolescents and adults. Evidence from this study suggests that: all the main modalities and multisensory processing appear to be affected; sensory processing dysfunction in autism is global in nature; and sensory processing problems need to be considered part of the disorder.
Kern
Janet K
JK
University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA. janet.kern@UTSouthwestern.edu
Trivedi
Madhukar H
MH
Grannemann
Bruce D
BD
Garver
Carolyn R
CR
Johnson
Danny G
DG
Andrews
Alonzo A
AA
Savla
Jayshree S
JS
Mehta
Jyutika A
JA
Schroeder
Jennifer L
JL
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013649:Taste; D014110:Touch; D014796:Visual Perception