The study was undertaken to evaluate the nature of sensory dysfunction in persons with autism. The cross-sectional study examined auditory, visual, oral, and touch sensory processing, as measured by the Sensory Profile, in 104 persons with a diagnosis of autism, 3-56 years of age, gender-and age-matched to community controls. Persons with autism had abnormal auditory, visual, touch, and oral sensory processing that was significantly different from controls. This finding was also apparent when the high and low thresholds of these modalities were examined separately. At later ages for the group with autism, lower levels of abnormal sensory processing were found, except for low threshold touch, which did not improve significantly. There was a significant interaction in low threshold auditory and low threshold visual, suggesting that the two groups change differently over time on these variables. These results suggest that sensory abnormalities in autism are global in nature (involving several modalities) but have the potential to improve with age.

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.

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