The Impact of Sensory Processing Abilities on the Daily Lives of Young Children and Their Families: A Conceptual Model

Alexithymia in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Its Relationship to Internalising Difficulties, Sensory Modulation and Social Cognition

“…The subscales of the AASP are based on a four factor model indexing low registration (behaviours that indicate a high threshold to sensory stimulation, such as disregard or slow response to sensation), sensation seeking (behaviours that seek to increase sensory input, for example making noises or exploring objects using ones skin), sensory sensitivity (behaviours that indicate a low threshold to sensory stimulation such as distractibility and difficulty screening stimuli) and sensation avoiding (behaviours that seek to control or limit the amount of sensory input, for example reliance on rigid rituals) (Dunn 1997). A higher score on any of the AASP subscales indicates the individual experiences or exhibits more of the sensory behaviour.…”

Development of an Occupational Performance Questionnaire for preschool children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder

“…Deficits are also seen in an inability to play with peers and limited social participation (in terms of both interaction and communication). In addition sleep 14 and eating disorders 15 have been associated with sensory processing disorders indicating that occupational performance may be related to the high-over and -under responsive sensory modulation in these children 16 . The lack of independence in OPAs in children with ASD can result in prolonged dependency on others, which affects not only the child's quality of life, but also that of their family [17][18][19][20][21] .…”

“…The effect that the lack of ability in the OPAs of pre-school children with ASD, has on family functioning is difficult to measure objectively since families perceive their challenges differently. Furthermore the spectrum of mild to severe presentation of ASD is another variable relating to the child's individual differences in sensory processing, their emotional developmental level and their level of OPA functioning and the support that they receive from caregivers 16,20,21 . Little research has been published on improvement in the OPAs of children with ASD, although assessing changes in these areas have been documented as being important for parents 22 .…”

Anxiety in children with Williams syndrome : association with negative reactivity, self-regulation, and sensory modulation.

“…Problems in sensory modulation are theorized to be related to abnormally low or abnormally high neuronal thresholds for input of sensory information, resulting in hyper-or hypo-sensitivity to stimuli (Dunn, 1997).…”

“…Some of the earliest reports surfaced 20 years ago, with descriptions of exaggerated startle response to sound and anticipatory anxiety related to loud noise (Dilts et al, 1990). Although sensory modulation difficulties have been frequently noted in this population (e.g., Gosch & Pankau, 1994, 1997Leyfer et al, 2006;Udwin, 1990;Udwin et al, 1987), there have been few attempts to understand the nature of sensory-related problems. John and Mervis (2010) explored sensory problems in children with WS using the Short Sensory Profile (McIntosh, Miller, Shyu, & Dunn, 1999).…”