Dr. Lucy J. Miller, The Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation, The STAR Center, Dr. Rosalind Picard
Challenge:
Some activities in Occupational Therapy create anxiety while others can help reduce tension and stress. How can therapists create a better emotional experience for children with sensory challenges, like Autism and ADHD?
Solution:
Hedman observed children participating in occupational therapy at the STAR Center in Greenwood Village. Children's and therapists' electrodermal activity was measured and each therapy session was filmed. Afterwards, Hedman discussed the changes in EDA with therapists and researchers.
Example EDA:
Example EDA:
A
child with Autism attends occupational therapy for an hour. During the session,
the child lies in a ball pit where the therapist intentionally attempts to calm
her. As the child lies in the ball pit, her EDA correspondingly decreases. This
response pattern is repeated a second time, later on in therapy.
Results:
| STAR Center's Previous Model | New Emotion Model |
|---|---|
| The Scooter Board reduces children's arousal. | The Scooter Board reliably increased children's EDA. |
| Active Listening Therapy is not an important factor in helping children regulate their arousal. | Active Listening Therapy increased the arousal for children, more than many other "traditional" activities that are used to engage children. |
| A child was unable to eat food and had to have food given to her through a stomach pump. Therapists assumed that eating increased the child's arousal. | When the child sat and ate pudding, surprisingly, her EDA decreased substantially. |
| Lying in a ball pit or swinging slowly in a lycra swing correspond with decreases in EDA. | |
| Sometimes when children were overwhelmed, large increases in EDA were observed. |
This research has been presented at numerous conferences and has been used in support of promoting Sensory Processing Disorder into the Diagnostics and Statistical Manual. Several papers have been written on this subject, and some therapists have changed their practices according to these findings.