Dimension proprioceptive et tactile de la conscience corporelle et action volontaire chez un enfant avec TSA : protocole à cas unique en rééducation psychomotrice

Abstract

Bodily self-consciousness is based mainly on multisensory integration of physical stimuli, as well as sense of body ownership and sense of agency. It seems that voluntary action is an essential source for the development of the bodily self, to build a global and coherent body consciousness. We wanted to test the hypothesis that setting voluntary body movements would consolidate proprioceptive and tactile aspect of altered body awareness in an individual with autism spectrum disorder. It appears that autism is a disorder in which the body experience is impaired. Psychomotor therapy was then proposed to P., 11 years old with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and who seems to show an alteration of body consciousness, with a single case A-B-A-B experimental design. The protocol includes three types of measures: a measure of tactile discrimination, a measure of the kinesthesia of both upper limbs and a measure of kinesthetic acuity of upper limbs, proposed at the beginning of each session. We performed 3 sets of measurements without intervention to establish the baseline and then 10 therapy sessions based on setting voluntary body movements by the subject. We then analyzed the results in graphic form for the visual analysis of the curves. The results and clinical observations seem to point in the direction of a confirmation of the hypothesis; psychomotor therapy sessions around setting voluntary body movements would consolidate fragile bodily self-consciousness in children with ASD.