Should children with sub-threshold ADHD predominantly inattentive subtype (ADHD-I) symptoms be treated with Sensory ıntegration therapy? A case-control study.

Abstract

Objective: Sensory integration therapy is one of the promising preventive therapy options for behavioral and developmental disorders. Hypothesizing a degree of parallelism, this study provides an insight into the effectiveness of the sensory integration therapy potencies for school-aged children with subthreshold ADHD predominantly inattentive subtype. Method: The study was a single-arm clinical trial and 20 patients aged 7–10 years with subthreshold ADHD predominantly inattentive subtype, were included. The sensory integration intervention was prepared in accordance with sensory modulation principles and intervention strategies and lasted 12 weeks with two sessions per week. The effectiveness was assessed using the Conner’s teacher/parent scales, the Clinical Global Impression scale, the Canadian Sensory integration Performance Measure and the Sensory Profile. Results: The rate of patients with typical or better performance in auditory processing domain of the Sensory Profile was found significantly increased after sensory integration therapy; 9 patients (45%) before and 15 patients after (75%) (p=0.031). The rates of participants with typical or better performance in inattention–distractibility factor score of the Sensory Profile were found significantly increased after sensory integration therapy; 6 before (30%) and 16 after (80%) (p=0.006). Conclusion: Sensory integration therapy focuses on supporting persons with varied disability terms to engage in daily life activities that they find significant and purposeful. Difficulties experienced by individuals with subthreshold attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are addressed in this study and aspects of daily life are explored while swiping through different sensory modalities. Impaired auditory processing improvable through sensory integration therapy was observed in these children.