Sensory Integration Education

The International Sensory Integration Congress (ISIC) 2024 opened on Monday 28th October in Sydney. The theme of the three-day congress is Elevating Evidence Based Practice in ASI. Gina Evans attended virtually on behalf of Sensory Integration Education to share with you all the latest developments in the international field of SI.

There is an 11-hour time difference between the UK/Ireland and Sydney and so many of the sessions will be uploaded for viewing in the coming days, post-conference. The agenda for Monday included topics on precision therapy, A Systematic Review of Randomized Control Trials for ASI in children, Sensory Motor Foundations for Academic Success, Administration and Interpretation of the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA), A Case Study in Toileting Challenges, and The Sensory First Hypothesis of Autism. Today we have summarised the main keynote address from Roseann Schaaf on Evidence for Precision Therapy.

We were reminded during this presentation that ASI requires sophisticated clinical reasoning. It is a complex intervention focusing on the sensory motor contributions to development. ASI is an evidence based intervention approach. However, it was also stated that we don't have enough data on how occupational therapy using ASI impacts specific outcomes such as play and participation in meal time – this is a work in progress. We need to include specific outcomes in our research studies to show if and how this intervention works or is helpful. Roseann described the various RCTs and comparative effectiveness trials that have been completed for ASI to date. Check out the references here:

• Schaaf, R. C., Dumont, R. L., Arbesman, M., & May-Benson, T. A. (2018). Efficacy of occupational therapy using Ayres Sensory Integration®: A systematic review. The American journal of occupational therapy, 72(1), 7201190010p1-7201190010p10. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2018.028431
• There is a comparative effectiveness trial entitled R01-RCT in preparation by Schaaf, Molholm, Ridgway, Maillous et al. This compared OT-ASI; ABA, and No Treatment. OT-ASI and ABA groups improved significantly over the no treatment group. 
• Omairi, C., Mailloux, Z., Antoniuk, S. A., & Schaaf, R. (2022). Occupational therapy using Ayres Sensory Integration®: A randomized controlled trial in Brazil. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 76(4). https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2022.048249
• Randell, E., Wright, M., Milosevic, S., Gillespie, D., Brookes-Howell, L., Busse-Morris, M., Hastings, R., Maboshe, W., Williams-Thomas, R., Mills, L., Romeo, R., Yaziji, N., McKigney, A. M., Ahuja, A., Warren, G., Glarou, E., Delport, S., & McNamara, R. (2022). Sensory integration therapy for children with autism and sensory processing difficulties: the SenITA RCT. Health technology assessment (Winchester, England), 26(29), 1–140. https://doi.org/10.3310/TQGE0020. While the findings were somewhat different to Schaaf’s RCT, all children who received ASI improved in their individualised goals.
• Chan, P. L., Poon, M. Y., Bux, V., Wong, S. K., Chu, A. W., Louie, F. T., ... & Fong, S. S. (2023). Occupational therapy using an Ayres Sensory integration® approach for school-age children–a randomized controlled trial. World Federation of Occupational Therapists Bulletin, 79(2), 228-235.

Systematic review:

• Oh, S., Jang, J. S., Jeon, A. R., Kim, G., Kwon, M., Cho, B., & Lee, N. (2024). Effectiveness of sensory integration therapy in children, focusing on Korean children: A systematic review and meta-analysis. World journal of clinical cases, 12(7), 1260–1271. https://doi.org/10.12998/wjcc.v12.i7.1260

Implementation trials are also important in scientific research. There is a paper being published by Schaaf et al. which focused on Early OT-ASI where the manualised intervention was adapted for young children. Keep an eye out for this. 

However, it was noted that you don’t need to be publishing research to make a difference. The everyday practical applications are so important to keep this intervention alive and going. 

Parent education on ASI is crucial. Roseann shared that she has been involved in developing a Parent Guidebook for Use During Ayres Sensory Integration ® by Schaaf & Mailloux (2025) with Adaptations: Dumont, Carrasco, Koester, Roan (2019-2022). This is getting ready for publishing. 

School-based applications of ASI are identified as a big need in the field. Check out the study: 

• Whiting, C. C., Schoen, S. A., & Niemeyer, L. (2023). A Sensory Integration Intervention in the School Setting to Support Performance and Participation: A Multiple-Baseline Study. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 77(2), 7702205060. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2023.050135

Schaaf called on therapists to seat your practice in occupation every single day and learn about them in context. Use theory to guide your practice, conduct rigorous assessments, and analyse the assessment data appropriately. Creating hypotheses that link occupation with the underlying factors and design data-based interventions that reflect your individual client’s needs. Choosing the correct outcome measures is key. 

It’s an exciting time to be practising and learning about ASI and there continues to be ongoing developments in research and practice expanding the application of ASI. Stay tuned for more congress updates.