Research studies on sensory issues in autism, including those based on questionnaires, autobiographical accounts, retrospective video observations and early experimental approaches are reviewed in terms of their strengths and limitations. We present a cognitive neuroscience theoretical perspective on multisensory integration and propose that this…

In the cutaneous rabbit effect (CRE), a tactile event (so-called attractee tap) is mislocalized toward an adjacent attractor tap. The effect depends on the time interval between the taps. The authors delivered sequences of taps to the forearm and asked participants to report the location of one of the taps. The authors replicated the original CRE…

Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID), a sensory processing problem that afflicts about 15% of children, sets many children on a developmental trajectory of emotional and social problems. Children with SID often unintentionally alienate parents, peers, and teachers in their efforts to modify the amounts of sensory stimulation they receive. They…

Patients diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, show impaired integration of information across different senses. The processing-level from which this impairment originates, however, remains unclear. We investigated low-level integration of auditory and visual stimuli in subjects with Autism Spectrum Disorder. High-functioning adult subjects…

A tactile toy for visually impaired children, the "learning pillow" combines a written text (story or poem) with a page-size pillow that has tactile images related to the text. Exploration of the pillow in conjunction with hearing the text stimulates a number of learning experiences. (Author/CL)

Twenty subjects between the ages of six and 12 years with a diagnosis of seizure disorder were used to investigate the relationship between therapeutically applied tactile stimulation and the incidence of seizures and changes in the electrical activity as measured by the EEG. (Editors/JA)

Watching a rubber hand being stroked, while one's own unseen hand is synchronously stroked, may cause the rubber hand to be attributed to one's own body, to "feel like it's my hand." A behavioral measure of the rubber hand illusion (RHI) is a drift of the perceived position of one's own hand toward the rubber hand. The authors investigated (a) the…

Because sensorimotor and environmental factors have a profound effect on children's learning, every teacher should know how to weave strategies from occupational therapy (OT) into their everyday instruction. This is the guidebook K-3 teachers need to "think like an OT"--and form effective partnerships with OTs in their schools--so all students can…

We investigate the dynamics of sensory integration for perceiving musical performance, a complex natural behavior. Thirty musically trained participants saw, heard, or both saw and heard, performances by two clarinetists. All participants used a sliding potentiometer to make continuous judgments of tension (a measure correlated with emotional…

The Behavior Observation Scale was used to compare normal (N=10), retarded (N=10), and autistic (N=10) children. Analysis indicated overlap between retarded and autistic children and a distinct autistic behavioral pattern involving disturbances of sensory modulation and motility. (Author/DB)

Auditory evoked responses (AERs) were recorded for 16 autistic children (ages 2-10 years) and age matched normal and retarded controls. The pattern characterizing the effects on AERs of coupling sound and light (conditioning phenomenon) was observed for both autistic and normal controls, but not for retarded children. (Author/DB)

This is a report of the initial phase of a project to identify developmental profiles of high-risk, low birthweight infants. (Authors/JA)

The sensorimotor transformations necessary for generating appropriate motor commands depend on both current and previously acquired sensory information. To investigate the relative impact (or weighting) of visual and haptic information about object size during grasping movements, we let normal subjects perform a task in which, unbeknownst to the…

The prior entry hypothesis contends that attention accelerates sensory processing, shortening the time to perception. Typical observations supporting the hypothesis may be explained equally well by response biases, changes in decision criteria, or sensory facilitation. In a series of experiments conducted to discriminate among the potential…

According to even the most conservative estimates, at least a quarter of deaf children have additional disabilities. Most teacher preparation programs do not sufficiently prepare teacher candidates for the challenges posed by these children. This article describes a professional development effort to prepare in-service educators of the deaf to…