SENSORY
only purpose of the therapy. Instead, it is designed
to help improve brain function, which then results
not only in improved sensory processing, but also
in improved IQ, attention span, eye contact, speech,
social skills, and many other of the core symptoms
associated with autism.
SET can be traced back to an accidental discovery
made during research on animals by Donald Hebb
in 1947. Pet rats would outperform lab rats in prob-
lem-solving tests. Why was that? Did the pet rats
learn things from the humans? Hebb did not draw
conclusions at that time. It was not until 1962 that
Mark Rosenzweig discovered that it was the enriched
environment the rats were exposed to, whether or
not they were pets, which would result in larger,
healthier brains.
To be the right kind of stimulation, the enrichment
activity should involve the senses or movement and
combine more than one sense or motion at a time. It
is best when that combination is not normally found
in a day-to-day experience and is interesting enough
to capture the participant’s attention. The stimula-
tion should also be as pleasant and as free from dis-
traction as possible.
SET has taken the research from Environmental En-
richment and “humanized” the protocols. It introduc-
es the right sensory stimulation and movement in a
pleasant way, combining multiple sensory inputs or
movements at once. There are now hundreds of pro-
tocols that strike that balance and are put together
like games that you can play with your child.
3. Following a bath or shower, have a warm tow-
el ready to wrap around your child. (You can
put the towel in the dryer for a few minutes to
warm it.) Give your child a foot massage and a
hand massage with scented lotion.
4.
Place mats of different textures in a place where
your child may frequently walk without shoes.
5. Set up the environment with more textures,
smells, music, art, and other pleasant passive
sensory opportunities.
These are things which can be done for free and can
make a difference. If you can make a daily habit of
sensory enrichment, you can begin to see improve-
ments.
Structured Sensory Enrichment Therapy:
Individual programs
Structured SET involves more than just good sensory
ideas such as those outlined above. To create an indi-
vidual program, SET begins with an assessment that
gives an idea of which areas of the brain to focus on,
and therefore which daily sensory enrichment exer-
cises to follow. A set of three or four exercises make
up a worksheet that is followed daily. The therapy
takes about 10 to 15 minutes, once a day.
Here is an example of one of the exercises that may
be done in Sensory Enrichment Therapy:
Tips for sensory enrichment at home
Here are a few things you can do to introduce a little
sensory enrichment at home:
1. Introduce a pleasant fragrance to your child
several times a day while giving him/her a
gentle, pleasant back rub with your fingertips.
If the child doesn’t like that, find a place he/
she likes or where he/she will at least tolerate
a gentle, pleasant touch, e.g., the cheek, fore-
arm, forehead, or the palm.
2. At bedtime, play peaceful instrumental music
while the child is falling asleep and put a scent-
ed cotton ball inside the pillow-case. Any safe
scent that is pleasant will do.
Step 1: The parent prepares two large bowls.
One has warm water, and the other has cool
water.
Step 2: The parent instructs or helps the child
place one hand in each bowl simultaneously.
For example, the left hand in warm water, and
the right hand in cool water, at the same time.
If possible, avoid touching the bowls. We want
temperature, but not pressure.
Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 72 |
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