The Relationship Between Directly Observed Sensory Reactivity Differences and Classroom Behaviours of Autistic Children

Hannah Marcham & Dr Teresa Tavassoli 
University of Reading
Published in The American Journal of Occupational Therapy 

We know that sensory reactivity differences impact over 95% of autistic people. However, there is still very little, empirical, research investigating how they might be impacting autistic students in the classroom. There is a particular lack of research looking at how they impact autistic students with high support needs.

In this research, we measured sensory differences with the Sensory Assessment for Neurodevelopmental Differences (SAND). This is a fun interactive assessment where students' observable reactions to sensory stimuli (such as light-up wands, spinning plates, hot and cold packs) are scored. The assessment measures sensory hyperreactivity (e.g. adverse reaction to noisy toys or flashing lights), hyporeactivity (e.g. not noticing being touched by a cold pack or sudden unexpected noise),and seeking behaviour (e.g. looking very closely at a spinning wheel or bringing a toy close to their ear) are examined across visual, tactile, and auditory domains. We then measured classroom behaviour with the Behaviour Assessment for Children, Student Observation System (BASC-SOS). This assesses students for behaviours that impede or facilitate learning. Examples of impeding behaviours include walking away from an activity, self-injury, inattention) while facilitating learning examples include engaging in an activity, communicating with staff or following an instruction.

Fifty-three participants took part in this study (9 female, 44 male) who were aged 5-18 years old. Twenty-four of these students were from Prior's Court. 

We found that Sensory reactivity differences and autistic students’ classroom behaviour were related. The more sensory reactivity differences students displayed, the more behaviours that impede learning and fewer behaviours that facilitate learning were observed. This is consistent with existing research in sensory reactivity field. However, we found that of all three sensory sub-types only sensory hyporeactivity was linked to classroom behaviour. Generally, hyperreactivity and seeking differences are found to have the most impact on autistic students. The implications of these findings are:

• Autistic students showing increased behaviours that impede their learning or reduced behaviours that facilitate their learning might benefit from a sensory assessment.
• More research into the role of hyporeactivity differences in classroom behaviours is warranted.
• Students who are particularly hyporeactive may be at increased risk for not engaging and need targeted support.

This was a relatively small study so future research would benefit from replicating these methods and findings, as well as measuring classroom behaviour at multiple time points in order to ensure an accurate representation of students classroom behaviour. 

Statistical results of study:

Sensory Domains	Behaviours that facilitate learning	Behaviours that impede learning
Total sensory differences	-.38*	.31*
Hyper reactivity	-.03	.10
Hyporeactivity	-.31*	.28*
Seeking	-.23	.20

Image of some of sensory stimuli used in SAND:

Read more from the Prior's Court Research Programme