A comparison of autonomic, behavioral, and parent-report measures of sensory sensitivity in young children with autism

Autonomic Dysregulation During Sensory Stimulation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Thus, individuals with ASD's characteristics of rigid behaviors and limited social engagement may be related to this decreased autonomic (and resultant behavioral) flexibility. Goodwin et al (2006;Woodard et al 2012) support this idea showing that high basal heart rate, an indicator of high arousal, may contribute to lack of flexibility in response to stressful environmental stimuli; and Hoehn- Saric and McLeod (2000) suggest that individuals with chronic anxiety disorder and high arousal show limited physiological and behavioral flexibility. Thus, it is plausible that lack of parasympathetic activity during sensory stimulation may be an important mechanism of behavioral inflexibility and lack of social engagement.…”

“…Using electrodermal activity (EDA) to measure sympathetic activity during sensory stimuli, several authors showed that children with ASD demonstrate reduced sympathetic activity during sensory stimuli (van Engeland et al 1991;Bernal and Miller 1970); whereas others show signs of elevated EDA levels to auditory stimuli (Stevens and Gruzelier 1984); and still others show abnormal sympathetic habituation patterns to visual and auditory stimuli (Barry and James 1988). Recently, Schoen et al (2009) showed that sympathetically mediated arousal levels in response to sensory stimuli (as measured by EDA) were lower in children with ASD in comparison to children with sensory modulation difficulties without ASD; but Woodard et al (2012), using heart rate as a measure of sympathetic activity, showed that participants with ASD (n = 8) were more physiologically aroused than typical controls (n = 8) during sensory stimuli. Goodwin et al (2006), also using heart rate as a measure of sympathetic activity, showed that only 1 in 5 or 22 % of their participants with autism showed significant heart rate increases to stressors.…”

Measurement in Sensory Modulation: The Sensory Processing Scale Assessment

“…Multiple sources provide the richest source of information about a person's functioning and improve diagnostic accuracy (Woodard et al, 2012). Multidimensional assessment batteries maximize the validity of individual assessments (Meyer et al, 2001), especially when informant reports are combined with performance measures.…”

“…Parent and caregiver questionnaires addressing sensory modulation are criticized because of their limited evidence of validity (Woodard et al, 2012). There is the potential for respondent bias and lack of agreement with therapist observations (Ben-Sasson et al, 2009).…”

“…There is the potential for respondent bias and lack of agreement with therapist observations (Ben-Sasson et al, 2009). The need exists to develop quantitative methods of direct observation of sensory modulation challenges so as to provide clearer and more consistent criteria for determining clinical impairment (Reynolds & Lane, 2008;Rogers & Luby, 2011;Woodard et al, 2012).…”