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Biomedical subjects

A J Ayres

Publications and source records attributed to A J Ayres.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1984

Vestibular stimulation and eye contact in autistic children.

Five autistic boys ages 5-1 to 5-10 were studied to determine whether stimulation of the macular receptors of the inner ear through linear motion influences the boys' eye contact with the investigators. The duration of eye contact was measured during linear motion on a motor-driven oscillator and on two hand-operated swings and compared to the duration of eye contact when the macular receptors were not stimulated. Because the boys varied in cooperation, the tests could not be performed using the same apparatus with each child; therefore results were analyzed separately for each child. Four of the five boys showed longer eye contact while on the motor driven oscillator (p less than .0005), and two of these also showed longer contact when on a manually operated swing (p less than .025). The fifth child resisted the use of the oscillator and did not show longer eye contact while on it (p greater than .05), but did so when on two different swings (p less than .005).

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1984

Crossing the body midline in learning-disabled and normal children.

The SVCU scores of 179 learning-disabled children, ages 5 to 8, were compared with the scores of 120 normal children, using both the actual Space Visualization Contralateral Use (SVCU) score, and the SVCU category of "normal, suspect, or possible deficit," in order to evaluate whether using guidelines to interpret the SVCU as a function of age enabled differentiation between normal children and children with learning disabilities. The SVCU measure clearly differentiated between groups at the younger ages, although the difference was not as clear for the older age groups. It was suggested that the SVCU score be used in conjunction with other observations of midline crossing. Alternative interpretations of the SVCU score are discussed.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1983

Possible pubertal effect on therapeutic gains in an autistic girl.

A deaf, partially sighted, severely retarded autistic girl, 11 years, 6 months of age, received approximately 2 years of occupational therapy, where sensory integration procedures were employed to reduce self-stimulation. Videotaped time samples of the amount of stereotypies showed a consistent reduction from the time of starting therapy to an interruption for vacation and surgery for scoliosis 46 weeks later. On returning to therapy after a 9-week break, self-stimulation had greatly increased and did not return to the presurgery level during an additional 55 weeks of therapy, 30 of which followed the removal of a cast. Menarche occurred 1 week after removing the cast. Increased self-stimulation is linked to reduced inclination toward environmental interaction as well as to an interruption of intervention and possible pubertal effect. Brief reports on four other autistic adolescents who received similar therapy are consistent with the conjecture of frequent pubertal regression.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Influence of sensory integration procedures on language development.

The relationship between language development and sensory integration was explored through single case experimental studies of one female and three male aphasic children ranging in age from 4 years, 0 months to 5 years, 3 months. Other agencies had assessed all the children in the area of language development at least 6 months before the start of occupational therapy. Three of the four children had received either speech therapy, special education specific to aphasia, or both, before starting occupational therapy. Additional baseline data on language expression and comprehension, as well as on sensory integrative functioning, were gathered before beginning a year of occupational therapy that involved sensory integration procedures. Inspection of rate of language growth before and after starting occupational therapy showed a consistent increase in rate of growth in language comprehensive concomitant with occupational therapy compared to previous growth rate. The two children with depressed postrotary nystagmus demonstrated notable gains on expressive language measures.

Aphasia↗
PubMed1980

Hyper-responsivity to touch and vestibular stimuli as a predictor of positive response to sensory integration procedures by autistic children.

Sensory processing disturbance in autistic children as a predictor of response to sensory integrative procedures was investigated. Ten autistic children, ages 3-1/2 to 13 years (mean, 7.4 years), were initially evaluated in regard to their hypo-, hyper-, or normal responsivity to visual, auditory, tactile, vestibular, proprioceptive, olfactory, and gustatory stimuli. After evaluation, each child received therapy that provided somatosensory and vestibular stimulation and elicited adaptive responses to these stimuli. At the end of one year of therapy, each child's progress was judged in relationship to that of the others, and the group was divided into the six best and the four poorest respondents. Stepwise discriminant analysis identified which initial test variables predicted good or poor responses to therapy. The good respondents showed tactile defensiveness, avoidance of movement, gravitational insecurity, and an orienting response to an air puff. Results suggest that children who registered sensory input but failed to modulate it responded better to therapy than those who were hypo-responsive or failed to orient to sensory input.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Cluster analyses of measures of sensory integration.

Cluster analyses of intercorrelation of scores on tests of sensory integrative, language, auditory, intellectual, and academic tests administered to young learning-disabled school children demonstrated a close relationship between academic achievement, the right ear score on dichotic listening, language expression, and auditory memory. Visual perception tests and the Auditory Association sub-test of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities showed a close association with IQ. Others associations were consistent with the view that when the two cerebral hemispheres do not corroborate, both hemispheres tend to develop similar motor and language functions. Analyses of the intercorrelation of scores on the sensory integration, auditory, and language tests resulted in four major factors: auditory-language functions, postural-ocular reactions, eye-hand coordination, and somatosensory and motor planning or praxis. A fifth factor, visual perception, contributed less to the final factor structure.

Achievement↗
PubMed1977

Dichotic listening performance in learning-disabled children.

A dichotic listening test was administered to 114 learning-disabled children aged 6 to 10 years and the ratio of correct right ear responses to correct left ear responses was computed. Three subgroups were formed: those with a low right-left ear ratio, those with an average ratio, and those with a high ratio. The groups were given a battery of sensory integrative, postural-ocular, auditory-language, and academic tests. Mean scores were computed for each group. All three groups were considerably lower in their overall accuracy of response to the dichotic listening test than was a normative sample. The groups with low right-left ear ratios were less likely to have a somatosensory disorder than the other two groups, but they were more apt to have a language problem. There was a much larger percentage of children with very high right-left ratios (right ear very "superior" to left ear) than would be expected in a random population.

Child↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of sensory integrative therapy on the coordination of children with choreoathetoid movements.

Learning-disabled children with deficits in sensory integration as well as choreoathetosis and who received sensory integrative therapy gained more on an eye-hand coordination test than did control children. Using a one-tailed test, levels of significance difference between the mean gain scores of the experimental and control groups were .058 for the more accurate hand and .061 for the less accurate hand. It is not possible to determine whether the therapeutic effect was on the motor or on the sensory integrative aspect of coordination or on both.

Athetosis↗