performance.
Another study demonstrating the efficacy of current treatments being given to SI dysfunction children was conducted by Polatajko, Law, Miller and Schaffer (1991). The study was a multicenter clinical trial designed to evaluate the effect of sensory integration therapy on the academic achievement, motor performance, and self-esteem of learning disabled children (aged 6 years to 8 years 11 months) who had Sensory Integrative Dysfunction.
Of the total sample, 67 children were placed into sensory integrative and perceptual-motor therapy groups, while 13 children served as controls. The Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery, the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, the Behavioral Academic Self-Esteem Scale, and the Personality Inventory for Children were administered before therapy, after six months of therapy, and again three months following cessation of therapy.
Findings revealed that both groups of children improved on academic and motor measures. Further, The SI group of children showed significant improvements in self-esteem at both test times.
One difficulty with Sensory Integrative Dysfunction is that it can often occur concomitantly with other minimal brain disorders and, to-date, there has not been extensive research into the contribution of SI dysfunction to these other conditions (Humphries, Snider & McDougall, 1993). For example, does having both conditions increase a child's inability to function at an academic and social level? Are there differences in intelligence between children who have only SI dysfunction and children who have SI dysfunction and another minimal brain disorder or behavior problem?
In other words, there is a need for comparative research regarding the academic and social functioning of children with Sensory Integrative Dysfunction, children with different minimal brain disorders, and children with both SI and another minimal brain disorder; such resea...