The Use of a Sensory Integration Program for Children with Behavioral and Attention Deficits

One of the challenges facing occupational therapy practitioners today is incorporating treatment approaches into psychosocial and school environments that address the needs of children who have difficulties maintaining an optimal level of arousal, who have a decreased attention span, who are non-engaged and have maladaptive behaviors and impulsivity, and who may have anger management difficulties. These characteristics may coexist with the diagnosis of a sensory integrative dysfunction. As a result, the authors anticipate an increasing demand for the implementation of sensory integration programming in a psychosocial or school setting. An extensive literature review was completed to gain a full understanding of how sensory systems work and their impact on a child\u27s ability to function. The literature reviewed identified that SI programming can be beneficial in both psychosocial and school settings. Also identified through the literature review were: populations in which sensory integration programming has been a successful treatment approach, the effects of sensory dysfunction on behavior and academics, methods of how to effectively implement sensory integration interventions into a treatment plan, and widely accepted assessments used to identify sensory integration dysfunction. The purpose of this scholarly project was to develop a sensory integration program that can be easily implemented in a psychosocial or school setting. Based on the results of the current research and literature review, the Can You Regulate? program manual was developed. It was designed to educate professionals working in the psychosocial and school settings and to provide them with the appropriate tools to implement the program. The manual is divided into sections and provides an introduction to sensory integration programming and sensory integration treatment tools to be used in the Can You Regulate? program