Sensory profile in children with autism disorder and children with typical development

Abstract

Abstract Objective: The objective of the study was to compare the sensory profile characteristics of the children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children with typical development (TD) within the ages of 3 and 12 years who attended the rehabilitation center in Barranquilla and Valledupar Colombia. Methods: A study of descriptive type correlation of the sensory profile was conducting using the Short Sensory Profile 2 by Winnie Dunn on boys and girls with an ASD diagnosis and children with a TD. Results: A total of 59 test subjects were included in the study comprised 39 children on the ASD (5 girls and 36 boys) and 28 children with a TD (11 girls and 17 boys). The medium age was 6.97 for the ASD group and 6.61 for the TD group. There are differences in each of the patterns of pre-processing and sensory systems analyzed in children on the ASD and TD (p < 0.05) except at the visual system processing level (p > 0.05). Conclusions: The study indicates that there is a significant difference in between the ASD group and the TD group, these differences indicate that the population with ASD presents higher level in regard to sensory processing patterns in comparison to TD in accordance to each category in the Short Sensory Profile 2 by Winnie Dunn.