An evaluation of the Christchurch Hospital's occupational therapy programme for children with perceptual-motor deficits
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This study evaluated the Christchurch Hospital's Occupational Therapy programme for children with perceptual motor delay. A review of previous studies which evaluated sensory integrative therapy found conflicting results. It was suggested that this was because the studies used different types of subjects, treatment programmes and measures. The studies also provided no consistent·guide lines on which children are best suited to treatment with sensory integrative therapy. Fifty-five children were assessed on measures of perceptual-motor development, language development, self concept and reading development. Teachers and parents completed questionnaires to record their perceptions of the children's progress. The children were randomly assigned to either the occupational therapy treatment, a physical education programme or a no treatment control group. Three approaches were used to analyse the effect of treatment group on children's progress. Comparisons between groups indicated that the occupational therapy programme produced significantly better performance than the physical education programme in both reading and fine motor skills, and significantly better performance than no treatment in reading, but not fine motor skills. It was concluded that the occupational therapy programme was significantly related to children's improvement in reading, but that the effect of the programme on fine motor skills was unclear. The occupational therapy programme did not appear to affect children's language, gross motor or visual motor development on the measures used in this study. It was also concluded that some children progressed more than others as a result of the occupational therapy treatment and that the children who progressed most were those who were clumsy but did not have other handicapping conditions such as behaviour problems, neurological impairment or general delay as a result of socio-cultural deprivation. It was suggested that studies which examine the factors that influence children's progress in therapy, rather than comparative evaluation studies, are needed in the area of research on sensory integrative therapy.