Kim Pomares, co-founder of Mendability, shares his thoughts on the future of Sensory Enrichment Therapy™.
About Sensory Enrichment Therapy
Clinical Studies Validate Sensory Enrichment Therapy as an Effective Autism Therapy
Results showed that after 6 months of therapy 42% of the children in the sensory enrichment group achieved clinically significant improvement, compared to only 7% of the children in the standard care group.
- Woo, C., & Leon, M. (2013). Environmental enrichment as an effective treatment for autism: A randomized controlled trial. Behavioral Neuroscience, 487-497.
- Woo, C., Donnelly, J., Steinberg-Epstein, R., & Leon, M. (2015). Environmental enrichment as a therapy for autism: A clinical trial replication and extension. Behavioral Neuroscience, 412-422.
Brain Plasticity
Brain plasticity refers to the ability of the brain to change its structure even after development is complete.
Environmental Enrichment
Environmental Enrichment is the stimulation of the brain by its surroundings. There are 3 components to environmental enrichment: Social enrichment, Activity enrichment and Sensory enrichment. At Mendability, we focus on Sensory Enrichment.
Sensory Enrichment Therapy
Sensory Enrichment is a form of therapy that uses two or more senses concurrently, which results in a significant reduction of the discomfort that the autistic brain is experiencing.
The results are:
- A child who initiates more natural conversations
- A child who is more comfortable in his own skin and the world around him
- A child who can learn more confidently
- More calm, more focus, more engagement
- Deeper, less interrupted sleep
- More interest in varied foods
- Easier to cope with change and to transition