(PS2-79) Trajectory of Sensory Sensitivity in Autistic Youth Following Parent-Mediated Sleep and Diet/Physical Activity Interventions

Abstract Text: Autistic youth are at risk for a variety of health concerns, including clinical sleep problems (Richdale & Schreck, 2009) and difficulties in diet and physical activity (McCoy et al., 2016; Sharp et al., 2013) compared to their typically developing peers. Both health concerns, sleep and diet and physical activity, have been shown to be related to sensory processing difficulties in autistic youth (Cermak et al., 2010; Tzischinsky et al., 2018; Whelan et al., 2022), with a notable association with increased sensory sensitivity. The study investigated the trajectory of sensory sensitivity in a diverse sample of autistic youth following two parent-mediated health interventions: sleep intervention (SI) and diet and physical activity intervention (DPI). Participants were 32 autistic youth (Mage = 7.12 years, 67.4% male, 88.4% racial/ethnic minority) recruited for a randomized control trial for a parent-mediated behavioral sleep intervention. Participants were randomized to either the SI or DPI group and completed a baseline laboratory assessment. Both intervention groups received three biweekly telehealth parent intervention sessions, either sleep-focused or diet/physical activity-focused, followed with a post-intervention assessment and a 10-week follow up. Sensory sensitivity was measured via the parent-report Sensory Profile – 2nd edition (SP-2, Dunn, 2014) sensory sensitivity subscale. A repeated measures ANOVA assessed changes in sensory sensitivity over the three timepoints (baseline, post, 10-week follow up). Preliminary analyses found no significant difference in mean SP-2 sensory sensitivity at baseline between treatment groups (p = .60). Results of the repeated measures ANOVA indicated that across the total sample, there was a significant effect of time on SP-2 sensory sensitivity (F(1, 30) = 4.66, p = .02), such that the mean SP-2 sensory sensitivity decreased from 54.41 (SD = 13.60) at baseline to 48.44 (SD = 15.94) at post-intervention, with further significant reductions at the 10-week follow up (M = 47.53, SD = 18.90). There was no significant effect of intervention group on changes in sensory sensitivity over the course of intervention (p = .52). Our findings suggest that there may be beneficial reductions in parent-reported sensory sensitivity over the course of the two different parent-mediated behavioral health interventions. The lack of significant differences in the level of improvement between the interventions may reflect that general changes in lifestyles (e.g., sleep behaviors, diet, physical activity) may result in improvements in sensory processing across multiple sensory domains. Given that the SP-2 does not measure sensory sensitivity in exclusively sleep- or diet-related contexts, our results suggest that parent-reported improvements in sensory sensitivity were likely generalized across multiple sensory domains. These findings support future investigation into the use of parent-mediated health interventions in targeting autistic youth’s sensory sensitivities in a variety of contexts. Future studies should incorporate both parent-report and observational data to assess secondary benefits in sensory sensitivity following parent-mediated behavioral health interventions.