Prospective study of the effect of sensory integration, neurodevelopmental treatment, and perceptual-motor therapy on the sensorimotor performance in children with mild mental retardation.

OBJECTIVE This quasi-experimental study compared the effect of sensory integrative (SI) therapy, neurodevelopmental treatment (NDT), and perceptual-motor (PM) approach on children with mild mental retardation. METHOD Children (N = 120) were randomly assigned to intervention with SI, NDT, or PM; another 40 children served as control participants. All children were assessed with measures of sensorimotor function. RESULTS After intervention, the treatment groups significantly outperformed the control group on almost all measures. The SI group demonstrated a greater pretest-posttest change on fine motor, upper-limb coordination, and SI functioning. The PM group showed significant gains in gross motor skills, whereas the NDT group had the smallest change in most measures. CONCLUSION SI, NDT, and PM improved sensorimotor function among children with mild mental retardation. The choice of sensorimotor approaches should be determined on the basis of the child's particular needs because each approach may have an advantage in certain aspects of sensorimotor function.

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