Nablus, Palestine / April 2016

Iris Solutions conducted a study on the benefits of the Sensory Box in collaboration with the An-Najah Child Institute (NCI). NCI is part of the faculty of medicine and health science at An-Najah national university. The study examines the sensory environment effects on children with autism who use the tool on a daily basis, as well as their behaviour and responsiveness.

Daily Sessions and Participants

The study lead designed so that a specialist is present with one child participant at a time. During the session, the child selects their sensory environment using the Sensory Box. The role of the specialist was to observe the child’s behaviour and track their responsiveness and academic progress. When playing educational games, the tool kept track of how many correct answers you got.

The sessions were held with 13 children aged 5 to 12 years who were already enrolled in Reach Program, the NCI’s rehabilitation programme for children with autism. Seven children had been participating in the programme successfully for 18 months, and another group of six children had been participating for 6 months.

Study Findings

1. A significant increase in hand-eye coordination after a 1-month trial of sensory-focused computer-generated learning sessions for children who had been in the NCI rehabilitation program for over one year.
2. A significant decrease in negative behaviours after a 1-month trial of sensory-focused computer-generated learning sessions.

Study results were presented by NSCI staff at the conference Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence Based Practices in Palestine, organized by the NCI on April 7th, 2016 at Najah National University.

Research team

1. Dr. Zaher Nazzal, Head of NCI
2. Dr. Sabrina Russo
3. Dr. Denise Zeya Bertie
4. Amal Shtayeh, Administrative assistant at NCI
5. Gabriele Tervidyte, Penki Pojuciai
6. Ayman Arandi, Iris Solutions