Summary: To date there are very few published studies on the neural basis of sensory processing disorder (SPD). Yet to adequately treat those individuals who are overwhelmed by the sensory environment, it is essential to gain an understanding of what leads to maladaptive responses to "normal" levels of sensory inputs. Are maladaptive responses due to atypical initial cortical registration of sensory inputs; impaired top-down regulatory mechanisms; or some combination of the two? Is the brain able to benefit from multiple sensory inputs as it should, or does multisensory stimulation instead overwhelm the system? Here I will discuss these possibilities in the context of data from objective and well-established behavioral and electrophysiological measures of sensory processing and multisensory integration. I will focus on individuals with pure-SPD (i.e., without co-mormid diagnoses such as ASD or ADHD) who exhibit hyper-responsively to sensory challenges. To assess whether processing differences are unique to SPD, or if they instead might represent domain specific deficits that span across clinical diagnoses, I will also consider the integrity of these processes in children with autism spectrum disorder.
Level: Advanced
Intended Audience: Occupational Therapists, physical therapists, speech and language pathologists, mental health providers, medical professionals, early intervention specialists, educators, and parents
Prerequisite: None
Presenter: Sophie Molholm, Ph.D., a leader in the field of multisensory integration, is director of the Sheryl and Daniel R. Tishman Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory (CNL) and associate director of the Rose F. Kennedy Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.
Dr. Molholm, associate professor of pediatrics and of neuroscience and the Muriel and Harold Block Faculty Scholar in Mental Illness, has centered her clinical research on how the human brain processes and integrates sensory inputs—such as sight, sound and touch—to impact perception and behavior. Dr. Molholm and the CNL team use non-invasive, high-density recordings of the electrical activity of the brain, psychophysics and magnetic resonance imaging to characterize these processes in healthy adults and to chart their development in children. This NIH-funded research has established a link between deficits in multisensory integration and autism and points to potential biological markers of the disorder.
Dr. Molholm is a member of numerous organizations, including the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, International Multisensory Research Forum, Society for Neuroscience and the International Society for Autism Research. She is currently section editor for the European Journal of Neuroscience and associate editor for Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience. She has authored or co-authored more than 70 peer-reviewed research studies, review articles, commentaries, and book chapters.
Dr. Molholm earned her B.A. in psychology at San Francisco State University and her Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience from the City University of New York (CUNY). After completing a research fellowship at the CNL at Nathan Kline Institute, she became its associate director and joined the faculty at CUNY before moving to Einstein in 2010.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe how we use EEG to understand differences in brain function
- Explore the neurophysiological differences amongst sensory processing disorder, autism spectrum disorder and typically developing children, for processing of somatosensory, visual, and auditory processing
- Describe the preliminary findings in children with Sensory Processing Disorder
Continuing Education: STAR Institute for SPD is an AOTA Approved Provider of Continuing Education. The assignment of AOTA CEUs does not imply endorsement of specific course content, products, or clinical procedures by AOTA.
Upon full completion of the course video, participants must complete and pass a quiz with at least 80% accuracy to receive a certificate of completion.