Observations of Child Behaviors and Responsivity during Sensory Friendly Community Events

Sensory-friendly time (SFT) events modify community environments and activities to improve leisure participation for children with sensory processing differences, and are becoming increasingly popular. However, little evidence exists examining if SFT events successfully support community engagement for this population. An urban university and neighboring children’s museum designed multi-sensory SFT events for the community. This study explored what types and intensities of multi-sensory activities predicted behavioral responses from children with atypical sensory processing. A Child Engagement Observation Log documented activity interaction, affect, responsivity (arousal) and emotional response of children participating in SFT activities. Poisson regression models determined if sensory properties (sensory domain and intensity) of different activities significantly predicted observable behavior. Activities with a medium sound intensity, sight intensity and level of complexity; medium intensity of sight, touch, and complexity; and medium levels of movement and complexity were significant predictors of behaviors (p<.05). Results can guide future community SFT programming.