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ABSTRACT

THIS STUDY AIMED TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SENSORY INTEGRATION INTERVENTION ON MOTOR DEVELOPMENT AND SENSORY PROCESSING ABILITIES AMONG CHILDREN AGED 0 TO 3 YEARS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS IN MACAU. WITH THE INCREASING IMPROVEMENT OF EARLY INTERVENTION SERVICES IN MACAU, EVIDENCE-BASED THERAPEUTIC APPROACHES HAVE BECOME A CRUCIAL FOCUS IN ENHANCING INTERVENTION OUTCOMES. BASED ON AYRES’ SENSORY INTEGRATION THEORY, WHICH EMPHASIZES PROMOTING CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM ORGANIZATION THROUGH MULTISENSORY STIMULATION, THIS STUDY ADOPTED A RANDOMIZED PRETEST-POSTTEST CONTROL GROUP DESIGN. THIRTEEN CHILDREN DIAGNOSED WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DELAYS AND RECEIVING OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY AT AN EARLY INTERVENTION CENTER IN MACAU WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO EITHER THE EXPERIMENTAL OR CONTROL GROUP. THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP RECEIVED AN EIGHT-WEEK SENSORY INTEGRATION INTERVENTION, ONCE PER WEEK, WHILE THE CONTROL GROUP RECEIVED GENERAL INDIVIDUALIZED OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY. THE PEABODY DEVELOPMENTAL MOTOR SCALES–SECOND EDITION (PDMS-2) AND THE INFANT/TODDLER SENSORY PROFILE WERE USED AS ASSESSMENT TOOLS, WITH DATA ANALYZED USING THE WILCOXON SIGNED-RANK TEST AND MANN–WHITNEY U TEST. THE FINDINGS REVEALED THAT SENSORY INTEGRATION INTERVENTION SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED BOTH GROSS AND FINE MOTOR SKILLS AND EFFECTIVELY ENHANCED SENSORY PROCESSING INDICATORS SUCH AS LOW REGISTRATION, SENSORY SENSITIVITY, LOW THRESHOLD, AND TACTILE PROCESSING. MOREOVER, THE SENSORY INTEGRATION GROUP OUTPERFORMED THE GENERAL OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY GROUP IN SENSORY PROCESSING IMPROVEMENT. THE RESULTS SUGGEST THAT SENSORY INTEGRATION INTERVENTION CAN SERVE AS AN EFFECTIVE EARLY INTERVENTION STRATEGY, WITH RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE STUDIES TO EXPAND SAMPLE SIZES AND EXTEND INTERVENTION DURATIONS TO STRENGTHEN GENERALIZABILITY. THIS STUDY REPRESENTS THE FIRST EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH IN MACAU TO EXPLORE THE EFFICACY OF SENSORY INTEGRATION INTERVENTION, CONTRIBUTING VALUABLE LOCALIZED EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE TO THE FIELDS OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY AND SPECIAL EDUCATION. 本研究旨在探討感覺統合介入對澳門0至3歲發展遲緩幼兒之動作發展及感覺處理能力的影響。隨著澳門早期療育服務逐漸完善，如何以具實證基礎的治療方法提升介入成效成為重要課題。感覺統合理論由AYRES提出，強調透過多重感覺刺激促進中樞神經系統整合，以改善動作協調與行為表現。本研究採隨機化實驗控制組前後測設計，共有13名發展遲緩幼兒作為受試者分為實驗組與對照組。實驗組接受以AYRES理論為基礎的感覺統合介入八週，每週一次；對照組則接受一般個別化職業治療。研究工具包括皮巴迪動作發展量表第二版（PDMS-2）及嬰幼兒感覺處理能力剖析量表（INFANT/TODDLER SENSORY PROFILE），以WILCOXON符號檢定與MANN–WHITNEY U檢定進行分析。結果顯示，感覺統合介入能顯著提升幼兒的粗大與精細動作能力，並有效改善低登錄量、感覺敏感、低閾值及觸覺處理等感覺處理指標，且在感覺處理改善方面優於一般職業治療。研究指出感覺統合介入可作為早期療育的重要策略，建議未來擴大樣本與延長介入時程，以提升研究推廣性與臨床應用價值。本研究亦為澳門地區首個以實驗設計探討感覺統合介入成效之研究，冀能為職業治療及特殊教育領域提供本地化實證依據。