SC measures detect changes in skin conductance that occur due to the activity of eccrine sweat glands, which are innervated by the SNS (Dawson et al., 2007).
Data was collected by utilizing standardized testing, such as parent questionnaires and skin conductance measures.
The specific aims were to determine whether children with ASD differ from typically developing (TD) children in sympathetic activity at rest and following auditory stimuli and whether their sympathetic responses to controlled sound in a laboratory are associated with behavioral responses to sounds in everyday environments.
Researchers who conducted this study wanted to see if there was a correlation between auditory stimuli and behavioral responses in children with ASD. By doing so they compared children with ASD and children without ASD.
Clarification of how autonomic responses of children with ASD are similar to or different from TD children is an important first step in this research program.
Results to this study concluded that there is a correlation between auditory stimuli and behavioral responses in children with ASD.
Sensory modulation is the complex process by which neural messages about the intensity, frequency, duration, complexity, and novelty of sensory stimuli are adjusted by the central nervous system to enable adaptive behavior (Miller & Lane, 2000).
This article relates to K&S in that they both target stimulus response. The children are exposed to an auditory stimulus (environmental) and researchers are looking for a response (behavior) (pg2). K&S defined threshold and latency. If a child had a response it is because the auditory stimulus was able to reach threshold. Threshold of children with ASD may differ from those children without ASD. Children with ASD may have over responsiveness to stimuli that would cause them to be in fight or flight mode if their receptors are not fired accordingly.
Megan C. Chang, L. Diane Parham, Erna Imperatore Blanche, Anne Schell, Chih-Ping Chou and Michael Dawson AJOT: American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 66.5 (September-October 2012): p567+.
Chang, M. C., Parham, L. D., Blanche, E. I., Schell, A., Chou, C., Dawson, M., & Clark, F. (2012). Autonomic and behavioral responses of children with autism to auditory stimuli. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy : Official Publication of the American Occupational Therapy Association, 66(5), 567-576. doi:10.5014/ajot.2012.004242