Impact of Sensory Activity Schedules on School Performance of Students With Sensory Processing Differences: A Systematic Review

Background: Sensory processing is a vital precursor for students to engage successfully in the school environment. Sensory activities, such as movement breaks, can be strategically scheduled into the school day by the educational team, including occupational therapy practitioners, to help students with self-regulation and academic demands. Objective: To synthesize the evidence regarding the impact of sensory activity schedules on school performance and behavior of students who have documented sensory processing differences. Data Sources: PubMed, CINAHL, ERIC, Embase, ProQuest Central, and Web of Science databases. Results: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed to search for and select articles. Nine articles were found that met inclusion criteria: two Level 2b studies and seven Level 4 studies. The studies examined how a sensory activity schedule affects a student’s school performance or behavior. The outcome measures were categorized as disruptive behavior, on-task behavior, cognitive strategy use, and task mastery. Although sensory activity schedules have the potential to benefit a student’s school performance or behavior, the current strength of evidence is low. Conclusions and Relevance: Occupational therapy practitioners may advocate incorporating sensory activities into a student’s daily routine to improve school-related outcomes; however, with the current body of evidence, clinical reasoning and individualized progress monitoring are essential to track the intervention’s efficacy. Additional research is needed to build more substantial evidence to support occupational therapy practitioners’ use and promotion of sensory activity schedules with students. Plain-Language Summary: Students need to regulate their senses to fully participate in school activities. This systematic review looked at research on whether sensory activity schedules improve students’ school performance and classroom behavior. Although sensory activity schedules may help students, the current research is limited. Occupational therapy practitioners can still recommend scheduled sensory activities but should carefully track each student’s progress to see if the approach works. More high-quality research is needed to better understand the benefits of school sensory activity schedules.