3 - (SYM 3) Accommodating Sensory Sensitivity in Psychotherapy: The Emotion Awareness and Skills Enhancement (EASE) Program

Background: Autistic people have substantially increased risk of emotion dysregulation and poor mental health compared to non-autistic people. Yet, it is very hard for autistic people to access adequate mental health care. Providers lack competence and existing interventions do not account for differences in sensory and communication needs. Thus, it is essential to partner with autistic people to design mental health interventions that accommodate diverse communication, cognitive, and sensory needs.

Methods: The Emotion Awareness and Skills Enhancement (EASE) program is a 16-week emotion regulation intervention designed to support autistic adolescents and young adults (ages 12-25) with and without intellectual disability. Developers partnered with autistic adults to enhance the program’s accommodations for sensory needs and preferences. Partnering autistic adults reviewed the manual and intervention materials for sensory accommodations. Autistic artists created videos on sensory sensitivities to enhance provider training. 

Results: The EASE manual was modified to integrate personalized modifications throughout the program accounting for a variety of communication, cognitive, and sensory needs. Stakeholder-driven modifications included a comprehensive assessment of sensory needs in a clinical interview (session 1) with the provider. The interview now assesses communication preferences (e.g. speaking, non speaking, communication devices), cognitive supports (e.g. visual supports), involvement of a support person, and sensory needs. Sensory needs are assessed across 6 domains, including: lighting, number of sounds, volume of sounds (i.e. too loud, too quiet), smells, personal space, and touch. Further, the EASE program was enhanced to integrate sensory tools (e.g. fidgets, weighted tools, textured objects) into EASE emotion regulation strategies.  Training materials on sensory accommodations in therapy were well-received by providers (n=40).  

 
Conclusions: The EASE program is one of the first and only evidence-based emotion regulation interventions designed specifically for autistic people’s unique needs, with structured support for providers to personalize therapy for their autistic client. Providers use one treatment manual across clients with and without intellectual disability and varying support needs. This intervention will be tested in a PCORI-funded comparative effectiveness trial compared to an evidence-based intervention, the Unified Protocol, not designed specifically for autism.