Multisensory Therapy Studied to Treat Brain-Injured Children: Therapeutic Stimulation

n established treatment philosophy is being put to a new use as part of a yearlong research project in the Departments of Surgery and Pediatrics. Under the direction of neurotrauma researcher Gillian Hotz, Ph.D., and John Kuluz, M.D., co-director of the Pediatric Rehabilitation Unit, the multisensory Snoezelen room at Jackson Memorial’s rehabilitation center is being used to treat children with brain injuries. The room is equipped with a leaf hammock chair floating in the air, a plastic tube filled with colored bubbles, fiber optic colored cables, and other innovative devices designed to stimulate the senses.

The Snoezelen philosophy, developed in the Netherlands in the 1970s, has proven that surroundings can have a profound effect on behavior. In thousands of such rooms worldwide, research has shown the therapy helps autistic children, elderly dementia patients, and other nonresponsive patients begin to communicate. But little research has been done with brain-injured children.

As part of a one-year grant from the Florida Brain and Spinal Cord Injury program, at least 20 brain-injured children will receive treatment in the Snoezelen room. Early findings presented by Hotz at the international Snoezelen meeting in Israel in May showed measurable behavior changes in previously unresponsive children.

“Through controlled multisensory stimulation we hope to elicit responses from children involved in a car accident or a near drowning—any sort of traumatic brain injury event,” explains Hotz. “These are children who are severely brain damaged, comatose, or in minimally conscious states. We are definitely encouraged by what we are seeing so far.”

Nine-year-old Tavarious Williams was injured in a car accident and was reacting very little to his environment before visiting the Snoezelen room. “He can now follow things with his eyes, makes sounds, and even moves his head back and forth. We’ve seen a big improvement,” says Hotz.

The entire team was trained by experts from Beit Issie Shapiro, a center for children with disabilities in Israel that uses Snoezelen techniques. In collaboration with these experts, Hotz is hoping to make the UM/Jackson room the U.S. training site for Snoezelen therapy.

Kuluz estimates the room will be used to treat 50 to 70 brain-injured children in the coming year. “This is the first clinical trial to use the Snoezelen room with severely brain-injured children,” he says. “We’re hoping to show that this form of therapy can reach these children who are otherwise unresponsive.”