Evaluating sensory regulation as a method to improve awareness in patients with altered states of consciousness: a pilot study.

The status of sensory stimulation as a clinical procedure is still in some doubt. Recent papers have shown no significant clinical changes as a result of sensory intervention but this may be due to an inappropriate model on which these procedures were based. This paper outlines the results of a controlled pilot study, based on a sensory regulation model currently being tested at the Casa Colina Peninsula Rehabilitation Center, Los Angeles. The study contrasts the outcome of four patients treated in a sensory regulated environment with four who were exposed to sensory stimulation of an unregulated kind. The results are quite encouraging in favour of a sensory regulation approach.