Effectiveness of multisensory therapy on behaviour of adult clients with developmental disabilities.

Many people with a developmental disability (diagnosed with mental retardation according to DSM-IV) are staying in mental hospitals because of personality problems and mental illnesses. Institutional life has typically been unstimulating even though people with a developmental disability, like all human beings, have a primary need for stimulation. Unfortunately, their disability often prevents them from expressing and fulfilling this need in an appropriate way. Without such psychologically stimulating and health-promoting therapy, people with a developmental disability often develop challenging or stereotypic selfstimulating behaviour.