Objective: The objective of this investigation was to determine the efficacy of using vestibular sensory stimulation in increase expressive language and attention in young children with autism. Linear swinging on a platform swing was utilized for vestibular sensory input before playing with a structured task. Three participants, all male and between the ages of 3 and 6 years and 11 months were recruited. All participants had a diagnosis of autism and demonstrated vestibular sensory dysfunction. Method: The investigation followed multiple baselines across participant (MBAP) investigation with three participants. The baseline phase was followed by an intervention phase which utilized five minutes of linear swinging for vestibular sensory input. Following vestibular input, a structured play task was chosen by the participant where spontaneous requests and attention to task (in minutes) were recorded for five minutes. Results: Analysis of the data revealed that all three participants demonstrated significant improvement in both spontaneous requests and attention to a task as demonstrated by visual analysis of data. Conclusion: In conclusion, utilizing vestibular sensory stimulation in the form of linear swinging resulted in increased expressive language and attention for all three participants. Limitations of this study include a small sample size, only one gender represented, the same play task utilized for each trial, and the time-of-day trials take place. These, as well as other limitations, should be considered in the replication of the current investigation.
