A Review of Three Controversial Educational Practices: Perceptual Motor Programs, Sensory Integration, and Tinted Lenses

Children with disabilities have frequently participated in various interventions before the efficacy of those practices was scientifically validated. When subsequent scientific evidence failed to support particular practices, those that had already made inroads into the educational arena frequently continued to be used. Given the current emphasis on the use of empirically validated interventions, a review of research on the efficacy of educational interventions is consistent with guidelines from the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004). The research findings regarding three relatively common, yet controversial, practices failed to support the continued use of perceptual motor programs, sensory integration therapy, and tinted lenses. Educators are encouraged to become informed consumers of research and implement evidence-based practices.