An Observed Assessment of Sensory Responsivity in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Associations with Diagnosis, Age, and Parent Report.
Sapna Ramappa, Ariana Anderson, Jiwon Jung and 5 others
PMID 35927515WHAT IT FOUND
An observed sensory test found children and adolescents with ASD showed more over-responsivity and sensory craving than typically developing peers.
Scores did not match parent report, so both sources may add information.
Key findings
01On the observed assessment, the ASD group showed higher sensory over-responsivity and sensory craving than the typically developing group, but no group difference in observed sensory under-responsivity.
02Observed sensory scores were not significantly correlated with corresponding parent-reported sensory scores.
03Observed sensory craving decreased with age for the ASD group only.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The thresholds and cutoff scores are exploratory because of the sample size and inclusion criteria. The observed assessment used only auditory, tactile, and visual modulation items and was modified for the larger study. Inter-rater reliability was not established for the scoring in this study. The sample was limited to children and adolescents aged 7 to 17 years with full-scale IQ in the typical range. The study did not exclude common comorbidities such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression, so these may have affected observed sensory behaviors. The researchers did not correct for multiple comparisons because they had only 3 main comparisons. Observed under-responsivity scores were very low, so the assessment may not capture under-responsivity well in this age group. The study was cross-sectional at one timepoint, so it cannot show how sensory behaviors change within the same person over time.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that an observed sensory test can diagnose autism. It showed group differences and some unique prediction, but the cutoff scores were exploratory and observed scores did not correlate with parent report.