The Psychometric Properties of a New Measure of Sensory Behaviors in Autistic Children.
Louise Neil, Dido Green, Elizabeth Pellicano
PMID 28213836WHAT IT FOUND
Parents' reports on the Sensory Behavior Questionnaire captured sensory behaviors and their daily-life impact in autistic children.
Scores separated autistic children from typical peers and added information beyond the Short Sensory Profile.
Key findings
01The Sensory Behavior Questionnaire gave consistent results across its total, frequency, and impact scores.
02SBQ scores separated autistic children from matched typically developing children and correctly classified 87.5% of cases.
03When both the SBQ and the Short Sensory Profile were used together, only SBQ scores were linked to Social Communication Questionnaire scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The sample was limited to cognitively able autistic children and typically developing children aged 6 to 17 years, so it may not apply to younger children, children with more severe intellectual disability, or children with other conditions. The study used only parent report. Test-retest reliability and comparison with observation or self-report were not assessed. SBQ scores were moderately associated with parent-reported anxiety, so the measure may not cleanly separate sensory behaviors from anxiety. SBQ scores did not correlate significantly with ADOS total or severity scores, so the relationship with clinician-observed autism symptoms was limited. Not all parents completed every questionnaire. Fifty-nine of the 66 parents of autistic children completed the SSP, and 58 completed the anxiety scale. The frequency and impact subscales were very strongly associated with each other, so the impact subscale may not add much separate information.
Declared interests
The paper states that the study was funded by the Medical Research Council.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use the SBQ alone to diagnose autism. It classified 87.5% of cases in this sample, but it did not correlate significantly with ADOS scores and it was associated with anxiety.