Reliability and Validity of the Chinese Version of the Infant/Toddler Sensory Profile

In Chinese-speaking societies, a reliable and valid measure is needed to enable early identification of young children's challenges in sensory processing.

To examine the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Infant/Toddler Sensory Profile (ITSP-C) when used with Taiwanese children.

Prospective study.

Multiple settings.

Participants were 367 typically developing (TD) infants ages 0-6 mo (mean [M] age = 3.44 mo, standard deviation [SD] = 1.82) and 677 toddlers ages 7-36 mo (M age = 22.33 mo, SD = 8.15), along with 42 toddlers with developmental disabilities (DD; M age = 28.4 mo, SD = 6.7).

The ITSP, a caregiver questionnaire that measures how children respond to sensory events in daily life, was translated and cross-culturally adapted into a Chinese version (ITSP-C).

Internal consistency was high for the 0-6 mo subscale (α = .80) and the 7-36 mo subscale (α = .82). Test-retest reliability was excellent for the 7-36 mo subscale (intraclass correlation coefficient = .94). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the ITSP-C discriminated between children with DD and TD children.

The ITSP was successfully adapted to Chinese with similar reliability and validity to the original ITSP. The 7-36 mo subscale had a higher level of reliability than the 0-6 mo subscale, and quadrant scores were more reliable than section scores. Moreover, the ITSP-C discriminated children with DD from TD children on the basis of their sensory processing patterns.

The ITSP-C has sound psychometric properties and support for its use in early identification of sensory processing difficulties in young Chinese-speaking children.