A Complementary Sensory Tool for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Area of Science:

• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Pediatric Psychology
• Occupational Therapy

Background:

• Sensory integration (SI) issues are common in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), affecting daily life and occupational performance.
• Improved evaluation and intervention are crucial for enhancing the quality of life for individuals with ASD.
• Existing tools like the Rivière's Autism Spectrum Inventory need complementary measures for sensory aspects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a tool for measuring SI issues in Spanish children and adolescents diagnosed with ASD.
• To create a complementary instrument for the Rivière's Autism Spectrum Inventory's sensory scale.

Main Methods:

• A 41-item questionnaire was developed based on initial 73 items using a 1-5 Likert scale.
• The questionnaire was administered to 458 Spanish participants.
• Factor analyses, reliability testing, and classification capability analyses were performed.

Main Results:

• The final instrument comprises 41 items across three factors: modulation disorders (13 items), discrimination disorders (13 items), and sensory-based motor disorders (15 items).
• The questionnaire demonstrated good goodness-of-fit indices, reliability, and classification capability.

Conclusions:

• The developed questionnaire exhibits strong psychometric properties.
• It serves as a valuable complementary tool to the sensory scale of the Rivière's Autism Spectrum Inventory for assessing ASD-related sensory issues.