Development, reliability, and validity of the Sensory Adventure Measure

Sensory modulation refers to a condition in which an individual's behavioural responses to sensory stimuli do not correspond to the nature or intensity of the stimuli. Sensory modulation affects children's participation in everyday activities and their well-being. The most common assessments used are caregiver questionnaires. Our aim is twofold; first to develop a clinical evaluative measure, the Sensory Adventure Measure (SAM), for directly assessing sensory modulation in children via therapists and children's self-report, second, we aim to establish its reliability and validity.

The study sample comprised 87 children ranging in age from 4 to 6 years and 11 months old divided into two groups: study group included 63 children with mild developmental disabilities and the control group included 24 typically developed children. The SAM's internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and inter-rater reliability were examined. In addition, criterion validity was established using the total score of the Short Sensory Profile (SSP) and construct validity was established by known group differences.

The SAM exhibited good internal consistency (α = 0.83, 0.85) and moderate to very good test-retest reliability (r = 0.96, 0.98, 0.75). Inter-rater reliability was strong (r = 0.80-0.83). Moderate correlation was found between the SAM Therapist Rating of Magnitude total score and the total score of the SSP and significant differences were found in the SAM scores between groups thus establishing validity.

The SAM demonstrated good psychometric properties and can be used as a reliable and valid measure to assess sensory modulation among children aged 4 to 6 years. The SAM can be used by therapists to assess sensory modulation disorder based on observed responses to sensory stimuli and the child's self-report. The SAM contributes additional perspective to the evaluation process of sensory modulation disorder.