SENSORY PROCESSING MEASURE

Authors:

PURPOSE:

Heather Miller Kuhaneck, M.S., OTR/L

Diana A Henry, M.S., OTR/L
Tara J Glennon, Ed.D., OTR/L, FAOTA

The Sensory Processing Measure (SPM) is a standardized, integrated system

of rating scales that enables the assessment of sensory processing issues,
praxis and social participation in elementary age school children. The SPM is a
union of two prior test development programs The Evaluation of Sensory
Processing (ESP) and the School Assessment of Sensory Integration (SASI).
The SPM is anchored in sensory integration theory. Three dimensions of
measurement are realized in the structure of this assessment:
The assessment of sensory systems norm referenced indexes
of function in sensory domains
The assessment of sensory vulnerabilities descriptive clinical
information on processing vulnerabilities (under/over
responsivity, sensory seeking and perceptual problems)
Assessment across multiple environments the three forms of
the SPM permit the user to compare and contrast the childs
functioning in home, school and community environments.
The SPM is intended to support the identification and treatment of children
with Sensory Processing Disorders. It is appropriate for use in a wide range of
educational, clinical and research settings.

POPULATION:

The Sensory Processing Measure is designed to assess elementary school aged

children in Kindergarten through grade 6 (ages 5-12 years).

TEST MATERIAL: The Sensory Processing Measure Users Manual, Home Form Profile Sheet,
Main Classroom Form Profile Sheet, School Environments Form CD. (Rating
scales for 6 different school settings)
TIME TO ADMIN:

SPM Home Auto Score form and SPM Main Classroom Autoscore Form can be completed
in 15-20 minutes. The School Environment Forms are provided on an accompanying CD,
allowing you to print as many copies as needed.
Each of the 6 specific School Environment Forms can be completed in approximately 5
minutes.
A parent or other home-based care provider who lives with the child should complete the
SPM Home Autoscore Form.
The childs primary classroom teacher or teachers assistant should complete the SPM Main
Classroom Autoscore Form, The rater must have observed the child in the classroom on a
daily basis for at least one month prior to completing the Main Classroom Form.

The SPM School Environment Form should be completed by a rater who has observed the
child in the relevant setting for at least one month prior to completing the appropriate rating
Sheet.
Each Form will require5-10 minutes to be scored by the examiner.

TEST COMPONENTS:
The SPM Home form consists of 75 items, The SPM Main Classroom Form
consists of 62 items encompassing Social Participation, Vision, Hearing,
Touch, Taste and Smell, Body Awareness, Balance and Motion and Planning
and Ideas. Each scale will provide a raw score, T score, percentile rank and
interpretive range/description.
An Environmental Difference score (DIF) is available when administering both
the Home and Main Classroom Forms. Allowing a direct comparison of the
childs sensory functioning between home and school environments.
The School Environment Forms provide information in six school settings (art
class, music class, physical education class, recess/playground, cafeteria, and
school bus. Each scale has 15 items except the School Bus which has 10
items.. The school Environment Form yields a total score for each
environment, which is interpreted by means of a cutoff criterion. Children who
score at or above the cutoff are experiencing an unusually high number of
sensory processing problems in that environment.
ADMINSTRATION:

The SPM Home, Main Classroom and School Environment Forms are
intended to be used together as an integrated system to provide a
comprehensive overview of the childs sensory functioning across home,
school and community contexts. If access to only one environments
possible, either the Home Form or Main Classroom Form can be used
by itself. The School Environment Form cannot be used by itself and
should always be administered in conjunction either the Main Classroom
Form.

It is permissible to complete the forms by interviewing the respondent

rating instructions exactly as written.

If 8 or more responses are missing from the Home Form or Main

Classroom Form, do not proceed with scoring. If 7 or fewer responses
are incomplete, you may proceed with scoring and interpretation
substituting median values for the missing responses.
If 4 or more responses from the School Environment Forms are
incomplete, do not proceed with scoring. If 3 or fewer responses
missing, you may circle 1 (the median response for all School
Environment Rating Sheets)

STRENGTHS:

Integrated system, providing assessment information of sensory

processing, praxis and social participation
Easy to complete and score questionnaire.
Assessment across multiple domains allows examiner to compare and
contrast childs functioning in home school and community
environments, thus promoting communication between parents and
teacher.
Can be administered by itself as a screening tool, or together with
other sources of clinical observations/standardized tests to measure
sensorimotor function
Provides guidance for intervention planning.

LIMITATIONS:

The information garnered from the assessment must be combined with

observations and reports from teachers and parents.
The assessor needs to have a firm understanding of sensory processing
theories to interpret results effectively.
Teacher/educational assistant needs to have had some time to get to
know the student in order to be able to complete the questionnaire. (1
month)
Can be difficult/complicated to interpret.
When results appear conflicting, defer back to observations made in
functional environments.
Requires had tipped /ballpoint pen to complete due to carbon sheet.

STANDARDIZATION:
The SPM standardization sample consisted of 1.051 children ranging in
age from 5-12 years. All were assessed with the SPM Home and Main
Classroom Forms. Children were recruited from regular elementary school
classrooms across the USA. None of the children were enrolled in special
education programs, but no attempt was made to exclude children with
mild academic problems or behavioral problems.
VALIDITY:
Content Validity:

The SPM is the product of two prior test development efforts, the Evaluation
of Sensory Processing (ESP) and the School Assessment of Sensory
Integration (SASI). In both of these projects, items were written to reflect the
principals of sensory Integration Theory. Both project test items were subject
to several rounds of expert review, in which items were retained only if they
were judged to be adequate representations of function in the sensory systems,
praxis and social participation.. These earlier developmental phases generate
confidence in the content validity of the current SPM items and scales.

RELIABILITY: Two statistical methods of analysis were used to estimate the reliability of the
Sensory Processing Measure: internal consistency (co-efficient alpha), and test-retest stability.

Internal Consistency:

Co-efficient alpha is an index of internal consistency with values

ranging from 0 (no consistency) to 1 (perfect consistency). In the
standardization sample, seven of the eight Home scales and five of the
eight Main Classroom scales have alphas of .80 or greater. In the
clinical sample, six of the eight Home scales and four of the eight Main
Classroom scales have alphas of .80 or greater. All alphas for the
School Environment scales are greater than .80. Please refer to
Chapter 5 pp55 in the manual for complete table results.

Test-Retest:

The SPM test retest sample consisted of 77 typically developing

children, aged 5-12 years. These children were assessed twice with the
Home and Main Classroom Forms, two weeks aprt. SPM scaled
scores were highly correlated across the 2 week interval with all r> .
94 indicating excellent temporal stability.

Standard Error of Measurement and Confidence Intervals:

See table 18, pp 57 of the users manual for a complete description of
each scales SEM and confidence interval.