Sensory Profile-Infant

Title of Assessment: Sensory Profile - Infant

Author(s): Catana E. Brown, PhD, OTR, FAOTA, and Winnie Dunn, PhD, OTR, FAOTA

Year of Publication: 2002

Publisher: NCS Pearson

Identify Type of Assessment: Observation-based or self-report questionnaires and rating scale; online scoring, interpretation, and report available.

Cost: $141.50 from pearsonassessments.com

Spanish version: $86.40

Population:  babies from birth to 36 months who may have a unspecified disorder of the CNS, or who require certain sensory  integration or have sensory sensitivity.

Appropriate Settings: NICU, Home, clinic, day care.

Purpose of Assessment & Function(s)/Area(s) Assessed: This is designed to measure sensory processing patterns in everyday life that support or interfere with function. 

Time to administer: 15 minutes. There are 36 items for babies birth to 6 months and 48 items for babies 7 to 36 months. The subtests within this assessment are general processing, auditory processing, visual processing, touch processing, movement processing and oral sensory processing. These subtests can be completed individually and within a group, as an unstandardized assessment.

User Qualifications: Occupational Therapists, Psychologists, Speech Language Pathologists, and Physicians can administer this assessment. You must have your Masters, certification in medial field, degree or license to practice healthcare. 

Materials Required:  User manual, record forms, score sheets, and caregiver questionnaire.

Scoring Procedure: This assessment provides a total score as an overall measure of sensory processing. The raw score is used to help with calculation of the total score. Scores one standard deviation or more from the mean are expressed as More Than Others or Less Than Others. Scores two standard deviations or more from the mean are expressed as Much More Than Others or Much Less Than Others. The minimum score is 0 (Much Less Than Others) and the maximum score is 125 (Much More Than Others). 41-60 means Just Like the Majority of Others. 

Psychometrics/Standardization: Reliability- internal consistency for every section had α coefficient range from 0.57 to 0.93. Test-retest reliability (ICC) for caregiver forms ranged from 0.83 to 0.97. Interrater reliability for each sensory pattern and sensory and behavioral system ranged from 0.49 to 0.89. SP showed consistency of responses; coefficient α for age groups and quadrant scores ranged from 0.639 to 0.775.

Validity: Content Validity was based on research, expert review, and pilot studies. Discriminant validity was determined through comparison between children with vulnerable conditions (autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, developmental delay, learning disabilities), and various smaller group studies. 

Strengths: Subtests can be used as an unstandardized assessment, can be used with children that have conditions such as prematurity, low birth weight, reflux and otitis media. It is available in Spanish. It allows caregiver’s observations to be used with other evaluations, reports, and observations from members of the team to plan effective interventions. 

Weaknesses: Hypothesis testing and depending on situations the caregiver might not have reliable information on the child.