Development of the Sensory Processing Measure-School: initial studies of reliability and validity.

OBJECTIVE The history and development of the Sensory Processing Measure-School are detailed, and findings of initial pilot studies are reported. METHOD Multiple reviews, focus groups, case studies, and two pilot studies were used to develop the early versions of the tool. Internal consistency and discriminatory ability were examined. RESULTS Internal consistency measured with Cronbach's alphas ranged from .93 to .99 in the first pilot study and .70 to .99 in the second pilot study. Children who were typically developing were correctly classified 92.3% of the time, and children with sensory issues were correctly classified 72% of the time. CONCLUSION Initial results suggest that the tool is reliable and valid and discriminates children with and without sensory processing issues. Further research is under way with larger samples.