Development and beginning validation of a teacher test of sensory modulation disruption

Sensory Modulation Dysfunction (SMD) affects 5% of the school-aged population nationally (Ahn & Miller, 2000), or approximately two and a half million children (U.S. Census Bureau, 2001). Current scales for identifying children with SMD include The Short Sensory Profile (McIntosh, Miller, Shyu & Hagerman, 1999) and The Sensory Challenge Protocol (Miller, Reisman, McIntosh, & Simon, 2001). The purpose of this project was to create a measure specifically designed for teachers to screen children with possible Sensory Modulation Dysfunction (SMD). The measure was entitled The Teacher Report of Sensory Function (TRSF).; Observations of children with SMD, teacher anecdotes and focus group discussions were used to create an item pool. A panel of judges evaluated the item pool, rated the items for clarity and relevance, and then ordered them by their representativeness to the constructs. Quantitative evaluation was carried out via a pilot study and a field administration in an urban school district. A sample of 237 children (grades K–5) was included in the pilot study, and 263 children in the field administration. Reliability was assessed via SPSS and Winsteps, resulting in the deletion of items from the pilot test and field administration reliabilities were: Quadrant I, α = .89; Quadrant II, α = .88; Quadrant III, α = .81; and Quadrant IV, α = .91.; The final phase examined beginning evidence of the validity of the instrument. Validation was examined through a principal components analysis to examine the loading of items to the quadrants. Quadrant IV items loaded on the same factor, yet there was overlap of items from the other three quadrants. Correlations were also performed to analyze the relationship of quadrants to subscales of behavioral assessments (BRS and CBCL subscales). The conclusion was that although the principal components analysis did not reveal four unique quadrants, there was some beginning evidence of validity based on construct validity. The validity of the instrument will need to be explored further.