Sensory Profile Questionnaire

I completed the Sensory Profile (125 items) in January 2009 for Matt. When I received the summary I was like WOW. I was able to interpret some of the information but the rest seemed like I was reading a foreign language. I started researching night after night to help me understand in laymen terms what this was really telling me. I knew Matt displayed certain behaviors when we went to the grocery store, or if we were taking that walk and would suddenly cover his ears and screech almost like he was in pain when the train would go by and blow his whistle. I knew Matt continued to have trouble tying his laces and a host of other difficulties that you and I just take for granted – but what I didn’t know up until recently that this was all problems with how he processes the information he is receiving.

What I found out thru this sensory profile questionnaire is that M had trouble effectively processing information that comes into his brain through his senses (sight, hearing, touch, etc.), and that it interfered with the ability for him to understand and interpret what is in the environment around him, He had major difficulty in processing information as it came into his brain and it affected the ability to form appropriate motor responses. This is what the term sensory issues mean. Along with the help of an occupational therapist, our first goal is to determine which processing issue is occurring with each of the senses then working toward therapy to address it.

Processing information correctly involves registration, modulation and integration and is broken down in as follows:

Registration – The information actually reaches the brain through the sensory channel (problems in registration might include blindness, hearing loss, etc.)

Modulation – The brain is able to filter through the various incoming messages for what is meaningful and what is not, and chooses the information to focus on

Integration – The brain is able to organize the incoming information, analyze it accurately, choose a reaction, and follow through on the action.

The summary of this questionnaire actually will break down what areas the individual is having problems with and further break it down into four quandrants. Typical range is what the average joe usually scores. When the range becomes probable difference, more than others, or less than others, that is when those issues need to be addressed.