Inter-Rater and Test-Retest Reliability of the Sensory Integration Clinical Observations

Aims: The purpose of this study was to examine the inter-rater and test-retest reliability of the Sensory Integration Clinical Observations. Methods: Clinical observations were administered by trained occupational therapists (recent graduates to 40 years of experience, median = 3 years) to 20 children aged 4 - 12 years. Testing was completed again on 16 children after an average of 2.5 weeks. Inter-rater therapists scored the measure from video recordings. Total score and section scores (i.e. Postural-Ocular, Motor Planning - Fine Motor, Vestibular Processing, and Praxis and Coordination) were obtained. Results: Intraclass correlations found test-retest reliability of total score to be excellent (ICC=.95) and section scores to be acceptable (ICC = .79-.94). Inter-rater reliability was also excellent for total score (ICC-.94) and section scores (ICC=.84-.96). Conclusions: The Sensory Integration Clinical Observations can be administered reliably by multiple raters of varying levels of experience and results are stable over an average two-week interval. Good inter-rater reliability serves as a first step toward demonstration of consistency of administration and scoring of the Sensory Integration Clinical Observations. These findings may begin to establish a foundation for use of clinical observations to measure change in sensory-motor performance over time, although further research is needed.