Patterns of response to sensory stimuli encountered in daily activities: A comparison between 3-10-year-old Israeli and American children without disabilities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which patterns of response of typical children aged 3 to 10 in Israel, as reported in the Sensory Profile (Dunn, 1999), were similar to typical children in the United States. The Sensory Profile is a caregiver questionnaire designed to assess sensory processing abilities. A translated Hebrew version of the Sensory Profile was completed by parents of 714 typically developing children who were recruited from across Israel. The mean scores of the Israeli children were compared to the published mean scores of the American children at the section and factor level to determine whether the scoring system of the Sensory Profile would be applicable for Israeli children. The findings revealed that, in some sections and factor clusters, the scores of Israeli children were lower than the scores of the American children across all ages. Although the Israeli children scored lower, overall, their scores were within the established range of typical performance. Initial support for the application of the scoring system of the Sensory Profile in Israel is suggested. Due to the nature of the sample of Israeli children, future studies are recommended with a national representative sample and with specific disability groups to further validate the clinical use of the Sensory Profile in Israel. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.