Sensory processing and its relationship with school performance

Abstract

The study aims to verify if there is a relationship between sensory processing and school performance. A sample of 47 subjects attending the 2nd year of the 1st Cycle of Basic Education was constituted. The Sensory Processing Measure (SPM)- Home Form and Main Classroom Form, and the Battery of Aptitudes for School Learning (BASL) were applied, relating them to school grades. More issues were observed in “Planning and Ideas” in the classroom context than at home. Results on BASL were higher, compared to the reference values. There is a significant negative correlation, for p < 0.05, between the SPM - Classroom Form “Vision” and the BASL “Quantitative Concepts” (RPearson = -0.301, p = 0.039), meaning that difficulties in “Vision” subscale reflect BASL lower performances. We confirmed that there is a relationship between sensory processing and school performance, verifying that the higher the score in the described SPM dimensions, the lower the grades in the school subjects.