Factor analysis on the sensory profile from a national sample of children without disabilities

Objective. The purpose of this study was to identify relationships in the 125 items of the revised Sensory Profile, a tool designed to assess children's responses to commonly occurring sensory events. Method. Parents of 1,115 children ages 3 to 10 years and without disabilities completed the Sensory Profile. The parents reported the percentage of time their children engaged in each of the 125 behaviors listed on the profile. Results. Factor analysis revealed nine discreet factors that indicate sensory modulation and responsiveness: sensory seeking, emotionally reactive, low endurance/tone, oral sensory sensitivity, sedentary, and fine motor/perceptual. Conclusions. In addition to the traditional method of organizing sensory history information by sensory system, we may need to consider a person's thresholds to sensory events as well as his or her responsiveness to sensation. Because the Sensory Profile factors in these children without disabilities are similar to patterns observed in children with various disabilities, it may be that some sensory processing problems are related to intensity or duration of behaviors as they begin to interfere with functional performance in daily life.