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National Survey of Sensory Features in Children with ASD: Factor Structure of the Sensory Experience Questionnaire (3.0)

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Abstract

This national online survey study characterized sensory features in 1,307 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) ages 2–12 years using the Sensory Experiences Questionnaire Version 3.0 (SEQ-3.0). Using the SEQ-3.0, a confirmatory factor analytic model with four substantive factors of hypothesized sensory response patterns (i.e., hyporesponsiveness; hyperresponsiveness; sensory interests, repetitions and seeking behaviors; enhanced perception), five method factors of sensory modalities (i.e., auditory, visual, tactile, gustatory/olfactory, vestibular/proprioceptive), and one of social context were tested with good model fit. Child and family characteristics associated with the sensory response patterns were explored. The effect of sensory response patterns on autism severity was tested, controlling for key child and family characteristics. The SEQ-3.0 demonstrates an empirically valid factor structure specific to ASD that considers sensory response patterns, modalities, and social context.

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Acknowledgments

Thank you to the families that participated in the study as well as the research team at the Sensory Experiences Project. Thank you also to the Interactive Autism Network Research Database at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and John Hopkins Medicine-Baltimore (sponsored by Autism Speaks), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Research Registry, and the multiple other autism organizations who assisted in recruitment. This study was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development/National Institutes of Health; ARRA Supplement A10-0589 (R01-HD042168). Recruitment was partially supported by the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center; P30HD03110.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Occupational Science, Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Karla Ausderau, Lauren M. Little, John Bulluck & Grace T. Baranek

  2. Department of Kinesiology, Occupational Therapy Program, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 3195 Medical Sciences Center, 1300 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Karla Ausderau

  3. Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    John Sideris

  4. Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, MO, USA

    Lauren M. Little

  5. UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Melissa Furlong

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  1. Karla Ausderau
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Correspondence to Karla Ausderau.

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Ausderau, K., Sideris, J., Furlong, M. et al. National Survey of Sensory Features in Children with ASD: Factor Structure of the Sensory Experience Questionnaire (3.0). J Autism Dev Disord 44, 915–925 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1945-1

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