SPM-P Quick Tips

The SPM-P  Quick Tips is a collection of strategies for integrating sensory-based activities into a child’s everyday life. It’s a navigation tool to help answer the question “what’s next?” following administration of the SPM-P.

 

KEY FEATURES:

 

Primary users of the SPM-P Quick Tips are occupational therapy practitioners in clinical, school, and community settings who have mentored with a sensory integration (SI) expert and are trained in SI and sensory processing. These practitioners can in turn teach others how to use the Quick Tips. Parents, teachers, school personnel, and other professionals can use the strategies and techniques as long as the therapy practitioner responsible for interpreting administration results provides direction.

Now you can identify sensory processing difficulties in children as young as 2 years of age. This Preschool Edition of the popular Sensory Processing Measure lets you take an early look at overall sensory functioning as well as specific vulnerabilities

that can affect learning.

 

Appropriate for 2- to 5-year-olds, SPM–P measures the same functions as the SPM:

 

Within each sensory system, the SPM–P items also reveal specific problems including under- and over-respons iveness, sensory-seeking behavior, and perceptual problems. In addition, the items provide information on the senses of taste and smell.

 

The SPM-P includes both a Home Form, completed by the parent, and a School Form, completed by the preschool teacher or day care provider. Each form is composed of 75 items that are rated according to frequency of easily observable behaviors. Used together, the two forms provide a

comprehensive overview of sensory processing, and they allow you to quickly compare the child’s functioning across settings.

 

The test generates a T-score for each SPM-P scale and characterizes the child’s status in descriptive terms as well (Typical, Some Problems, or Definite Dysfunction). An Environment Difference score alerts you to discrepancies in sensory functioning between home and preschool/day care.

 

Norms for both the Home and School Forms are based on a representative sample of 651 typically developing 2- to 5-year-olds. They are agestratified to control for developmental differences between younger and older children. Data from a separate group of 242 youngsters--all receiving occupational therapy intervention--demonstrate that SPM-P scales, and items, can differentiate typical children from those with clinical disorders, including autism.

 

Clinicians are enthusiastic about the SPM-P not only because it generates useful information, but also because it provides that information in a way that parents can understand. Scale names are comprehensible; results are visually summarized; and interpretation is clear-cut. These features makeit easier for therapists to explain test results and engage parents in the

treatment process.

 

Because the SPM-P is based on the same scale structure and theory as the SPM, you can monitor a child’s sensory development from preschool all the way through age 12. This kind of continuity is important when you’re treating children who require long-term follow-up.

 

Both the SPM and SPM-P support the core principles of RTI and can be used for evidence-based practice, scientifically based research, differentiated instruction, and progress monitoring.