Assessment & Research

Reliability of the Participation and Sensory Environment Questionnaire: Teacher Version.

Piller et al. (2017) · Journal of autism and developmental disorders 2017
★ The Verdict

The PSEQ-TV is a reliable teacher form that spots sensory roadblocks in preschool classrooms.

✓ Read this if BCBAs working with preschoolers with autism in daycare or public pre-K.
✗ Skip if Clinicians serving only elementary or older clients.

01Research in Context

01

What this study did

Teachers filled out the Participation and Sensory Environment Questionnaire—Teacher Version (PSEQ-TV).

The team checked if answers stayed the same over time and if items hung together.

02

What they found

The PSEQ-TV showed strong internal consistency and stable test-retest scores.

It is ready for preschool teachers to flag sensory barriers for kids with autism.

03

How this fits with other research

Like Stevens et al. (2018) and Villa et al. (2010), this paper adds another teacher-friendly tool with solid numbers.

Stevens et al. (2018) found 93 % sensitivity with a five-item direct screener; Aimee et al. used a longer questionnaire but still reached strong reliability, showing both routes can work.

Koegel et al. (1992) validated the IBSE for kids as young as six months; Aimee’s work narrows the lens to preschool sensory settings, extending age-specific coverage.

04

Why it matters

You now have a quick, free page teachers can complete while you observe. Use it to pick targets like dimming lights or cutting buzzer noise before problem behavior climbs. Pair results with your ABC data to show administrators exactly which environmental tweaks bring the biggest gains.

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→ Action — try this Monday

Hand the one-page PSEQ-TV to the teacher, collect it before lunch, and pick the top two sensory items to modify in your next session.

02At a glance

Intervention
not applicable
Design
other
Population
autism spectrum disorder
Finding
positive

03Original abstract

The Participation and Sensory Environment Questionnaire-Teacher Version (PSEQ-TV) is a teacher-report questionnaire to assess the impact of the sensory environment on participation of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Many children with ASD have sensory processing differences, although these differences are frequently examined from the standpoint of the person. The PSEQ-TV provides a single assessment to examine both participation and the sensory environment for preschool aged children with ASD. This study established the reliability of the PSEQ-TV including internal consistency of 0.98 and test-rest reliability of 0.70. The results indicate initial reliability of PSEQ-TV as an instrument that can be used to identify sensory environmental barriers within the preschool setting to target during interventions to increase participation.

Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2017 · doi:10.1007/s10803-017-3273-3