The relationship between sensory processing patterns and behavioural responsiveness in autistic disorder: a pilot study.
Parent sensory questionnaires reveal stable, age-spanning clusters that predict social and emotional behavior in autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Hampton et al. (2008) asked parents to fill out the Short Sensory Profile and a behavior rating scale.
The team looked at a small group of children with autistic disorder to see if sensory scores lined up with social and emotional behaviors.
What they found
Parents reported clear sensory clusters in their kids.
Each cluster matched real-life social and behavior strengths or trouble spots.
How this fits with other research
Farley et al. (2022) later tested 919 autistic youth and found five sensory sub-types that peak in middle childhood. This large study extends the 2008 pilot by showing the same tool can sort kids into mild, moderate, or severe sensory groups.
Green et al. (2016) used the same caregiver tool and showed that 92 % of autistic tweens have sensory issues. They linked higher sensory scores to more emotional problems, backing the 2008 link between sensory and behavior ratings.
Kose et al. (2025) moved the idea into teens. They showed that sensory seeking and low registration still predict social skills in adolescence, proving the pattern lasts beyond early childhood.
Why it matters
You can trust parent SSP reports to flag sensory styles that ride along with social and emotional needs. Use the five sub-types from Farley et al. (2022) to pick supports that fit mild vs. severe profiles, and keep watching sensory seeking or low registration as you plan teen social goals.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Sensory processing (SP) difficulties have been reported in as many as 95% of children with autism, however, empirical research examining the existence of specific patterns of SP difficulties within this population is scarce. Furthermore, little attention has been given to examining the relationship between SP and either the core symptoms or secondary manifestations of autism. In the current study, SP patterns in children with autistic disorder (AD) were investigated via a caregiver questionnaire and findings were correlated with the social, emotional and behavioural responsiveness of participants. Results indicated the presence of specific SP patterns in this sample of children with AD and several significant relationships were found between SP and social, emotional and behavioural function.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2008 · doi:10.1007/s10803-007-0459-0