THERAPIST CHILD INTERACTION DURING SENSORY INTEGRATION TREATMENT - DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF A RESEARCH TOOL

Although Ayres (1972) identified the interaction between therapist and child as an essential feature of successful sensory integration treatment, this aspect of the treatment process has not been examined in efficacy studies to date. In part, this omission may be explained by the lack of adequate measurement tools for this purpose. This paper reports on the development and reliability testing of the Challenge Coding System, a quantitative research tool designed to examine the collaboration of therapist and child in the sensory integration treatment process. Data from three studies are reported that collectively demonstrate that important aspects of the therapeutic interaction can be measured reliably. Potential uses of the new instrument in research are discussed.