AOTA Patient Assessment & Evaluation 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: When conducting a sensory history with a caregiver, which area of inquiry is MOST relevant to identifying vestibular processing differences?
- Sensitivity to food textures and clothing tags
- Response to movement activities such as swings, car rides, and spinning (Correct answer)
- Reaction to loud or unexpected sounds
- Difficulty with handwriting and fine motor tasks
Correct answer: Response to movement activities such as swings, car rides, and spinning
Reactions to movement-based activities such as swings, car rides, and spinning directly reflect vestibular processing and tolerance.
Question 2: The Ayres Clinical Observations include which of the following as a measure of bilateral motor coordination?
- Finger identification test
- Prone extension posture
- Jumping jacks performed in sequence (Correct answer)
- Supine flexion against gravity
Correct answer: Jumping jacks performed in sequence
Jumping jacks require the two body sides to move in coordinated, alternating patterns and are used in clinical observations to assess bilateral motor coordination.
Question 3: A 7-year-old scores significantly low on Design Copying and Motor Accuracy subtests of the SIPT. These results suggest difficulties primarily with:
- Vestibular-proprioceptive processing
- Visual-form and visual-motor integration (Correct answer)
- Auditory discrimination
- Oral motor and feeding skills
Correct answer: Visual-form and visual-motor integration
Design Copying and Motor Accuracy assess visual-form perception and visuomotor integration, which are related to visual-spatial processing in the SIPT framework.
Question 4: Which statement best describes the relationship between evaluation findings and intervention planning in sensory integration therapy?
- Evaluation findings are used solely to generate a diagnosis code
- Standardized test scores alone determine the treatment approach without clinical observation
- Evaluation data, clinical observations, and occupational profile are integrated to create individualized goals (Correct answer)
- Intervention is identical across all children with SPD regardless of evaluation findings
Correct answer: Evaluation data, clinical observations, and occupational profile are integrated to create individualized goals
ASI-based intervention planning requires integrating standardized scores, clinical observations, and the child's occupational profile to develop individualized, occupation-based goals.
Question 5: The Sensory Profile (Dunn, 2014) organizes sensory processing patterns into four quadrants. Which quadrant describes a child who is highly sensitive to sensory input and actively avoids it?
- Sensation Seeking
- Low Registration
- Sensation Avoiding (Correct answer)
- Sensory Sensitivity
Correct answer: Sensation Avoiding
Sensation Avoiding describes children with high neurological thresholds who use active behavioral strategies to limit or avoid sensory input.
Question 6: During evaluation, a therapist notices that a child has difficulty identifying which finger was touched without looking. This finding indicates dysfunction in:
- Tactile discrimination — finger identification (Correct answer)
- Proprioceptive discrimination
- Auditory figure-ground processing
- Visual closure skills
Correct answer: Tactile discrimination — finger identification
Difficulty identifying which finger was touched without visual feedback reflects impaired tactile discrimination, specifically finger identification, assessed in the SIPT.
Question 7: A child demonstrates poor postural stability, tends to slump in the chair, and fatigues quickly during tabletop activities. The evaluating OT suspects a deficit in which sensory system?
- Visual proprioceptive
- Auditory processing
- Vestibular-proprioceptive processing underlying postural control (Correct answer)
- Interoception
Correct answer: Vestibular-proprioceptive processing underlying postural control
Poor postural stability and core fatigue are linked to deficits in vestibular and proprioceptive processing that underlie the postural-ocular motor system.
AOTA Patient Assessment & Evaluation 3
When conducting a sensory history with a caregiver, which area of inquiry is MOST relevant to identifying vestibular processing differences?