Yes, the teacher can score the Sensory Profile 2. The video mentions that the manual allows for sending the assessment to teachers and parents for independent completion, implying that they are involved in the scoring process or at least providing the information for it. The discussion then centers on the best way to utilize that completed information during a follow-up interaction.
This video addresses a frequently asked question regarding the Sensory Profile 2 assessment: whether it's better to complete it with a teacher and parent present or have them complete it independently. Winnie Dunn, the author, explains the distinction between research and practice, clarifies the standardization process, and encourages therapists to consider the benefits of having parents and teachers complete the assessment beforehand to allow for more in-depth discussion during the appointment.
The video suggests that while both independent completion and a discussion are valuable, the approach of having the teacher and parent complete the assessment before the meeting allows for a more productive discussion.
Winnie Dunn emphasizes that the goal isn't just to complete the assessment, but to use the appointment time more effectively. By having the assessment done beforehand, therapists can:
So, it's not strictly "do whatever you like," but rather a recommendation to leverage pre-completion to maximize the value of the interaction and gather richer insights.
The transcript mentions that the assessment can be completed with "the teacher and parent" or "the family." It also refers to the "people that are developing a relationship with families." While the term "caregiver" isn't explicitly used, the context strongly implies that the assessment is intended for those who know the child well, which would include parents and teachers, and by extension, caregivers. The core idea is that the individuals providing the information are familiar with the child's behaviors and sensory responses.
Here is the transcript from the video:
"hi my name is winnie dunn i'm the professor and chair at the university of kansas department of occupational therapy education i'm also the author of the sensory profile 2. we get a lot of questions from people asking about proper use and adaptations and interpretations of the sensory profile too so we thought it'd be good to make some brief podcasts answering some of the most frequent questions so the first question is about whether it's better to complete the sensory profile to with the teacher and parent so if you click to the next slide i'll tell you what i think question one our therapist team really wants to continue to do the sensory profile too with the teachers and the parents themselves so they understand the questions and we get better answers we see that the manual says we can send it to them for for them to complete independently we think we get better results when we have a dialogue can you guide us this is a question i get a lot um and i think it points to a really important distinction between research and practice what the manual is telling you is that we did not talk with any of the parents or the teachers while gathering the standardization data for the sensory profiles so the cut scores that you use include all the people those who understood a lot about the items understood very little about the items people who are very strict in their interpretation of an item and those who are casual the important thing to remember is that even with all that variability in the people we were still able to demonstrate differences among key groups and their sensory processing collecting all the families of children who have adhd with all their inherent differences still yielded a significantly different sensory pattern when compared to children without adhd for example so your team is thinking like people that are developing a relationship with families and are wanting to plan for their care and that is why i suspect the interaction is important to you and to them and it totally should be that's exactly how you should think but i i would like to invite you to think um bigger about the possibilities here if you did send papers ahead of time i wonder if your team could brainstorm how you could spend that assessment time with a family or with a teacher what questions would you have for them and what questions would they have right from the start because they've read a lot of these questions and have some ideas about what you're going to be talking to them about how would the conversation be different because they had to spend a few minutes thinking about all these ideas before you got there you're not sort of catching them off guard or in the moment you know some people need some time to think through their answers what could you get to discuss that wouldn't otherwise have time for if both you and the family knew that this was coming because you'd sent the material ahead of time and how would the family come to understand or the teacher come to understand what's important to you and what your purpose is in being there sometimes we all get focused on the ways we know without considering what's possible to know with another approach i just want you to consider what the possibilities are if that same amount of time could be captured to do something else with the family or a teacher instead of completing an assessment that they could at least begin to complete by themselves ahead of time good luck with your thinking on this one"
