How to assess sensory information processing in children and adolescents with autism spectrum condition: A systematic review

Abstract

Sensory information processing (SIP) is a diagnosis criterion for autism spectrum condition (ASC) since the fifth version of the DSM but clinicians and researchers lack a consensus to assess it. To fill this gap, we conducted a review of sensory assessment in children and adolescents with ASC. The main objective of this review was to identify the methods and tools for assessing SIP in children and adolescents with ASC. A second objective was to map the types of SIP characterization according to the tools. This extensive search was conducted in scientific databases from January 1991 to January 2021 using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) method. A total of 141 manuscripts met the criteria for inclusion. Five types of assessment method were identified: questionnaires, psychophysics, electroencephalography, neuroimaging and observations. Among these different methods, questionnaires are the most frequently cited, especially the Short Sensory Profile. This systematic review of methods for assessing SIP highlighted the great heterogeneity of sensory assessment targets in children with ASC, suggesting that current tools are not harmonized to characterize the SIP common to children and adolescents with ASC aged 0–18 years. If this systematic review allows better identification of the tools to be used in ASC clinics and research, the question remains as to how effective they are for assessing sensory specificities. Further research should serve as an opening for the development of new approaches to explore sensory treatment in order to build more efficient tools that can contribute to diagnoses.