Assessment

The sensory integration therapy can be conducted after the completion of comprehensive examinations by qualified therapists.

The diagnosis consists of:

Interview with parents – refers to the course of pregnancy, birth and development of the child in the infancy period, past diseases as well information and opinions of other specialists.

Questionnaires – the parents fill in detailed questionnaires concerning the child’s functioning in everyday life. Let us remember that it is the parent who knows their child best and is the child’s best observer.

Clinical trials – the child is observed in its spontaneous activity and in task situations where they are to perform specific tasks or exercises helping to diagnose them and check the muscle tone, balance mechanisms, eye functioning, motor coordination and retained tonic reflexes.

South California tests – used to determine the profile of maturity of senses and their integration. They comprise of several parts examining such functions as the ability to plan motor actions (praxic movements), the ability to locate a tactile stimulus, smoothness and coordination of movement, the ability to keep balance, the feeling of the body and arm’s movements. The majority of tests are designed for children over the age of 4. Younger children and children for whom the tests cannot be used (e.g. with mental disability, autistic children, uncooperative children) are examined with the help of selected trials of clinical observation and additional fitness tests.

Diagnosis summary – includes the discussion of results of individual tests and examinations, and recommendations put forward by a qualified therapist. The parents receive the diagnosis results and therapy programme in writing. A professional diagnosis should contain all of the above-described elements and detailed results so that another therapist could use it and so that it would be possible to compare the child’s results in the future. This will enable the determination of the child’s progress and the free selection of a therapist by the parents.