title: Reliability of assessing the sensory perception of children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities: a case study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study describes preliminary stages of developing a checklist to enable practitioners to determine the behavioural responses of children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities to sensory stimuli. Reliability of currently used checklists is low, with a focus on the child's sensory integration instead of perception.
  
  
  METHODS
  The inter-rater reliability of a checklist was determined, and adjustments were made to improve reliability.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Strikingly, the reliability decreased for all components after adjustment. The effect of a smaller item pool was ruled out. The effect of familiarity of teachers as raters was examined.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results show that teachers who know a child well could interpret that child's behaviour more accurately than persons who were unfamiliar with the child. However, reliability of the checklist remains a problem.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. c.vlaskamp@rug.nl
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vlaskamp
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cuppen-Fonteine
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012677:Sensation / Q000502:physiology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014743:Videotape Recording