The Relationship of Sensory Integrative Development to Achievement in Elementary Students: Four-Year Longitudinal Patterns

Abstract

This longitudinal investigation evaluated the relationship of sensory integrative development to achievement. It was hypothesized that perceptual abilities would be strongly related to achievement when participants were 6 to 8 years of age, but not 4 years later. Participants (32 school-identified learning handicapped children and 35 non-learning handicapped children) were administered the Sensory Integration and Praxis tests and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children. As predicted, sensory integrative factors were strongly related to arithmetic achievement at younger ages, and the strength of the association declined with age. The reverse pattern was found for reading: sensory integration was not significantly related to concurrent reading achievement at younger ages, but was related to later reading. An unexpected finding was the strength of the relationship of the sensory integrative factors, particularly Praxis, to arithmetic achievement.