THERAPISTS CONSISTENCY IN FOLLOWING THEIR TREATMENT PLANS FOR SENSORYINTEGRATIVE AND PERCEPTUAL-MOTOR THERAPY

Objectives. Treatment integrity is concerned with whether treatment co nditions as provided are consistent with specifications for the treatm ent Therapists' consistency in following their treatment plans that ca lled for the use of sensory integrative and perceptual-motor technique s was evaluated Method. Three occupational therapists were rated on th eir consistency in 46 sessions each of sensory integrative and percept ual-motor therapy Ratings were made both earlier (I month) and later ( 4 months) in treatment Consistency was rated with a five-point scale f or 10 categories of the treatment plans. Results. Overall consistency did not differ significantly (86% for sensory integrative techniques a nd 79% for perceptual-motor techniques). Perceptual-motor activities s howed less consistency early in treatment but approached the level for sensory integrative techniques by later treatment sessions. Consisten cy differed significantly among therapists for sensory integrative act ivities that addressed tactile defensiveness and perceptual-motor acti vities associated with fine coordination and dexterity. Conclusion. De spite the less structured, more child-centered nature of sensory integ rative techniques, consistency in using these techniques was as high a s that found for more scripted, program-centered perceptual-motor tech niques. Therapists reported that gaining the interest and attention of some children with the more structured perceptual-motor activities wa s more difficult early in treatment but could be achieved with time. D ifferences in consistency among therapists require verification with a larger sample.