Background and purpose: The Sensory Organization Test (SOT) and the Pediatric Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction for Balance (PCTSIB) quantify the ability to maintain balance in the presence of sensory conflicts. The purposes were to explore the concurrent validity of these two assessments by comparing the performance of healthy children on the tests and examine the relationship between age and assessment performances thereby exploring the construct validity of the measures.
Subjects: Sixteen healthy children (9.8 +/- 3.5 yr.).
Methods: Children were assessed with both tools during a single session.
Results: Only three conditions of the SOT were related to the corresponding PCTSIB conditions: eyes closed in tandem and single leg stance (SLS), and altered vision in SLS. None of the conditions involving altered support surfaces were related. All SOT conditions and four PCTSIB conditions in SLS, were significantly related to age as well as one condition in tandem.
Discussion and conclusion: Although both tests are associated with age, they do not measure sensory organization abilities in the same manner. As such, they each provide different and complementary information about healthy children's ability to maintain balance.