Children’s Glasgow Sensory Questionnaire (C-GSQ): Validation of a Simplified and Visually Aided Questionnaire

This study aimed to validate an adaptation of the Glasgow Sensory Questionnaire (GSQ) – an adult self-report measure of sensory reactivity – intended for use with children aged between 8 and 11. Initially, 234 children filled out this adapted questionnaire with visual comprehension aids, while their caregivers completed the Autism Spectrum Quotient: Children’s Version. A second study was conducted with 156 child-caregiver dyads filling out the Children’s and Caregiver versions of the GSQ, as well as the Children’s Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ-Child). The results found that the Children’s Glasgow Sensory Questionnaire (C-GSQ) had good internal reliability. However, the C-GSQ factor structure was different from what was observed in adults and both studies found a significant but surprisingly small correlation between C-GSQ and AQ-Child scores. Additionally, the correlation between caregiver reports of sensory reactivity and autistic traits was found to be more similar to results from adults. This discrepancy between self-report and caregiver-report may have implications for the interpretation of previous data on sensory reactivity in children.