Goal attainment scaling as a measure of meaningful outcomes for children with sensory integration disorders.

March/April 2007, Volume 61, Number 2 With the ultimate aim of enhancing participation and engagement in meaningful life activities, occupational therapists establish goals with individual people and their families that are infinitely unique and diverse (Crepeau, Cohn, & Schell, 2003). The array of potential outcomes after intervention creates rich clinical practice but makes implementing effectiveness research complex. For more than 40 years (Ayres, 1965, 1966; Parham & Mailloux, 2004), occupational therapists have identified signs of poor or inefficient sensory processing and motor planning or coordination functions—collectively known as sensory integration disorders—among various clinical populations. Research studies examining the effectiveness of occupational therapy intervention with clients who have sensory integration problems have shown mixed results, as demonstrated by more than 75 original studies, 2 meta-analyses, and 4 review papers (Parham et al., 2007). These studies clearly point out the challenge of defining intervention in a standard way and identifying appropriate outcome measures (Miller, 2003a; Miller & Kinneally, 1993). Identifying standardized means to capture the diversity of meaningful, functional outcomes that are noted by therapists, families, and individuals who participate in occupational therapy applying a sensory integration approach (OT-SI) presents a special challenge to conducting reliable and relevant effectiveness research. The purpose of this article is to describe the efforts of a collaborative team of occupational therapists to explore the potential of goal attainment scaling (GAS) as a measurement methodology that would capture, in a reliable and valid manner, the diverse gains noted after use of the OT-SI approach.