The Sensory Observation Autism Rating Scale (SOAR): Developed using the PROMIS ® framework

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

Unwin, K., Barbaro, J., Uljarević, M., Hussain, A., Chetcuti, M., & Lane, A. E. (2022). The Sensory Observation Autism Rating Scale (SOAR): Developed using the PROMIS ® framework. Autism Research, 16(3), 617-629. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2881

Publication date: 24 Dec 2022 Added to AutiHub: 7 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
6
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 6 (16.7%)

Abstract

Abstract Autistic people experience the sensory world differently, impacting behavior. First‐hand accounts and group‐based research have found that sensory differences impact a range of things including family life, anxiety, participation, and daily living. Early sensory differences are widely reported to be associated with a cascade of developmental difference, suggesting that early autism diagnosis and sensory mapping could enable the provision of supports to facilitate flourishing. However, appropriate measurement tools are not available as all rely on proxy report or are observation measures which include limited modalities or domains and require the administration of stimuli. Therefore, following the gold‐standard recommendations for measurement development outlined by the PROMIS® framework, we created the Sensory Observation Autism Rating scale (SOAR). We identified sensory behaviors across all primary domains and modalities through an extensive autism‐sensory literature review and from focus groups with autism stakeholders. The initial item bank was then refined by an expert panel and through video coding five‐minutes of free play from Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule assessments of 105 age‐ and gender‐matched autistic and developmentally delayed children (aged 13–36 months; 38 female). An additional 25% of the sample were double coded to investigate interrater reliability. Observational data and expert review supported the reduction of the item bank to 37 items. We propose that the refined SOAR has excellent face and ecological validity, along with interrater reliability (Intraclass correlation = 0.87–0.99). Following further data collection and refinement, SOAR has promise to fully characterize sensory behaviors in autistic children and indicate useful supports.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 12 Sep 2026 17:55.

Cited references
64
With a DOI
53
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
11
1 / 64 (1.6%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
4 / 64 (6.2%)
References with detected author names
60 / 64 (93.8%)
Without detected author names
4
Without a structured title
4
Without a stable identifier
11
References with raw author names still to review
3
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
321
From DOI or external metadata
321
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
3
92 / 321 (28.7%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 229 / 321 (71.3%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
1 / 321 (0.3%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 1 / 92 (1.1%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 1 / 244 (0.4%).
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