“Please could you advise me, I read that the EASI is still in development and only has preliminary norms?”
No, this is not the case! The norms collected in the INDC project are available for use, and have been since 2022. What the EASI authors describe is entirely in line with usual practice for developing and refining a psychometric test. Many well-established assessments, such as the EASI (Evaluation in Ayres Sensory Integration), have undergone multiple cycles of standardisation, re-norming, and re-validation over years or even decades, much like the EASI Sensory Integration Assessment, to ensure accuracy.
- Initial Norms and Clinical Use
- Most psychometric tools are initially released with an early normative sample (in the case of the EASI, comprising 2,300 children).
- The EASI is published, standardised, and in clinical use since 2022.
- Once published and validated, they can be used clinically while further research continues, ensuring the practical application of the assessment.
- This is the same approach taken with the Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests (SIPT), the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, the Wechsler Intelligence Scales, and many others.
- Ongoing Research and Re-Norming
- It is expected and considered good practice that test authors continue collecting larger and more diverse samples after initial release.
- Larger datasets allow for refinements, strengthening reliability, cross-cultural validity, and generalisability. This ongoing collection is part of the process for the EASI Sensory Integration Assessment.
- For example, the WISC has been re-normed and re-issued multiple times over 70 years, incorporating increasingly diverse and international populations.
- Psychometric Strengthening
- Once initial reliability and validity have been established, further studies typically look at subgroups, cultural effects, longitudinal stability, and clinical populations.
- Ongoing research is part of what keeps a test current and robust, not a sign that the EASI Sensory Integration Assessment is “unfinished.”
- Why the “still in development” wording is misleading
- Saying a tool is “still in development” wrongly suggests it is not yet ready for use.
- In reality, the EASI is published, standardised, and in clinical use since 2022.
- The ongoing studies are not because the test is incomplete, but because this is best practice for psychometrics. Ongoing refinement will strengthen any tool with bigger and more diverse data. This is the case with the EASI – ensuring robust sensory integration assessment is available for clients.
Yes, it is usual practice. The EASI is not “unfinished”; it is an active, living assessment that is continually strengthened, just like other major psychometric tools.
