The Glasgow Sensory Questionnaire: Validation of a French Language Version and Refinement of Sensory Profiles of People with High Autism-Spectrum Quotient

Sensory sensitivity peculiarities represent an important characteristic of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). We first validated a French language version of the Glasgow Sensory Questionnaire (GSQ) (Robertson and Simmons in J Autism Dev Disord 43(4):775–784, 2013). The GSQ score was strongly positively correlated with the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) (r = 0.81, p < 10⁻⁶, n = 245). We further examined sensory profiles of groups with high versus low AQ. The high AQ group scored higher at the GSQ than the low AQ group for every sensory modality. Moreover, the high AQ group showed greater consistency in their patterns of hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity between sensory modalities, and stronger correlations between hyper and hyposensitivity. Results are discussed in the context of theories accounting for atypical sensory perception in ASD.