Mapping Children's Social and Motor Skill Profiles to Autistic Traits and Behavioral Tendencies

We used a person-centered approach to: (1) elucidate distinct configurations of social and motor skills across subgroups of children, (2) determine how profiles map to autistic traits and behavioral tendencies, and (3) identify how children with and without different diagnoses are categorized within profiles. Parents/guardians (N = 538) of 5- to 15-year-olds reported on their children's autistic traits, social skills, motor skills, and behavioral tendencies. Factor scores were extracted as indicators for latent profile analysis and a series of profile solutions were generated. After selecting the final profile solution, mean-level differences were examined across each profile, pairing for key measures of interest. Frequency distribution analysis was used to identify the number of children with and without formal diagnoses in each profile. A 6-profile solution was identified, drawing attention to how social and motor competencies combine in qualitatively distinct ways across subpopulations. Whereas several profiles had similar levels of social and motor skills (Profile 2: weak social/motor, Profile 4: average social/motor, Profile 6: exceptional social/motor), other profiles showed divergent levels of social and motor competencies (Profile 1: weak motor but average social, Profile 3: above average social and strong motor, Profile 5: strong social and above average motor). These subpopulations differed in terms of their proportions of diagnoses (i.e., of autism specifically and co-occurring with other diagnoses), autistic traits, and behavioral difficulties. Findings support a person-centered approach that considers the relationships, interactions, and shared mechanisms of multiple developmental domains to better understand child development, optimize interventions, and improve outcomes.