Co-occurring Neurodevelopmental Conditions in Children: Advocating for Transdiagnostic Approach to Assessments

Approximately 8% of all children experience developmental and mental health conditions. Similarities in characteristics across neurodevelopmental conditions-such as difficulties in communication and language, social interaction, motor coordination, attention, activity regulation, behavior, mood, and sleep-make it challenging to attribute these characteristics exclusively to specific diagnoses and assessments. The purpose of this study was to identify symptomatic domains across neurodevelopmental conditions in children and to explore dimension reduction for transdiagnostic assessment. Cluster and factor analyses were conducted on two datasets to determine the co-occurrence of conditions in children. Deidentified data were sourced from two data repositories, the Australian Autism Biobank and the Child Behavior Research Clinic. Four clusters were identified in the behavior clinic dataset based on emotional, behavioral, and social characteristics. The autism biobank dataset revealed three distinct clusters categorized by cognitive skills, adaptive skills, and autistic traits. Factor analysis was subsequently used to explore which characteristics could be grouped into domains. The study aimed to characterize and capture the complexities of co-occurring conditions within neurodevelopmental conditions by identifying distinct domains derived from both cluster and factor analysis. By integrating findings from two clinical datasets with children having both behavioral and neurodevelopmental conditions, we highlighted how clusters of comorbidity and behavioral profiles align with factors. Thus, the findings emphasizes the importances of adopting a transdiagnostic approach to diagnosis, rather than viewing neurodevelopmental conditions in isolation.