Longitudinal trajectories of self-care performance in children with and without developmental conditions

Limited research has explored the longitudinal development of children's self-care performance in East Asian contexts. This study aimed to examine the 1.5-year trajectories of self-care skills in Taiwanese children with typical development (TD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and other developmental conditions (DC), and their associations with child and family factors and later adaptive skills in different settings.

Caregivers of 1056 children (664 TD, 89 ASD, 303 DC) completed the Self-Care Performance Assessment for Children (SCPAC) across four timepoints, six months apart (response rates=14-49 %). The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale, Third Edition (VABS-3) was administered at later timepoints. Latent growth curve modeling, stratified by age group (0-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12 years), was used to estimate self-care performance trajectories with child- and family-related factors as covariates. The lagged effects of SCPAC scores on VABS-3 domestic and community subdomain scores were evaluated with path analysis.

Distinct trajectories were observed in SCPAC total and subdomains across age and diagnostic groups. Children in the ASD and DC groups showed lower self-care performance after age 4 and slower progress before age 4. Number of siblings and caregiver education were associated with baseline level or growth rate of self-care performance in certain age groups. The overall self-care performance significantly predicted later domestic and community living skills.

Our findings provide nuanced insights into the diverse developmental patterns of self-care skills across ages and diagnoses, suggesting that children with developmental needs may benefit from targeted support in specific self-care areas at key stages of childhood.