Sensory Processing Subtypes in a Mixed Neurodevelopmental Cohort: Prevalence and Associations with Emotion Dysregulation, Anxiety, and ADHD

Abstract

Abstract Children with autism and other neurodevelopmental concerns (NDC) present an array of sensory processing patterns and frequently encounter challenges with self-regulation, including emotion dysregulation, anxiety, and ADHD symptoms. Adopting a transdiagnostic perspective within the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework, this study examined the relationship between clusters of sensory processing phenotypes and differential patterns of self-regulation behaviors. In a sample of 117 participants (8–12 years), this study aimed to: 1) establish the prevalence of self-regulation problems in a community-recruited cohort of children with diverse NDCs; 2) construct data-driven sensory processing latent subtypes; 3) investigate group differences in emotion dysregulation, anxiety, and ADHD symptoms. Results indicated that 40, 20, and 62% of NDC children met clinically concerning thresholds for emotion dysregulation, anxiety, and ADHD, respectively. Second, latent profile analysis identified five sensory processing subtypes categorized by modality: Typical Processing, Intermediate/Mixed, Sensory Seeking (SS), Sensory Under-responsive (SUR), and Sensory Over-Responsive (SOR). Notably, the SOR group exhibited distinctively elevated anxiety scores, while the SS and SUR groups showed heightened ADHD scores. Intriguingly, the SOR, SUR, SS, and Intermediate/Mixed subgroups all demonstrated elevated emotion dysregulation scores, suggesting a potential shared mechanism of emotion dysregulation that might elucidate the connection between sensory processing differences and increased anxiety and ADHD behaviors in children with autism and other NDCs.