Developmental Functioning of Infants and Toddlers with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), epilepsy, and cerebral palsy (CP) are some of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders among children with prevalence rates of 1.85% (Maenner et al., 2020), 1.2% (Zack & Kobau, 2017), and between 0.21 and 0.31% (Christensen et al., 2013), respectively. These neurodevelopmental disorders are highly comorbid with each other and with other disorders, such as intellectual disability (ID). While previous research has investigated developmental functioning in these neurodevelopmental disorders, it has primarily focused on only two at a time and in older children or adults. The current study aimed to investigate developmental functioning in these neurodevelopmental disorders and an atypical control group using the Battelle Developmental Inventory, Second Edition (BDI-2). The current sample included four groups (i.e., ASD, seizures, CP, atypical control), with 253 infants and toddlers in each. The results indicated significant differences in overall developmental functioning, in addition to individual subdomains of the BDI-2. These findings provide the basis for further research to investigate comorbidities of the three neurodevelopmental disorders and parse out the impact of ID.