Abstract Sensory processing differences are prevalent among autistic children impacting their participation in daily activities. Sensory subtypes provide a useful approach to understand these differences, as sensory response patterns often co-occur. The purpose of this paper is to apply existing sensory subtype methodology to examine the four sensory subtypes’ association with child outcome measures. Autistic children (n = 118) ages 6–18 years old were grouped into four sensory subtypes of mild, sensitive-distressed, attenuated-preoccupied, and extreme-mixed. This study examined associations among the four sensory subtypes and motor skills, core autism features, and adaptive behaviors. Most children were categorized into the mild (n = 53) and sensitive-distressed (n = 45) subtype with very few children falling in the attenuated-preoccupied (n = 9) and extreme-mixed subtype (n = 11). The four subtypes had group differences identified for motor skills, core autism features, and adaptive behaviors. The mild and attenuated-preoccupied had higher motor skills compared to the sensitive-distressed and extreme-mixed subtype. The extreme-mixed subtype had more core autism features, and lower adaptive behavior compared to the mild subtype. Sensory subtypes exhibit differential associations to child outcome measures for autistic children ages 6–18 years old. Understanding these relationships may provide an opportunity for earlier, targeted interventions to address the role sensory differences play in daily activities.
Kabakov et al. (Wed,) studied this question.