The Role of Data Collection Method in the Association Between Motor Development and Emerging Social-Communication Skills

• In Event: Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Topic - Language, Communication

Abstract

Introduction

The importance of motor skills in the emergence of social-communication in infancy has been suggested by many, but also refuted (e.g., Bradshaw et al., 2018; Moore et al., 2019). Research in favor of this link suggests that the achievement of motor milestones afford increased opportunities for social learning, resulting in an increase in communication skills following the onset of each milestone. Still, some studies fail to find such cross-domain associations. Critical to this debate is the accuracy of assessed infant skills, which can be affected by the method of data collection. Recently, as research has moved to virtual platforms, it is paramount to understand the association between these methods of evaluation. In order to add to this debate, this study aimed to 1) evaluate the association between parent-reported and clinician-observed motor and social-communication skills and 2) identify associations between motor and social-communication skills at a very early developmental timepoint when these skills are emerging.

Methods
Participants (N=35) were enrolled in a longitudinal study of social development. At nine months, caregivers completed the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales–Developmental Profile, Caregiver Questionnaire (CSBS- CQ) and Early Motor Questionnaire, and infants were administered the CSBS Behavior Sample (CSBS-BS) and Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Language and Motor scales. Partial correlations, controlling for child age, were used to evaluate the association between parent reported and clinician observed skills. Multiple regression models were used to evaluate the relationship between motor skills and social communication at nine months.

Results
Analyses revealed strong associations between parent-reported and clinician observed motor skills, with a larger association observed for fine motor (GM: r=0.652,p=0.002; FM:r=0.792,p<.001). In contrast, parent-reported and clinician-observed social-communication skills in a subset of sample (N=16) were not significantly associated (r=0.278; p=0.316). Notably, there was a significant association between two clinician-administered measures of communication (Bayley and CSBS-BS; r=0.544,p=0.036), but not the Bayley and CSBS-CQ (r=0.373,p=.170). Multiple regression models to predict social communication skills differed by data collection method. Clinician-observed motor skills did not significantly predict parent-reported communication (F(18)=1.05, p=0.398), but parent-reported motor skills did (F(27)=5.33,p=0.006, Adj R-Sq=0.325). A similar pattern was observed for clinician-observed social-communication skills, which were nearly significantly predicted by motor skills assessed via parent report (F(14)=3.19,p=0.067, Adj R-Sq=0.319), but not clinician observation (F(16)=1.38,p=0.294).

Conclusions
This study documents complexities of multi-method reporting and confirms associations between early motor and social-communication skills. We observed strong parent-clinician associations in assessment of motor skills, but not communication. We also documented associations between motor and social-communication skills in nine-month-old infants, but these were only statistically significant when all domains were assessed by the caregiver, suggesting that caregivers tend to rate all infant skills similarly. At the time of this pre-registration submission, only a subset of participants were able to complete in-person assessments of communication, limiting our power to detect true effects. By March 2021, we will add N=5 participants and N=20 12-month assessments, allowing for longitudinal data analyses. This will enable us to disentangle the predictive effects of parent report vs. clinician observation on later development.

Authors

• Jessica Bradshaw, University of South Carolina
  Presenting Author

• Alexis Federico, University of South Carolina
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amy Vinyard, University of South Carolina
  Non-Presenting Author