A new approach to assessment for young children referred by education professionals for socio‐emotional, behavioural, and cognitive difficulties

Paine, Amy L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9025-3719, Eaton, Steve, Bekiropoulou, Aikaterini ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7820-5419, Hobson, Christopher, Waters, Cerith ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7049-9906, Thapar, Anita ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3689-737X, Shelton, Katherine H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1311-5291, Langley, Kate ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2033-2657, Jones, Catherine ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0541-0431, Hay, Dale ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2505-0453, Leekam, Susan R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1122-0135, Von Dem Hagen, Elisabeth ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1056-8196, The Neurodevelopment Assessment Unit Team and van Goozen, Stephanie H. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5983-4734 2026. A new approach to assessment for young children referred by education professionals for socio‐emotional, behavioural, and cognitive difficulties. JCPP Advances , e70138. 10.1002/jcv2.70138

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Abstract

Background: Young children with emerging mental health problems and neurodevelopmental differences often do not receive the support they need early in life, and if they do receive support, it may not be appropriately targeted towards their individual needs. The Neurodevelopment Assessment Unit (NDAU) was established to meet this need, offering an innovative method for evaluating young children through developmental profiling guided by the NIMH Research Domain Criteria (RDoC). Methods: Children (4–7 years) identified as experiencing social, emotional, and/or cognitive difficulties by education practitioners were referred to the NDAU to complete a comprehensive battery of assessments. We present an overview of the first cohort of children (N = 486) who were referred between September 2017 and January 2023. We first provide an overview of children's performance on constructs within the Cognitive Systems and Systems for Social Processes domains of the RDoC. As an exploratory analysis, we used latent profile analysis to identify subgroups of children with similar patterns of performance on assessments within these domains. Results: Children demonstrated most difficulties with recognition of negative emotions (81.6% below average in at least one negative emotion), understanding mental states (51.4% below average), and sustained attention (47.6% below average). Next, we identified three distinct subgroups of children, each defined by unique patterns of performance across Cognitive Systems and Social Processing domains. Conclusion: These findings highlight the NDAU as a promising model for dimensional assessment and underscore the importance of investigating variability and heterogeneity in the neuropsychological profiles of young children with emerging difficulties.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Research Institutes & Centres > Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC) Schools > Medicine Schools > Psychology Research Institutes & Centres > Wolfson Centre for Young People's Mental Health (WCYPMH)
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Publisher:	Wiley
ISSN:	2692-9384
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 June 2026
Date of Acceptance:	14 May 2026
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2026 13:31
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/187445

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