AUTMON

Assessing the progress of therapy in autistic children is a complex and time-consuming endeavor, often influenced by subjective biases of the professionals conducting the evaluations. This challenge is magnified by several key factors:

• Heterogeneity of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): ASD encompasses a wide range of symptoms and severity levels, making it difficult to establish universally applicable metrics that accurately reflect progress across all individuals.
• Individual Differences: Every autistic child is unique, possessing distinct strengths, challenges, and responses to therapy. This individuality complicates the creation of standardized measures that can effectively gauge progress for every child.
• Communication Challenges: Many autistic children face significant communication difficulties, which can hinder traditional assessment methods. Limitations in verbal expression may restrict therapists’ ability to gain comprehensive insights into a child’s cognitive and emotional development.
• Behavioral Variability: Autism-related behaviors can be highly variable and fluctuate over time. Relying solely on observable behaviors may not provide a complete picture of a child's developmental progress or challenges.
• Sensory Sensitivities: Autistic children often have heightened sensitivities to sensory stimuli, which can impact their responses during assessments. It is crucial to consider and accommodate individual sensory profiles when measuring progress.
• Co-occurring Conditions: Many autistic children may also present with co-occurring conditions, such as ADHD or intellectual disabilities. This complexity requires a nuanced and multifaceted approach to accurately measure progress.
• Limited Self-Reporting: Some assessment tools depend on self-reporting, which may not be appropriate for non-verbal or minimally verbal autistic children. This limitation can restrict the effectiveness of certain measures.

To overcome these challenges, a holistic and individualized approach to measuring progress is essential. This approach should incorporate a diverse range of assessment methods, take individual differences into account, and foster collaboration between caregivers and multidisciplinary teams.

Solution

Our project seeks to establish objective metrics for monitoring therapy progress in children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Progress is assessed through behavioral data collected from five specially designed tablet games. By analyzing over 180 distinct parameters derived from raw data obtained via the game flow and tablet sensors (including touch screen, accelerometer, and gyroscope), we have confirmed the feasibility of recognizing progress in specific developmental areas with an accuracy exceeding 80%.

Furthermore, our research highlights a subset of parameters that serve as superior predictors of therapy progress. The proposed methodology, which includes data recording, parameter calculation formulas, and predictive modeling, can be integrated into a tool designed to assist both therapists and parents of autistic children. This tool would facilitate ongoing monitoring, adjustment, and reporting of therapy outcomes.

My Role in the Project (Head of Research & Desigm)

I played a pivotal role in all stages of project development, which included:

• Designing and testing the application flow
• Developing research plans and assessment tools
• Overseeing the research team conducting the study
• Analyzing data
• Presenting project results at scientific conferences
• Contributing to the creation of publications resulting from the project

This comprehensive involvement has equipped me with a deep understanding of the complexities involved in assessing therapeutic progress for autistic children.