Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Autism Article Date: 27 Jul 2013 - 0:00 PDT
Current ratings for: 'Motion sensor' may aid autism diagnosis and treatment
Scientists have developed a new screening tool that could use an individual's movement to diagnose and treat autism, according to a series of studies published in the journal Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience.
Researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine and Rutgers University have developed the method, which presents individuals with various images while a sensitive tracker monitors their movements.
The researchers say that this method, which can be used in children over the age of three, could provide an earlier, more objective and more accurate diagnosis of autism.
The method was tested on 78 children and adults with autism, including non-verbal autistic children and those with mild forms of the disorder.
The researchers say that the tool correctly diagnosed all of the participants, and even diagnosed autism subtypes, identified gender differences and tracked individual progress in treatment and development.
A movement tracker is attached to the individual, which senses "systemic signatures," measuring each person's movement as they respond to various screen images from an advanced computer program, showing 240 images a second.
The researchers say that this tool analyzes the importance of changes in movement and movement sensing, enabling the identification of stable capabilities in each individual, as well as highlighting the impairments of a person's movement system.
They add that the screening tool can measure tiny fluctuations, determining exactly how an individual's movement differs to that of a more typically developing child or adult. Dr Jorge Jos, vice president of research at Indiana University, says:
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'Motion sensor' may aid autism diagnosis and treatment