Markerless Video Analysis of Spontaneous Bodily Movements in 4-Month-Old Infants Predicts Autism-like Behavior in 18-Month-Olds

Abstract

Early intervention is now considered the core treatment strategy for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Thus, it is of significant clinical importance to establish a screening tool for the early detection of ASD in infants. To achieve this goal, in a longitudinal design, we analysed spontaneous bodily movements of 4-month-old infants and assessed their ASD-like behaviours at 18 months of age. Infants at high risk for ASD at 18 months of age exhibited less rhythmic and weaker bodily movement patterns at 4 months of age than low-risk infants. When the observed bodily movement patterns were submitted to a machine learning-based analysis, linear and non-linear classifiers successfully predicted ASD-like behaviour at 18 months of age based on the bodily movement patterns at 4 months of age, at the level acceptable for practical use. This suggests the utility of the proposed method for the early screening of infants at risk for ASD.