Sensing Technologies for Autism Spectrum Disorder Screening and Intervention

Abstract

This paper reviews the state-of-the-art in sensing technologies that are relevant for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) screening and therapy. This disorder is characterized by difficulties in social communication, social interactions, and repetitive behaviors. It is diagnosed during the first three years of life. Early and intensive interventions have been shown to improve the developmental trajectory of the affected children. The earlier the diagnosis, the sooner the intervention therapy can begin, thus, making early diagnosis an important research goal. Technological innovations have tremendous potential to assist with early diagnosis and improve intervention programs. The need for careful and methodological evaluation of such emerging technologies becomes important in order to assist not only the therapists and clinicians in their selection of suitable tools, but to also guide the developers of the technologies in improving hardware and software. In this paper, we survey the literatures on sensing technologies for ASD and we categorize them into eye trackers, movement trackers, electrodermal activity monitors, tactile sensors, vocal prosody and speech detectors, and sleep quality assessment devices. We assess their effectiveness and study their limitations. We also examine the challenges faced by this growing field that need to be addressed before these technologies can perform up to their theoretical potential.

Head Impact Severity Measures for Small Social Robots Thrown During Meltdown in Autism

“…The traditional intervention sessions for ASD have been usually conducted by therapists. However, the progress in technology has enabled the introduction of new methods and techniques to facilitate the screening of ASD and intervention [15]. Children were found to be more intrigued to interact with robots as compared to humans due to the limited complexity of robots [16].…”

Multi-level modeling with nonlinear movement metrics to classify self-injurious behaviors in autism spectrum disorder

“…An accurate SIB tracking system might overcome these challenges if the system could identify triggers and inform and evaluate management. Sensing technology has the potential to comprehensively, objectively, and accurately track movement for people with SIB, as supported by previous research on behavioral monitoring for non-SIB behaviors in ASD [17][18][19] . Nonwearable and wearable technologies, such as embedded camera systems or accelerometers in everyday items (e.g., cellphones), could record data continuously for SIB monitoring without requiring high levels of caregiver or clinician compliance 19,20 .…”

“…Sensing technology has the potential to comprehensively, objectively, and accurately track movement for people with SIB, as supported by previous research on behavioral monitoring for non-SIB behaviors in ASD [17][18][19] . Nonwearable and wearable technologies, such as embedded camera systems or accelerometers in everyday items (e.g., cellphones), could record data continuously for SIB monitoring without requiring high levels of caregiver or clinician compliance 19,20 . Wearable accelerometers address limitations of nonwearable technology, such as restricted field of view and privacy concerns 21,22 , and were selected for the current study to reflect caregiver preferences from our previous work 23 .…”

Support for Employees with ASD in the Workplace Using a Bluetooth Skin Resistance Sensor–A Preliminary Study

“…One of the main challenges in the future can be utilizing technology to facilitate or even enable disabled people to take up the work. Technological innovations have tremendous potential to assist both early diagnoses as well as intervention programs [ 22 ]. For years, research has been focused mostly on children with ASD, or on young adults in their 20s and 30s.…”

“…Other studies have investigated the neural correlates of response and initiation in children with ASD, using an integrated EEG/eye tracking system [ 15 ]. Existing sensing technologies for ASD screening and intervention can be categorized into eye trackers, movement trackers, electrodermal activity monitors, tactile sensors, vocal prosody and speech detectors, and sleep quality assessment devices [ 22 ]. Unfortunately, people in mid-to-late adulthood who are suffering from ASD were neglected as research subjects [ 19 ], and therefore, there is very little research that explores the experiences of adults, e.g., neurodiverse tech workers [ 21 ].…”