Tracking the eye movement of preschoolers for as little as one minute could help with the early detection of autism spectrum disorder, according to Australian research.
The study tracked the eye movements of children both with and without autism while watching side-by-side images of geometric patterns and children performing yoga exercises, and the researchers were able to predict an autism diagnosis, with an accuracy of 94%.
The University of NSW team said that from a clinical perspective, their findings suggest that eye-tracking technology could be used as a biomarker of the presence of ASD and symptom severity in preschool children.
“Experimental results demonstrate promising performance that is superior to using handcrafted features and machine learning algorithms, in terms of evaluation metrics used in diagnostic tests,” lead author Dr Ryan de Belen, said.
Recent advances in technology have allowed for the quantification of different biological and behavioural markers that are useful in ASD research, and eye-tracking technology has shown promise in providing a non-invasive and objective tool for research.
Several eye-tracking studies have identified unique visual attention patterns in ASD individuals. Gaze abnormalities in toddlers (<3-year-olds) include reduced attention to eye and head regions, reduced preference for biological motion, difficulties in response to joint attention behaviours and scene monitoring challenges during explicit dyadic cues.
Meanwhile, at the other end of school, a social development program based on LEGO therapy, combined with robotics, may have the potential to reduce school absenteeism for autistic teenagers, which is currently three times higher than their peers.
LEGO therapy uses toy bricks as a tool to help autistic children interact through play and develop their communication and social skills.
Developed by clinical neuropsychologist Dan LeGoff in the early 2000s, the therapy encourages participants to work together in groups, adopting and performing three rotating roles to complete a model.
In the first phase of a trial supported by the Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation, Flinders University, Griffith University and Autism SA experts assessed if an eight-week rollout of the LEGO Robotics therapy program reduced the anxiety levels of autistic teenagers while improving their social skills, motivation, and school engagement.
In South Australia, 24 autistic teenagers between the ages of 13 and 16 took part in the study. They worked in groups of three, building and solving challenges using an EV3 LEGO Robotics kit. The researchers asked the teenagers questions about their experiences with the program and interviewed their teachers and parents to evaluate the overall benefits.
Speech pathologist and lead researcher, Associate Professor Pammi Raghavendra, said that even though the first stage of the program did not show quantitative improvements in children’s social skills or anxiety levels, it did show early signs that LEGO Robotics therapy may be a drawcard for children to come to school.
“While parents and teachers both noticed that the LEGO Robotics therapy sessions improved school attendance for some students, only a longer and larger trial can determine if this is in fact a consistent result for this program,” she said.
“The program enabled children to focus on an activity that allowed for social and communication skills to develop in a natural way.
“The positive feedback we’ve received from families and teachers following the program, focussed on new and different social connections with peers, and increased knowledge and skills.”