A tablet-based game for the assessment of visual motor skills in autistic children
Abstract Increasing evidence suggests that early motor impairments are a common feature of autism. Thus, scalable, quantitative methods for measuring motor behavior in young autistic children are needed. This work presents an engaging and scalable assessment of visual-motor abilities based on a bubb...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2023-02-01
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| Series: | npj Digital Medicine |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-023-00762-6 |
| _version_ | 1827609329721671680 |
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| author | Sam Perochon J. Matias Di Martino Kimberly L. H. Carpenter Scott Compton Naomi Davis Steven Espinosa Lauren Franz Amber D. Rieder Connor Sullivan Guillermo Sapiro Geraldine Dawson |
| author_facet | Sam Perochon J. Matias Di Martino Kimberly L. H. Carpenter Scott Compton Naomi Davis Steven Espinosa Lauren Franz Amber D. Rieder Connor Sullivan Guillermo Sapiro Geraldine Dawson |
| author_sort | Sam Perochon |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Increasing evidence suggests that early motor impairments are a common feature of autism. Thus, scalable, quantitative methods for measuring motor behavior in young autistic children are needed. This work presents an engaging and scalable assessment of visual-motor abilities based on a bubble-popping game administered on a tablet. Participants are 233 children ranging from 1.5 to 10 years of age (147 neurotypical children and 86 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder [autistic], of which 32 are also diagnosed with co-occurring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [autistic+ADHD]). Computer vision analyses are used to extract several game-based touch features, which are compared across autistic, autistic+ADHD, and neurotypical participants. Results show that younger (1.5-3 years) autistic children pop the bubbles at a lower rate, and their ability to touch the bubble’s center is less accurate compared to neurotypical children. When they pop a bubble, their finger lingers for a longer period, and they show more variability in their performance. In older children (3-10-years), consistent with previous research, the presence of co-occurring ADHD is associated with greater motor impairment, reflected in lower accuracy and more variable performance. Several motor features are correlated with standardized assessments of fine motor and cognitive abilities, as evaluated by an independent clinical assessment. These results highlight the potential of touch-based games as an efficient and scalable approach for assessing children’s visual-motor skills, which can be part of a broader screening tool for identifying early signs associated with autism. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:29:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fa3a2ff1483745368c064750ba90645c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2398-6352 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:29:46Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | npj Digital Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-fa3a2ff1483745368c064750ba90645c2023-12-03T06:38:27ZengNature Portfolionpj Digital Medicine2398-63522023-02-016111310.1038/s41746-023-00762-6A tablet-based game for the assessment of visual motor skills in autistic childrenSam Perochon0J. Matias Di Martino1Kimberly L. H. Carpenter2Scott Compton3Naomi Davis4Steven Espinosa5Lauren Franz6Amber D. Rieder7Connor Sullivan8Guillermo Sapiro9Geraldine Dawson10Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke UniversityDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke UniversityDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke UniversityDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke UniversityDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke UniversityOffice of Information Technology, Duke UniversityDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke UniversityDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke UniversityDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke UniversityDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke UniversityDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke UniversityAbstract Increasing evidence suggests that early motor impairments are a common feature of autism. Thus, scalable, quantitative methods for measuring motor behavior in young autistic children are needed. This work presents an engaging and scalable assessment of visual-motor abilities based on a bubble-popping game administered on a tablet. Participants are 233 children ranging from 1.5 to 10 years of age (147 neurotypical children and 86 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder [autistic], of which 32 are also diagnosed with co-occurring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [autistic+ADHD]). Computer vision analyses are used to extract several game-based touch features, which are compared across autistic, autistic+ADHD, and neurotypical participants. Results show that younger (1.5-3 years) autistic children pop the bubbles at a lower rate, and their ability to touch the bubble’s center is less accurate compared to neurotypical children. When they pop a bubble, their finger lingers for a longer period, and they show more variability in their performance. In older children (3-10-years), consistent with previous research, the presence of co-occurring ADHD is associated with greater motor impairment, reflected in lower accuracy and more variable performance. Several motor features are correlated with standardized assessments of fine motor and cognitive abilities, as evaluated by an independent clinical assessment. These results highlight the potential of touch-based games as an efficient and scalable approach for assessing children’s visual-motor skills, which can be part of a broader screening tool for identifying early signs associated with autism.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-023-00762-6 |
| spellingShingle | Sam Perochon J. Matias Di Martino Kimberly L. H. Carpenter Scott Compton Naomi Davis Steven Espinosa Lauren Franz Amber D. Rieder Connor Sullivan Guillermo Sapiro Geraldine Dawson A tablet-based game for the assessment of visual motor skills in autistic children npj Digital Medicine |
| title | A tablet-based game for the assessment of visual motor skills in autistic children |
| title_full | A tablet-based game for the assessment of visual motor skills in autistic children |
| title_fullStr | A tablet-based game for the assessment of visual motor skills in autistic children |
| title_full_unstemmed | A tablet-based game for the assessment of visual motor skills in autistic children |
| title_short | A tablet-based game for the assessment of visual motor skills in autistic children |
| title_sort | tablet based game for the assessment of visual motor skills in autistic children |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-023-00762-6 |
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