Available Technology
Mobile technology for autism diagnosis
Technology:
Diagnostic instrument
Markets Addressed
Autism rates continue to rise with more and more children being referred for autism screening every day. Behavioral exams currently used for diagnosis tend to be long and the diagnosis process as a whole is cumbersome for families. In addition, clinical professionals capable of administering the exams tend to be too few and well above capacity. The average time between initial evaluation and diagnosis for a child living in a large metropolitan area is over one year and approaches 5 years for families living in more remote areas. The delay in diagnosis is not only frustrating for families, but prevents many children from receiving medical attention until they are beyond developmental time periods when targeted behavioral therapy would have had maximal impact.
This diagnostic instrument will be given to all children as a standard practice of early developmental screening.
Innovations and Advantages
Scientists at the Wall lab designed a mobile-health technology to reshape the landscape of autism screening and diagnosis in order to provide increasingly earlier recognition of autism for all families, including those in remote areas, thereby enabling rapid delivery of treatment and therapy early, often, and in the time window when it has greatest impact.
The technology involves the use of an abbreviated behavioral instrument (ABI) for rapid screening of autism using home videos taken on hand-held recorders and smart phones. The ABI can be administered via the web in less than 5 minutes with accuracy identical to that of the gold-standard instruments used for autism diagnosis today. The analysis yields risk assessment reports that gives families an unintimidating and empowering means to understand their child’s behavior, while also speeding the connection between families and the clinical care facilities that can offer further evaluation and care.
The technology includes:
-Novel algorithms for screening and risk assessment using 2-5 minute video clips of the subject
-Web portal for secure access to risk assessment report
-A carefully designed risk report for clinicians that includes a preliminary diagnosis, the video of the subject, recommendations for therapy (e.g., ABA, speech therapy) and detailed summary of scoring. This report is made available via secure access to a clinical care facility prior to clinical workup of the subject.
-A carefully designed risk report for the care provider that includes a recommendation for follow up, contact details and locations of nearest clinical facilities offering diagnosis and treatment, and a collection of educational materials to browse for more information about the subject’s potential condition.
-A growing video repository and associated behavioral score sheets for use in improving recognition of autism and increasing standardization of autism diagnosis
Additional Information
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Inventor(s):
Wall, Dennis P.
Categories:
For further information, please contact:
Michal Preminger, Director of Business Development
(617) 432-0920
Reference Harvard Case #4308