Motor Signatures in Autism

The traditional diagnosis of autism mainly focused on their social difficulties. However, their movement dysfunction may underpin the social frustrations. Since I joined the Laboratory for Innovation in Autism at the University of Strathclyde, I have been working on projects identifying the motor signatures in autism. Find two examples below:

I worked with local health and education providers to collect movement data from young children (2.5-6 y/o). Participants were invited to play smart-tablet games, and their touch trajectories on the screen were recorded during gameplay. I have developed methodology to identify specific swipes during the smart-tablet gameplay. By doing so, I can look into more details of their swipe kinematics such as the speed profile. I also compared the moving speed in two different gameplay contexts, which demonstrated that the activity type may play a role in the autism moving speed. [more details in the poster]

I am also interested in the force control in autism. I worked with the Nuffield Foundation and supervised a high school student on his summer project to develop a smartphone game called “Get the Crown”, utilising the 3D Touch technology. The player needs to drag the stickman through the maze to get the crown, and the background colour of the maze changes as the touch force changes, providing instant visual feedback of the touch force on the screen. The dynamic force measurement and visual feedback functions are essential components for developing future tools to do (1) evaluation, and (2) force control training. [more details in the poster]