Advancing the state-of-the-art in child development and autism with precise human movement analysis

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This interdisciplinary PhD will advance the state-of-the-art in child development and autism with precise human movement analysis to develop and deploy bespoke, lightweight wearable sensors for the ecological characterization of the autism motor signature in very young children and infants. The project will explore, develop and deploy a new, ecological serious game paradigm employing bespoke feather-weight wearables suitable for very young children. Data will be collected from children at-risk for autism, and typically developing, as well as through a whole-population birth cohort study in Madeira, with whom the project team is collaborating. The project will produce new technological innovation to address gaps in theory in the aetiology of autism, and satisfy practical need in early childhood health and education to identify children with autism spectrum disorder before current methods allow. These data will inform our scientific and professional understanding of the role of the movement in child development and its specific disruption in autism spectrum disorder, to provide a possible new target for assessment and treatment.