Objective measurement of social communication behaviors in children with suspected ASD during the ADOS-2

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is defined by persistent disturbances of social communication, as well as repetitive patterns of behavior. ASD is identified on the basis of expert, but subjective, clinician judgment during assessments such as the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 (ADOS-2). Quantification of key social behavioral features of ASD using objective measurements would enrich scientific understanding of the disorder. The current pilot study leveraged computer vision and audio signal processing to identify a key set of objective measures of children's social communication behaviors during the ADOS-2 (e.g., social gaze, social smile, vocal interaction) that were captured with adult-worn camera-embedded eyeglasses. Objective measurements of children's social communicative behaviors during the ADOS-2 showed relatively low levels of association with the examiner-adjudicated ADOS-2 scores. Future directions and implications for the use of objective measurements in diagnostic and treatment monitoring are discussed.