Motor imitation of other people’s movements is critical for social-communicative skill development and is affected in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In the current project, Steward Mostofsky and colleagues plan to advance the validity and scalability of a computerized “videogame-like” assessment of motor imitation that they have successfully developed and piloted to distinguish ASD in children with a high degree of accuracy. Their goal is to move from using 3-D Kinect system cameras to using low-cost, off-the-shelf 2-D cameras, thereby enabling widespread use of this assessment method in clinics and home settings.

The Autism Inpatient Collection provides a comprehensive registry of biological and clinical data on over 1,400 youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that can be used by approved researchers to increase inclusion of those who are severely affected by ASD in research. The goal of the current project is twofold. Firstly, it is to further expand this collection to ultimately include data from 1,600 youth. Secondly, Matthew Siegel and colleagues plan to test their ability to use physiological signals obtained through wearable biosensors to predict the imminent onset of aggressive behaviors, which may open a new window for intervening before a challenging behavior occurs.