Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36737475›Full record

ArticleNPJ digital medicine2023

A tablet-based game for the assessment of visual motor skills in autistic children.

Sam Perochon, J Matias Di Martino, Kimberly L H Carpenter, Scott Compton, Naomi Davis, Steven Espinosa, Lauren Franz, Amber D Rieder, Connor Sullivan, Guillermo Sapiro and 1 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in NPJ digital medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
5.3field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Autism Digital Phenotyping in Preschool- and School-Age Children.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Visual-Motor Integration (VMI) Is Also Relevant for Computer, Smartphone, and Tablet Use by Adults: Introducing the Brief Box Clicking Test.The American journal of occupational therapy : official publication of the American Occupational Therapy Association · 2024
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Relationship between quantitative digital behavioral features and clinical profiles in young autistic children.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2023
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Sam PerochonDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
J Matias Di MartinoDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Kimberly L H CarpenterDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Scott ComptonDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Naomi DavisDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Steven EspinosaOffice of Information Technology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Lauren FranzDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Amber D RiederDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Connor SullivanDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5758-2644
Guillermo Sapiro *Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. guillermo.sapiro@duke.edu.
Geraldine Dawson *Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. geraldine.dawson@duke.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1410-2764
Duke University · USÉcole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay · FR

Funding

Recruitment and Assessment CoreP50HD093074 · NICHD · DUKE UNIVERSITY · PI SCOTT N COMPTON · 2017 to 2026
$27.6M
Novel Approaches to Infant Screening for ASD in Pediatric Primary CareR01MH121329 · NIMH · DUKE UNIVERSITY · PI DAWSON, GERALDINE · 2019 to 2023
$3.9M
Scalable Computational Platform For Active Closed-Loop Behavioral Coding in Autism Spectrum DisorderR01MH120093 · NIMH · DUKE UNIVERSITY · PI DAWSON, GERALDINE, SAPIRO, GUILLERMO R · 2019 to 2022
$1.6M
NICHD NIH HHS P50 HD093074NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH120093NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH121329
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Increasing evidence suggests that early motor impairments are a common feature of autism. Thus, scalable, quantitative methods for measuring motor behavior in young autistic children are needed. This work presents an engaging and scalable assessment of visual-motor abilities based on a bubble-popping game administered on a tablet. Participants are 233 children ranging from 1.5 to 10 years of age (147 neurotypical children and 86 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder [autistic], of which 32 are also diagnosed with co-occurring attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [autistic+ADHD]). Computer vision analyses are used to extract several game-based touch features, which are compared across autistic, autistic+ADHD, and neurotypical participants. Results show that younger (1.5-3 years) autistic children pop the bubbles at a lower rate, and their ability to touch the bubble's center is less accurate compared to neurotypical children. When they pop a bubble, their finger lingers for a longer period, and they show more variability in their performance. In older children (3-10-years), consistent with previous research, the presence of co-occurring ADHD is associated with greater motor impairment, reflected in lower accuracy and more variable performance. Several motor features are correlated with standardized assessments of fine motor and cognitive abilities, as evaluated by an independent clinical assessment. These results highlight the potential of touch-based games as an efficient and scalable approach for assessing children's visual-motor skills, which can be part of a broader screening tool for identifying early signs associated with autism.

Identifiers

PMID36737475
PMCPMC9898502
OpenAlexW4319083841

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.