FWF - PREVENT - Early Diagnosis in ASD and personalized Training to prevent

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a growing problem (1-in-44 children; 4:1 boys:girls) that causes debilitating cognitive issues. "Social blindness," an inability to recognize emotions in others, is a common problem that requires costly and limited 1:1/small-group therapy. This shortage of therapy is particularly concerning given the increasing number of ASD diagnoses, particularly in boys. To address this, there is a need to increase access to emotional recognition training/therapy for those with ASD, and at a lower cost. Our proposed solution is to virtualize emotional recognition training/therapy by combining three novel key elements (KE1-3): hyper-realistic and responsive avatars, computer vision, and programmed therapeutic methods. This creates a fully virtualized, two-way adaptive, and individualized therapy that can be extended, gamified, and used for further research. Our hypothesis is that this technology solution can be ≥80% as effective as one-to-one therapy with ASD therapists, increasing access to basic care and augmenting/reinforcing current therapy. The outcome is a highly extensible software-based platform technology solution that dramatically increases access and scalability, lowers costs, and creates new insights/pathways in ASD research.