Abstract:
According to the recent statistics, 1 in 63 children are affected with Autism. Autism is a
neurodevelopment disorder of early childhood, it is a condition that occurs due to the
abnormal growth of mind, where these children exhibit extra-ordinary behavioral
patterns. There is no well-defined treatment for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and
early diagnosis is essential to manage the condition. An ICT based artifact (more
specifically, a set of software) can be introduced as a novel approach, which intends to
expose the child behavior. Furthermore, the outcomes of such an artifact could be used by
any psychiatrist for predictions of ASD. These artifacts are designed by considering three
main impaired areas of ASD which are Eye Contact, Maturity level, and Intelligence
level. Therefore, the developed system is comprised of an Eye Movement Tracking tool
where a common sample video is shown to the participants and a record of their eye
movement is taken and this recorded data is then processed and finally displayed
graphically. A module capable of identifying the Maturity Level provides a drawing
canvas where participants are allowed to draw shapes and the analysis is done by the way
they draw correct shapes with time in graphs. Moreover, an Intelligence Level Measuring
Tool compromised with color and number-based activities is used and their responses are
taken for decision making. Besides, these artifacts are capable of giving an analysis by
comparing both ASD patients and a Neurotypical person. Testing and evaluation of the
system were done with three (3) ASD patients and ten (10) Neurotypical persons from the
age groups of 3-5 years. This experiment showed that, computer-based software tools are
effective for acting as a platform to provide data and for taking decisions in ASD
predictions.
Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Eye contact, Intelligence level, Maturity
level, Neurotypical person
