Computer Vision Analysis of Caregiver–Child Interactions in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Preliminary Report

We report preliminary results of computer vision analysis of caregiver–child interactions during free play with children diagnosed with autism (N = 29, 41–91 months), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, N = 22, 48–100 months), or combined autism + ADHD (N = 20, 56–98 months), and neurotypical children (NT, N = 7, 55–95 months). We conducted micro-analytic analysis of ‘reaching to a toy,’ as a proxy for initiating or responding to a toy play bout. Dyadic analysis revealed two clusters of interaction patterns, which differed in frequency of ‘reaching to a toy’ and caregivers’ contingent responding to the child’s reach for a toy by also reaching for a toy. Children in dyads with higher caregiver responsiveness had less developed language, communication, and socialization skills. Clusters were not associated with diagnostic groups. These results hold promise for automated methods of characterizing caregiver responsiveness in dyadic interactions for assessment and outcome monitoring in clinical trials.