 |
|
Observational research with The Observer by the M.I.N.D. Institute on CBS News | |
Wageningen, 1 March 2007 - The Observer has become an industry standard software tool for the collection, management, and analysis of observational research data by numerous prominent research institutes across the globe. One such renowned research institute using The Observer is the M.I.N.D. Institute at the University of California in Davis. Investigators Dr. Sally Rogers and Dr. Sally Ozonoff are using The Observer as a key tool in their work on detecting autism in children under the age of two years. These important research studies were recently featured on the CBS news television program, 60 Minutes. The M.I.N.D. Institute is conducting studies to help identify autistic behaviors in children prior to age two in order to be able to predict an earlier diagnosis of the condition. The Observer is being used in conjunction with Tobii eye tracking solutions to study social interactions between counselor/child and parent/child to assess distinctions in development and behavior that may indicate the onset of autism. Researchers then score behavioral states frame by frame from the recorded videos in an effort to ascertain autistic patterns and traits. Eye tracking on child visualization patterns is also recorded and a list of raw data is then imported into The Observer for synchronization, coding, and subsequently analysis. The M.I.N.D. Institute is one of seventeen sites participating in the High Risk Baby Siblings Research Consortium, which represents studies enrolling infants as early as one month old with at least one sibling diagnosed with autism. These children may have as much as a ten times higher risk of the disorder than children with typically progressing brothers and sisters. The M.I.N.D. Institute is a unique, collaborative center devoted to finding improved treatments, causes, and eventually cures for a range of learning disabilities and neurodevelopment disorders. Noldus Information Technology is happy to provide effective and innovative software solutions that are assisting with numerous valuable and groundbreaking research studies much like these all around the world. To view the 60 Minutes feature, please follow this link: “Detecting Autism Before Age 2” Sources:
| |
