Autism
Screening.

Resources Hero Background
Counter affecting the stigmatization and unawareness that follows ASD in Pakistan, EAST uses over 50 clinically viable play-based activities to assess Autism at an early age at home or school.
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Publication

Early Autism
Screening Test
(EAST) - CHI
2019

Publication

Early Autism
Screening Test
(EAST) - CHI
2019

Employing internationally accredited research to co-design a tangible and interactive tool with clinically proven activities that encourage collaboration among parents,teachers and medical professionals, we have evaluated the effectiveness, usability, acceptability and validity of EAST in our publication in the 2020 proceedings of CHI, an international prestigious conference.
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Research Objective.

The Autism diagnostic process in Pakistan is fragmented and a lack of awareness and trained professionals contributes to the extremely high number of delays or misdiagnosis.
01
What are the major underlying reasons that can lead to missed early screening, late- or mis-diagnosis?

02
What is the potential of the co-design method in the local context for developing a user-friendly and a validated assessment tool?

03
How acceptable would a valid digital tool be, for screening children at an early age in the Pakistani context?

Our Participants.

18

typically developed children

18

typically developed children

18

developed children

9

autistic children

9

autistic children

3

mainstream schools

3

mainstream schools

4

special needs schools

4

special needs schools

4

special schools

3-4 years

age group

3-4 years

age group

Studies Conducted.

Study 1
The usability, engagement, efficacy, validity and acceptability of EAST was tested with medical professionals and parents through a series of researched questions and focus groups to analyse the negative aspects of the application and improve accordingly.
Study 2
Evaluating the performance of EAST with preschoolers to authenticate it as a reliable diagnostic resource for early screening of autism in a home or school setting, we prove to reliably filter out autistic children from TD children through the wide range of validated activities.

Major Findings.

Our research has allowed us an improved understanding of the workings of the current state of screening and diagnostic procedures in Pakistan contributing heavily to the design of East.
01
Co-designed a digital tool that delivers key insight into a child’s behavior.

02
Enabled healthy collaboration among parents, medical professionals and teachers.

03
Improved acceptance and validity of a digital tool for autism screening.
autism_findings_image

Studies Conducted.

Study 1
The usability, engagement, efficacy, validity and acceptability of EAST was tested with medical professionals and parents through a series of researched questions and focus groups to analyse the negative aspects of the application and improve accordingly.
Study 2
Evaluating the performance of EAST with preschoolers to authenticate it as a reliable diagnostic resource for early screening of autism in a home or school setting, we prove to reliably filter out autistic children from TD children through the wide range of validated activities.
autism_findings_image

Major Findings.

Our research has allowed us an improved understanding of the workings of the current state of screening and diagnostic procedures in Pakistan contributing heavily to the design of East.
01
Co-designed a digital tool that delivers key insight into a child’s behavior.

02
Enabled healthy collaboration among parents, medical professionals and teachers.

03
Improved acceptance and validity of a digital tool for autism screening.

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Future Work.

The next step will see us congregating to get EAST validated through a clinical trial which will involve the medical professionals who are the first point of contact. We are also focusing on:

01
A cross cultural study will further establish validity of EAST universally.

02
Our research can also contribute to screening other developmental disorders and learning disabilities.
future_work_illustration

Meet the Team.

suleman shahid
Suleman Shahid

Supervisor

Muhammad Bilal Arshad

Lead Researcher

Farhan
Farhan Sarwar

Lead Developer

MEHER ZAIDI

Research Assistant