Use of a Novel Imaging Technology for Remote Autism Diagnosis: A Reflection on Experience of Stakeholders

Timely diagnosis and early interventions are critical to improving the long term functioning of a child with ASD. However, a major challenge facing parents is difficulty in obtaining on-time access to appropriate diagnostic services. To address this need, an imaging technology, NODA® (Naturalistic Observation Diagnostic Assessment), has been successfully developed and field-tested. NODA® includes 1) NODA SmartCapture; a smart-phone based recording system for parents to capture and share in-home video evidence of their child behavior and 2) NODA Connect; a HIPPA compliant web-platform for diagnosticians to conduct remote autism diagnostic assessments based on in-home video evidence of behavior, developmental history and their clinical judgment. In the field study, parents captured and shared videos evidence from their homes via NODA SmartCapture and diagnosticians conducted remote diagnostic assessment via NODA Connect. Results show that parents were able to successfully collect video evidence of behavior as per given prescription and diagnosticians were able to complete remote diagnostic assessments. This paper is a reflection on the first hand experience of key stakeholders (parents and diagnosticians) using NODA® in the field.