Detection of stereotyped hand flapping movements in Autistic Children using the Kinect Sensor: a case study

Abstract

This paper presents a case study on the use of the Microsoft Kinect sensor and the gesture recognition algorithm, Dynamic Time Warping (DTW to automatically detect stereotyped motor behaviours in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The proposed system was initially tested in a laboratory environment, and after the encouraging results obtained, the system was tested during the sessions with children with ASD in two schools with Special Needs Units. Video analysis was used to validate the results obtained using the Kinect application. This study provides a valuable tool to monitor stereotypes in order to understand and to cope with this problematic. In the end, it facilitates the identification of relevant behavioural patterns when studying interaction skills in children with ASD.