A New Computer-Aided Method for Assessing Children's Cognition in Bioengineering Systems for Diagnosing Developmental Delay

This pilot study (n = 19) examines fidelity rates of the new computer-aided method of diagnosing cognitive development delay in 3-to-6-year-old children. The small-scale research repeats the methodological components of the previous two studies, only changing the data collection process by introducing the baseline value (BV). Experimental data show a significant increase of 9.4 times in the shared intentionality magnitude in neurodivergent children. The results support the hypothesis that the bioengineering system (computer-mother-child) can encourage shared intentionality in the dyad by emulating the mother-newborn communication model. The outcome shows the association between the shared intentionality magnitude and children's diagnosis. However, the bioengineering diagnostic paradigm and the new BV method still need more evidence since the pilot study observes the effect in a small sample size. The pilot study evaluates the fidelity rates of this new BV method through nine markers. It shows the feasibility (with the limitations) of testing this new BV method in further research with a large sample size.Peer reviewe

Computerized Assessment of Cognitive Development in Neurotypical and Neurodivergent Children

This study aims to observe the differences in the shared intentionality magnitude in mother-child dyads with neurotypical (NT) children and neurodivergent (ND) children aged 3-6 years. The quality of shared intentionality in infancy is associated with cognitive development. Our results showed that ND children scored six times higher (on average) in quiz-test than NT children. Children with difficulties in interaction (ND children) are more likely to use shared intentionality in conversation than NT children. We believe that this knowledge can contribute to developing computerized assessment methods which can diagnose developmental disabilities in such children.publishersversionPeer reviewe