New ASD Diagnosis

[Dr Jordi Arranz]

Hello everyone!

This is a message addressed to parents and families of people with ASD.

We are a young med-tech start-up working towards a revolutionary and completely novel diagnostic tool that will simplify enormously the detection and diagnosis of ASD in both children and adults. The method we are developing is fast, non-invasive, inexpensive.

We are currently in the process of identifying the hurdles of the current diagnostic process of a person with ASD. We are reaching out to you as you know better that anyone what these issues are and we kindly ask you to help us understand them. The better we understand what these problems are --- time, money, complexity, accuracy, support, etc. --- the better we can be helpful in improving the future diagnosis of ASD.

For instance, how long you did you have to wait to get the diagnosis or how hard was to find a qualified professional to perform the diagnosis?


Dr. Luka Opašić, MD, Dr. Jordi Arranz, and Dr. Aristea Zafeiropoulou — The Alkyon Team

 

[Isadoorian]

You've stated who you are, but not who you're working for. Is it a University, Hospital, or some other Organisation? Is it a Public or Private one? Just "The Alkyon Team" gives nothing. I also googled it just now and nothing but hotel listings comes up. You also forgot to list what Degrees your Associates have. Are they MDs as well? Do they have PhDs?

You've also not given a more accurate description of this supposed "revolutionary technique" in diagnosing Autism; how does it work? What is it exactly? Is it a machine? Is it more like the traditional tests that people already do to be diagnosed? More information/context is vital in these kinds of things.

Given that you haven't done any of this and instead have used a fairly vague description, I'm going to be skeptical on this whole thing.

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

The method we are developing is fast, non-invasive, inexpensive

Is it called listening?

 

[Dr Jordi Arranz]

First of all, thank you for reading us. You are completely right about your doubts. As I mentioned, we are a start-up company in the early stages of formation. Regarding our credentials, one of us is indeed an MD, the other two have a PhD in computer science and a PhD/Postdoc in theoretical biology. We are basically 3 scientists - coming from academia - who are being backed by an important tech-incubator to pursue this venture. Our solution is a technological solution, the research is already there.

Our method it is not a traditional test. The test consists of sitting in front and simply looking at a stimuli on a screen for a short amount of time (~5 minutes).

Regarding our online presence there is no website yet, sorry about that. We would like to point out that we are not here to try to sell you anything. We just want to gather some useful information.

 

[Catana]

First of all, thank you for reading us. You are completely right about your doubts. As I mentioned, we are a start-up company in the early stages of formation. Regarding our credentials, one of us is indeed an MD, the other two have a PhD in computer science and a PhD/Postdoc in theoretical biology. We are basically 3 scientists - coming from academia - who are being backed by an important tech-incubator to pursue this venture. Our solution is a technological solution, the research is already there.

Our method it is not a traditional test. The test consists of sitting in front and simply looking at a stimuli on a screen for a short amount of time (~5 minutes).

Regarding our online presence there is no website yet, sorry about that. We would like to point out that we are not here to try to sell you anything. We just want to gather some useful information.

As far as I'm concerned, this is far too vague and speculative for anyone to cooperate with. It isn't as if the world is lacking endless numbers of research endeavors to improve diagnosis. Maybe when you can supply more concrete information....

 

[Tom]

You must pardon my skepticism but their is much attention (and quackery) on autism these days. What exactly do you monitor and is there any published research on whether this diagnostic technique actually works?

 

[Isadoorian]

First of all, thank you for reading us. You are completely right about your doubts. As I mentioned, we are a start-up company in the early stages of formation. Regarding our credentials, one of us is indeed an MD, the other two have a PhD in computer science and a PhD/Postdoc in theoretical biology. We are basically 3 scientists - coming from academia - who are being backed by an important tech-incubator to pursue this venture. Our solution is a technological solution, the research is already there.

Our method it is not a traditional test. The test consists of sitting in front and simply looking at a stimuli on a screen for a short amount of time (~5 minutes).

Regarding our online presence there is no website yet, sorry about that. We would like to point out that we are not here to try to sell you anything. We just want to gather some useful information.

Then in that case, where did you all Graduate from? Are you newly/recently graduated? Or have you been out in the field for some time?

Also, (and I'm going to be blunt and forward with this) I'm afraid I fail to see how this is revolutionary in any way and don't see how it's any better than what's being done with practical testing when seeing a Medical Professional who deals w/ Autism. Quite frankly, just sitting in front of a projector screen looking for signs/reactions in the person, whatever those may be, sounds boring and doesn't seem like a good diagnosis tool whatsoever to begin with. You've still not even given how it all fits together either. How are you supposed to diagnose someone with Autism based on Stimuli after looking at them for a few minutes? Do you record them for later reviewing? Again, please provide more context, and give credible proof that this is possible, if you can via Research Papers/Reports, etc. etc.. Have you done tests to see if this is even viable in any way, shape or form at all?

Again, I'm truly skeptical about this whole "technique" of yours.

 

[Nervous Rex]

They are most likely planning on using something like this: Pupillary Responses to Illusions of Brightness in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Here's a more plain-English an article on it: This Optical Illusion Could Help to Diagnose Autism.

As I understand it, it would be a triage tool at best, much like the Autism Spectrum Quotient quiz. A formal diagnosis would still require a write-up by a real doctor, showing that the patient meets the criteria outlined in the DSM.

 

[Nervous Rex]

We are currently in the process of identifying the hurdles of the current diagnostic process of a person with ASD. We are reaching out to you as you know better that anyone what these issues are and we kindly ask you to help us understand them. The better we understand what these problems are --- time, money, complexity, accuracy, support, etc. --- the better we can be helpful in improving the future diagnosis of ASD.

You already know how your test is expected to perform, so you must be looking to compare it to current processes. It sounds like what you are looking for is material for your marketing / sales pitch.

Asking people on a forum to volunteer anecdotes seems like a decidedly non-scientific approach. You can search this site for threads where individuals share their diagnosis experiences, but you're going to get skewed data, since people give more attention to outlier experiences and tend to brush off and ignore the most common experiences. That may be what you want, as product promoters tend to compare the best of their products to the worst of their competitors:

 

[Nervous Rex]

Is it called listening?

Clicked "Like". Then clicked "Undo Rating". Moused back and forth between "Funny" and "Winner". Finally chose "Winner."

Wish I could click "Like Funny Winner."

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

Clicked "Like". Then clicked "Undo Rating". Moused back and forth between "Funny" and "Winner". Finally chose "Winner."

Wish I could click "Like Funny Winner."

In the trade we call that '''category drift'

 

[Aspychata]

Whoa there, you are talking to a group who specialize in taking huge info dumps, looking for questions that aren't answered, and you left us with way too many questions obviously. l feel like l am at a restaurant and you gave me the ala carte list, but the main entrees are missing. Maybe tailor your presentation to your readers, as my wise english teacher remarked.