KT-IPF-Funded Project: Transforming Pediatric ASD Healthcare with AI-Powered Home Monitoring and Patient Navigation

The “SpectraHomeHelper” project has recently been approved for funding by the Knowledge Transfer Impact Project Fund (KT-IPF). This initiative seeks to develop an integrated artificial intelligence–assisted system aimed at advancing the transformation of healthcare delivery models for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Project Title: Transforming Pediatric ASD Healthcare with AI-powered Home Monitoring and Patient Navigation

💡 Project Overview This project proposes a comprehensive solution that integrates AI-powered home monitoring with large language model–based patient navigation. It is designed to address critical challenges faced by families of children with ASD, including prolonged wait times, fragmented care pathways, and substantial caregiver burdens, thereby enabling continuous and coordinated healthcare support.

⚠️ Problem Statement Children with ASD in Hong Kong and mainland China encounter three structural barriers:

• Diagnostic Bottlenecks: Professional assessments often involve waiting periods of several months to years.
• Inequitable Access: Low-income families face significant financial and time constraints associated with repeated travel to clinical facilities.
• Fragmented Care Coordination: Caregivers are required to independently navigate complex subsidy systems and treatment options, while traditional clinical assessments capture only episodic behaviors and fail to reflect the child’s functioning in home environments.

✅ Proposed Solution The SpectraHomeHelper system comprises two core components:

• AI Home Monitoring Module: Utilizing a smartphone and a depth camera (Intel RealSense), the system records in-home block-play sessions (“Build & Bond”). Privacy-preserving algorithms extract behavioral features—such as posture, gaze, and interaction—and present them through a clinician-facing dashboard.
• LLM-Based Patient Navigator: A multilingual assistant (Cantonese, Mandarin, English) powered by retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) that consolidates verified resources, assists in interpreting clinical notes, and delivers personalized guidance on care plans and administrative processes.

👥 Beneficiaries and Anticipated Impact Beneficiaries:

• Children with ASD and their families
• Clinicians in pediatric neurodevelopmental care
• Underserved communities and educational institutions

Impact: The project aims to reduce evaluation wait times, lower transportation and administrative burdens for families, and alleviate caregiver stress. By providing ecologically valid behavioral data and structured navigational support, the system is expected to enhance clinical decision-making and promote equitable access to quality healthcare resources.

🤝 Collaborating Institutions

• CUHK HATCH (Hub of Advanced Technology for Child Health), The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Shandong University – ASD Medical Engineering Consortium
• Microbiota i-Center (MagIC)

🚀 Vision The long-term vision of this project is to establish a scalable, standards-ready platform that serves as a “digital front door” for pediatric ASD care, facilitating a paradigm shift from episodic clinical encounters to continuous, coordinated, and family-integrated support.