Objective Quantification of Spontaneous Emergence of Motor Awareness and Skills Through Dyadic Interactions Mediated by Application of the Anat Baniel Method® NeuroMovement ®

Autism Spectrum Disorder is fundamentally arrested neurodevelopment impacting the somatic sensory motor systems with underlying multifaceted and tractable causal factors, spanning from genes to complex social interactions. Mounting peer-reviewed scientific evidence shows profound differences in cardiac, smooth, and striate muscles with associated genes, suggesting causal links to motor systems. A less explored aspect of these muscles’ dysfunctions, in the context of interventions, is the quality of the returning afferent stream created by self-generated movements. Although defined as a deficit in social interactions, very seldom we find methods that address the basic social unit, the dyad, and the connection, or the lack thereof between the two agents, as the autistic person interacts with a caregiver, practitioner, diagnostician or educator. Here we use the Torres agentic learning (TAL) approach to objectively quantify dyadic interactions in the context of self-initiated, uninstructed learning, recruiting spontaneous movements, minimizing prompted goals and maximizing the conditions for pleasant surprises leading to self-discovery of salient sensory goals. We integrate TAL with the Anat Baniel Method® Neuromovement® (ABMNM), the latter providing nine essential principles empirically derived to guide the intervention. ABMNM builds awareness through child-practitioner’s coupled movements, while TAL provides principled standardized ways to measure the outcomes. Combining ABMNM, biosensors and TAL into the daily workflow of a public, mainstream school setting, we tracked the evolution of three cases of ASD over 4 months. Transfer entropy metrics revealed (across the nodes of the body) initial leading by the child, setting the stage for later lead of the practitioner as in an interchanging dance. These patterns were accompanied by increased signal to noise ratio and higher predictability and motor fluidity. They were consistently found when comparing pre- and post-therapy states, but also throughout the continuous session. We offer standardized digital biometrics to capture learning outcomes at different time scales spanning from minutes, hours, weeks, to monthly latencies, informed by performance rubrics involving the ABMNM nine essentials. Besides motor gains, we report unexpected, functional outcomes signaling improvements in cognitive and social performance.