Baby
Grow
University of Sussex · Simons Foundation
Scroll
University of Sussex · Simons Foundation
Scroll
Podcast & Documentary
Episode 1
This podcast and video documentary are for anyone interested in how social and communication skills emerge over the first years of life — and explores if the quality of a baby's first movements can act as an early detection system for neurodevelopmental conditions like autism.
Join us for Episode 1 as we follow how parents are trained to capture key moments of their baby's development over the first eight months of life in the comfort of their own homes. Meet the scientists using the latest technology to reveal key features of infant movements — which are now showing promise as an early autism screening tool. In this episode we get up close and personal with three of the Baby Grow project's 100 families who have been working side-by-side with the scientists to provide the most detailed view of early child development ever reported.
This podcast episode was presented by Professor Gilly Forrester, produced by Will Hood of The Academic Podcast Agency, funded by the Simons Foundation and with support from the University of Sussex.
This documentary episode was presented by Professor Gillian Forrester, produced by Andrew Smith of Fleeting Year Films, funded by the Simons Foundation and with support from the University of Sussex.
The Project
The Baby Grow project follows an extraordinary experiment revealing how the way infants wriggle, from birth, helps prepare their brains and bodies to navigate a complex physical and social world.
Did you know that meeting motor milestones is highly associated with neurotypical social and communication development?
Did you know that although motor differences and difficulties are not represented in the diagnostic criterion of autism, between 50–88% of individuals diagnosed with autism have a co-occurring motor condition?
The Baby Grow project is finding new, evidence-based, ways of assessing if a baby's development is healthy. We're seeking to reveal a much-needed early detection system for conditions such as autism.
Over 100 families have agreed to participate in our pioneering project at the University of Sussex. For the first eight months, they film their babies in their own homes from the same angle — the camera looking down on the baby, who's wearing a Baby Grow onesie and lying on a Baby Grow yoga mat — enabling our team to use AI software to analyse every twitch or fidget, kick and stretch.
Our project monitors these babies for the first 30 months of their lives… exploring how their early movements are connected to their later social and communication abilities.
The People
Helen Perris
Shenoy Undergraduate Research Fellow
University of Sussex
Adéla Chraścinová
Shenoy Undergraduate Research Fellow
University of Sussex
Amelie Wheeler
Undergraduate Placement Student
University of Sussex
Matthew Thompson
Undergraduate Placement Student
University of Sussex
Further reading
Prof Gilly Forrester
Dr Georgina Donati
Prof Ori Ossmy
Dr Saber Sotoodeh
Dr Hannah Rowan
Jazmine Hall
