Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) awarded a $720,463 Project Grant to Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago) on July 3, 2026, under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.865). The award funds development of an automated wearable sensor toolkit designed to detect and monitor infant motor deficits within the first few months of life during free-living activities in home and community settings. The toolkit will address a critical gap in early motor development assessment, as current evaluation methods lack the accessibility, objectivity, and precision needed to identify atypical motor behaviors outside clinical settings. By enabling earlier detection, the technology aims to support timely early intervention during the critical developmental window when brain plasticity is optimal and intervention efficacy is highest.

The research encompasses three primary aims: (1) collection of whole-body inertial sensor data from up to 60 newborn infants across the motor deficit risk spectrum to curate a real-world pediatric motor development dataset; (2) development of a fully automated toolkit combining signal processing and machine learning to analyze wearable sensor data for infants under three months of age; and (3) validation of the toolkit. The project extends through April 30, 2031, and will generate products and technical deliverables including the pediatric dataset, the automated analysis toolkit, and validation results that can advance early detection and surveillance capabilities for at-risk infant populations.