Individualised MRI training for paediatric neuroimaging in autism spectrum disorders: A child-focused approach

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in paediatric cohorts is often complicated by reluctance to enter the scanner and head motion-related imaging artefacts. The MRI scanner environment is highly unusual and may distress younger cohorts, especially in children with sensory sensitivity and separation anxiety. The issue is particularly challenging in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), where delivery of instructions for novel task demands in an unfamiliar setting may be limited or less effective due to communication disorder or intellectual disability. These issues together often give rise to excessive head motion that can significantly reduce the quality of images acquired, or render data unusable. Here we report an individualised MRI training procedure that enables young children with ASD to better tolerate the MRI scanner environment based on a child-focused approach and an individualised familiarisation strategy. The training procedure was implemented in a locally recruited study of monozygotic twins (n=12; 6 twin pairs; age range 7.1 to 12.85 years) concordant or discordant for ASD. MRI image quality indices were better or comparable to images acquired from an independent multi-centre ASD cohort. The success of these findings is promising and may be useful to improve the quality of paediatric neuroimaging in similar clinical populations.