Seattle Children’s Innovative Technologies Lab

Seattle Children’s Innovative Technologies Lab (SCITL, pronounced like the candy Skittles), directed by Dr. Frederick Shic, is dedicated to using, advancing and developing everyday technologies for improving the lives of children with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities. Our work focuses on both theoretical and applied advances that will help disconnected individuals connect with others.

SCITL’s mission is to bring radical, state-of-the-art, transformative technologies into everyday use to improve diagnostic precision, advance novel therapies and better understand mechanisms of change throughout an individual’s lifespan.  SCITL is committed to supporting equitable research that engages a diverse population of participants and staff.

Areas of work include biomarker development – primarily using eye tracking and near infrared spectroscopy – to track the effects of treatment, understand developmental and behavioral heterogeneity and predict clinical outcomes both concurrently and prospectively.

We are also developing innovative technologies including mobile apps, video games, robots, smart toys and virtual reality systems to enable next generation sensing and therapeutics.