April 29, 2012

As Cases Surge, a Professor's Son Leads Him to Autism Research

A Professor's Son Leads Him to Autism Research 1

U. of Kentucky

Sen-Ching Cheung (left, with a doctoral student) used his work on a video-surveillance project for the Department of Homeland Security to come up with a way of improving video self-modeling, a teaching method for autistic people.

By Paul Basken

Sen-Ching Cheung, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Kentucky, never expected to become an autism expert.

But Mr. Cheung, the father of a 5-year-old boy with autism­, has seen his career take a twist that mirrors the unpredictable nature of the disease itself: He is putting his digital-imaging skills to work on what he hopes will be a promising technological therapy for autistic children. He is one of a number of