Anjana N Bhat
Assistant Professor

I completed my BS and MS in Physical Therapy at the University of Mumbai in India. In the following years, I received my PhD in Biomechanics and Movement Science at the University of Delaware with primary advisor, Dr. James C. Galloway. I went onto complete a two year post-doctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University and the Kennedy Krieger Institute with Dr. Rebecca Landa and Dr. Amy Bastian. One focus of my research is to study the developmental changes in motor coordination of infants at risk for developmental disorders, for example, infants born preterm and infant siblings of children with autism. We also examine how motor coordination deficits contribute to a child's cognitive and social communication impairments. Infants are observed during different play contexts such as spontaenous play, object play, and social play within the first year of life and follow-up outcomes are obtained in the second year. Infants' patterns of motor coordination are assessed using behavioral coding and quantitative tools such as kinematic and dynamic analyses. Specifically, we study upper-limb and lower-limb coordination of infants' spontaneous limb movements as well as purposeful movements during associative learning, reaching and object exploration, and ambulation. The two overall goals of this work are: a) to provide research evidence to the current practices in the field of early intervention and pediatric rehabilitation, and b) to develop novel techniques for early detection and treatment of at-risk infants. Our infancy projects have received funding from the UConn foundation. Another focus of my research is to study the motor coordination of young and older children with developmental disorders such as children born preterm or children with autism. Through this work, we hope to understand the underlying perceptuo-motor processes that lead to fine-motor and gross-motor coordination problems in young and older children. This work would ultimately inform and influence a clinician's assessment and treatment approach to solving motor coordination problems. Recently, we have begun to understand the effects of motor interventions on joint attention, complex motor coordination, praxis, and imitation behaviors of children with autism. We plan to examine the effects of novel robotic and traditional motor interventions. This project is funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health.

•PhD, Biomechanics and Movement Science, University of Delaware, 2005

•MSPT, Physical Therapy, University of Mumbai, 1999

•BSPT, Physical Therapy, University of Mumbai, 1996

« Full C.V. »

Contact Information: 

Koons Hall

Phone: (860) 486-0019

Email: anjana.bhat@uconn.edu

Mailing Address:
358 Mansfield Road
Koons Hall, Physical Therapy

Current Courses Taught:

PT 5430 - Functional Neurobiomechanical Relationships

PT 5432 - Motor Control and its Applications

Honors/Awards:

Dissertation Fellowship 2004-2005, University of Delaware

Young Investigator Award 2006-2008, Cure Autism Now Foundation

Associations/Committees/Outreach:

Society for Neuroscience

International Society on Infant Studies

International Society for Autism Research

Funded Research:

Effects of perceptuo-motor intervewntions in children with autism: robot-child interactions

Effects of perceptuo-motor intervewntions in children with autism: traditional interventions

Effects of movement training on interlimb coordination of young at-risk infants

Examination of early links between the motor and social communication development of infants at risk for autism

Selected Publications/Presentations:

Lynch A., Lee, H.M., Bhat, A., Galloway, J. C. No Stable Arm Preference during the Pre-reaching Period: A comparison of right and left hand kinematics with and without a toy present (2008), Developmental Psychobiology, 50, 390-398.

Lee H., Bhat A., Galloway J. C., Scholz J. Toy-oriented changes in early arm movements IV. The coordination of hand, shoulder and elbow (2008), Infant Behavior and Development, in press.

Bhat A. and Galloway J. C. “Toy-oriented changes in early arm movements III. Constraints on Joint Kinematics (2007), Infant Behavior and Development, 30(3), 515-22.

Bhat A. and Galloway J. C. “Toy-oriented changes in early arm movements II. Joint Kinematics (2006), Infant Behavior and Development, 30(2), 307-24.

Bhat A., and Galloway J. C. “Toy-oriented changes in early arm movements of young infants I. Hand Kinematics (2006), Infant Behavior and Development, 29(3), 358-372.

Bhat A., Heathcock J., and Galloway J. C. Toy-oriented changes in hand and joint kinematics of early arm movements in young infants (2005), Infant Behavior and Development, 28(4), 445-465.

Heathcock J., Bhat A., Lobo M., and Galloway J. C. Full-term and preterm infant performance in the mobile paradigm: Relative kicking frequency (2005), Physical Therapy, 85(1), 8-18.

Heathcock J., Bhat A., Lobo M., Galloway J. C. Full-term and preterm infant performance in the mobile paradigm: Learning and memory (2004), Physical Therapy, 84(9), 808-821.

Galloway J. C., Bhat A., Heathcock J., and Manal K. Shoulder and elbow joint power differ as a general feature of vertical arm movements (2004), Experimental Brain Research, 157(3), 391-396.