Anjana N Bhat
Assistant Professor

Dr. Bhat completed her BS and MS in Physical Therapy at the University of Mumbai in India. She received a PhD in Biomechanics and Movement Science at the University of Delaware with primary advisor, Dr. James C. Galloway. She 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. Her research focuses on 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. She also assesses 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, she examines 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. This project is funded by the National Instittues of Child Health and Human Development. Another focus of her research is to study the motor coordination of young and older children with developmental disorders such as children born preterm or children with autism. This work will help 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, she has begun to understand the effects of motor interventions on joint attention, complex motor coordination, praxis, and imitation behaviors of children with autism. Specifically, she is assessing the effects of novel robotic and traditional motor interventions for children with autism. 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 - 106

Phone: (860) 486-0019

Email: anjana.bhat@uconn.edu

Mailing Address:
358 Mansfield Road
Koons Hall, Physical Therapy

Current Courses Taught:

PT 5430 - Biomechanics and its Applications

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:

American Physical Therapy Association

International Society on Infant Studies

International Society for Autism Research

North American Society of Sport Psychology and Physical Activity

In the News:

Our research in Psychiatric News as "Autism Treatments on the Horizon"

Our research in New York Times as "Robot based synchrony interventions for children with autism"

"Our research in UConn Today and phys.org website"

Funded Research:

Effects of novel embodied interventions in children with autism: robot-child interactions

Effects of perceptuo-motor intervewntions in children with autism: music-based therapies

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:

Bhat, A., Galloway, J. C., Landa, R., Perspectives on motor problems in infants, children, and adults with autism spectrum disorders (2011), Physical Therapy, 91(7): 1116-1129.

Bhat, A. N., Galloway, J. C., Landa, R. J. Social and Non-social Visual Attention Patterns and Associative Learning in Infants at risk for Autism (2010), Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51(9): 989-997

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, 31(3), 447-469

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 of young infants I. Hand Kinematics (2006), Infant Behavior and Development, 29(3), 358-372.

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., 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.

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.

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.