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NICKANScientific

Why it matters

The clinical gap

About one in six U.S. children lives with a developmental disability. About one in 31 eight-year-olds is identified with autism.

Source: CDC.

Child wearing the QuietScan helmet while sitting for a gentle scan

Designed for children 0–5

Soft wearable concept. No sedation. Intended for infants and children through age five.

Child wearing the QuietScan helmet while sitting on a parent’s lap

A session MRI cannot offer

Designed for under five minutes, in clinic, while the child sits on a parent’s lap.

QuietScan helmet with a three-dimensional brain activity map on a clinical monitor

A map for monitoring

Intended output: active and quieter zones for pediatric monitoring. Not a treatment. Not a diagnosis.

Warning — the numbers

Developmental conditions are common. Early sight is not.

Red is the scale of the problem. These children are already here. Too many are identified after the first five years — the years QuietScan is being developed to serve.

  • 1 in 6 children ages 3–17

    One or more developmental disabilities · United States · CDC

    17%

  • 1 in 31 children at age 8

    Identified with autism spectrum disorder · United States · CDC ADDM 2022

    3.2%

  • 53 million children under 5

    Living with a developmental disability · Worldwide · Lancet, 2018

    8.4%

  • About 1 in 100 children

    Autism spectrum disorder · Worldwide · WHO

    1%

Source: CDC. Bars are scaled to the largest rate shown (17%). Also: CDC ADDM Network, 16 U.S. sites, 2022 (published 2025); Global Research on Developmental Disabilities Collaborators, The Lancet, 2018; World Health Organization.