r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jan 30 '25

Neuroscience A low-cost tool accurately distinguishes neurotypical children from children with autism just by watching them copy the dance moves of an on-screen avatar for a minute. It can even tell autism from ADHD, conditions that commonly overlap.

https://newatlas.com/adhd-autism/autism-motion-detection-diagnosis/
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u/AllanfromWales1 MA | Natural Sciences | Metallurgy & Materials Science Jan 30 '25

Does it work for adults? I was never tested as a child (back in the 1960s) but have long suspected..

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u/spotolux Jan 30 '25

I'm curious about this too. I'm 55 and have always been extremely shy and socially awkward. I have 3 children, 2 have ASD diagnosis and 2 ADHD diagnosis. A few years ago after a coworker began treatment for ADHD I was assessed and diagnosed with ADHD. Then last year my father in his 70s went to be assessed for ADHD and ended up being diagnosed with ASD.

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u/WonderfulShelter Jan 30 '25

You have to talk to a doctor and figure it out. There's a bunch of online tests, but way too many conditions overlap.

I took all the tests and aced them - so on the spectrum. But it wasn't confirmed until I looked back at my childhood and remembered all the ticks and weird motions I would do to self soothe myself.

My sister has BPD, so after going through her I believe my parents didn't want to take me to doctors to see if anything was wrong because they wanted at least one "normal" kid (my sister has severe behavioral issues).

So somehow I was just able to "normalize" myself as I grew into a teenager and stopped doing the ticks and self soothing stuff via self CBT because I didn't want to be "weird" in high school.

now that I know what I know it helps a lot - or at least I hope helps others understand me better in certain moments.