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/K3u21 Jan 30 '25

New terms to me: Would that mean better imitation puts them in the ADHD and ASD diagnosis, or would worse imitation be the diagnosis?

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u/Stephen_Hero_Winter Jan 30 '25

The abstract says that kids with ASD performed worse at imitation, while ADHD and neurotypicals performed equally well.

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u/[deleted] Jan 30 '25

I cannot square dance for the life of me. Now i am diagnosed.

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u/keyblade_crafter Jan 30 '25

I have a hard time mimicking Richard Simmons classes until I've done it a few times. I wonder how many attempts led to the conclusion. I also had a hard time becoming coordinated to play drums in school (still cant help tapping rhythms to music playing out loud or in my head)