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/Nauin Jan 30 '25

A lot of autistic people have what's called proprioceptive dysfunction. Which means we don't have a strong sense of awareness for how our bodies are positioned and move compared to those who don't have this issue. It's one of the many factors lending a hand in poor motor function and coordination which is also common with autism.

Having the lived experience of these disorders I went from skeptical to, "ohhhh, yep that could work," as soon as I read "copy dance moves," in the headline.

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u/perennial_dove Jan 30 '25

But arent ADHD ppl known to have poor proprioception so they constantly bump into things and knock stuff over? Or is that just part of their attention deficit?

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u/Nauin Jan 30 '25

I think it's both? I have both so it's hard to tell. Like, all of these symptoms are on a spectrum, for some it's a mild symptom, for others it's so bad it's a whole separate disorder. I'm not an expert, though, and the research and understanding has changed in a lot of ways since my diagnosis was fresh. I've tried to keep up but could be wrong or outdated on my understanding.