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/mvea Professor | Medicine Jan 30 '25

I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/evaluating-computerised-assessment-of-motor-imitation-cami-for-identifying-autismspecific-difficulties-not-observed-for-attentiondeficit-hyperactivity-disorder-or-neurotypical-development/C477940DE501A840F1D85F6CCF7B7D84

From the linked article:

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.

Early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is key to ensuring that effective interventions are put in place that, ultimately, improve a person’s quality of life. However, because ASD commonly co-exists with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), its diagnosis can be tricky and may be missed or delayed. In addition, testing a child for ASD is time-consuming and expensive.

In a new study, researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute, an American non-profit organization, and Nottingham Trent University in the UK developed and tested a novel means of reliably and accurately diagnosing autism in children, even when it exists alongside ADHD: a one-minute motion-detecting video game.

The two trials featured different movement sequences. CAMI scores for each trial were averaged to give a composite CAMI score for each participant between zero and one, with a higher score indicating better imitation. CAMI showed 80% accuracy in distinguishing children with ASD from neurotypical children and 70% accuracy in distinguishing children with ASD from those with ADHD. The researchers said CAMI has significant potential in clinical settings as a diagnostic tool.

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u/AfricanUmlunlgu Jan 30 '25

still does not say who imitates best

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u/vicsj Jan 30 '25

Yeah... And like I have ADHD with suspected ASD and I've been dancing since I was 6 yo. Does "professional" dance training affect the results as well? Could it mask the imitation and give a false negative?

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u/moosepuggle Jan 31 '25

I've also been dancing since I was 6 (obsessed with Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul), it feels kind of like stimming, and people frequently compliment me on my dancing. But I've realized I dance in a very autistic way: I don't want to socialize or talk, I just want to BE the music with my body.

I was finally diagnosed at 42, prob because I'm female but mostly because we were poor and couldn't even afford physical health care.

I hope they're using multiple indicators to assess autism in addition to the dancing to not miss the few who are obsessed with dancing