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/Tryingtoknowmore Jan 30 '25

What if you struggle completing the tests as they seem based too subjectively and on opinion rather than measurable data?

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u/FloRidinLawn Jan 30 '25

Probably a different thing going on. That said, all “weird” is becoming lumped into autism. Good that it has more attention, but I think I see it becoming a thing. I lack the words for it. A gateway or excuse or overly easy applied label, it will diminish it? If too many claim to have it, it makes it harder for those who actually do, too

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u/ZoeBlade Jan 30 '25

That said, all “weird” is becoming lumped into autism.

The only thing that was lumped into autism was Asperger syndrome, and for very good reasons, that basically boil down to "Hans Asperger was employed by Nazis to separate the 'good' autistic people from the 'bad' (or, in some memorable instances, Jewish) autistic people, and Asperger's syndrome is just a phrase he made up for the former".

If too many claim to have it, it makes it harder for those who actually do, too

Not really. If you're talking about having a phrase to differentiate profoundly autistic people from mildly autistic people, then we already have that: levels three, two, and one.

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u/TheKnightsTippler 29d ago

I don't know about that, my brother has a severe learning disability and was diagnosed as autistic in the 90s, but hes very outgoing and social and I don't think he really fits into that category at all.

Sometimes I think autisms just used as a "there's something wrong with you, but we don't know exactly what" diagnosis.