Treating autism spectrum disorder as early as possible requires an early diagnosis which current medicine struggles to provide, but a new computer tool offers an opportunity to improve, not to mention helping to differentiate ASD and ADHD, as is also necessary. Researchers from the Kennedy Kieger Institute and Nottingham Trent University developed CAMI (Computerized Assessment of Motor Imitation), to measure motor imitation skills in children 7 to 13. Compared to present standards, it was 80% accurate in diagnosing ASD and 70% accurate in separating ASD children from ADHD children.
As the study authors note, autism spectrum disorder diagnoses are time consuming and fraught with challenges. Parents can spend thousands of dollars on multiple clinicians and testing, trying to separate ASD out from other conditions with similar traits. This process can take months, but before embarking on years and thousands more of therapy, parents and clinicians want to be sure of the diagnosis. A correct diagnosis enables parents to target the therapy and have a higher chance of benefit by treating the correct underlying condition.
While ASD is traditionally considered a “socio-communication disorder” the study’s lead author pointed out that it also includes sensory and motor dysfunctions. One of these disfunctions includes difficulties with imitating motor functions. By creating an easy, one-minute-long video game to assess the child’s response, they hoped to simplify and lower the costs of diagnosis without sacrificing accuracy.
The study took 183 children between the ages of 7 and 13 years who fell into 1 of four groups: 1) ASD only; 2) ASD + ADHD; 3) ADHD only; 4) Neurotypical without ASD or ADHD. All 183 children not only completed the video game assessment but also a series of standard psychological tests or questionnaires used to diagnose ADHD and ASD. In this age group, the video game test (CAMI) correctly identified 80% of children with ASD and correctly separated 70% of children with ASD only from those with ADHD.
While they hope to improve the accuracy and adapt the test for children at younger ages, this is an impressive start on simplifying the diagnosis of ASD. Given the reality that both multiple genes and multiple environmental factors appear to play a role in ASD development, biological markers testable in a lab have been hard to come by. If the researchers can hone this modality or combine it with other simple methods and scale them appropriately, ASD diagnosis could be greatly enhanced across the population.
As functional medicine providers continue to treat children with ASD, ADHD, and those with both conditions, we look forward to simpler diagnostic tools like this. However, we cannot stop with diagnosis and labels but must dig further into the “why and how” of ASD. To go behind recommending various therapies and parenting strategies requires finding the actual mechanism of brain inflammation and disruption in the child. Having seen many children recover a measure of neurotypicality by detoxing or treating hidden infections, we will continue to search for such triggers as science continues to better understand the disease process. This is how we can help such children restore healthier, more abundant lives.
Original Article:
Carolina Pacheci, Deana Crocetti, René Vidal, Stewart H. Mostofsky, Bahar Tuncgenc, and Romila Santra. Computerised Assessment of Motor Imitation (CAMI) Identifies Autism-Specific Difficulties Not Observed in ADHD or Neurotypical Development. Submitted to PsyArXiv, 2025 DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/4vcd7
Thanks to Science Daily:
Kennedy Krieger Institute. “Innovative one-minute video game boasts 80% success rate in diagnosing autism.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 January 2025. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/01/250128123843.htm>.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
