Doctors may soon have a powerful new tool to diagnose autism—one that doesn’t rely on complex questionnaires or hours of behavioral observation.
Instead, a simple movement-tracking video game could distinguish autistic children from their non-autistic peers with an 80% success rate.
Even more impressively, it could differentiate children with autism from those with ADHD—a distinction that is often challenging for clinicians—with 70% accuracy.
This groundbreaking tool, called the Computerized Assessment of Motor Imitation (CAMI), isn’t just another diagnostic test.
It taps into a little-discussed but fundamental aspect of autism: sensory-motor difficulties.
Researchers believe these motor challenges could underlie some of the social and communication difficulties that characterize autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
So how does it work?
The CAMI system is deceptively simple. A child plays a game where they mimic dance-like movements performed by an on-screen character.
Meanwhile, two cameras—one positioned in front and the other behind—track and analyze the child’s movements.
The system then calculates an imitation score from 0 (no imitation) to 1 (perfect imitation).
This score provides key insights into a child’s sensory-motor abilities and potential autism symptoms.
A Hidden Connection
For decades, autism research has focused primarily on social communication challenges—the difficulties autistic individuals often have with understanding and responding to social cues.
But recent studies suggest that motor imitation difficulties could be just as critical in understanding autism.
Autistic children often struggle to replicate body movements and facial expressions—key elements of nonverbal communication.
If a child cannot easily imitate another person’s gestures, it may contribute to social disconnection, making interactions more challenging.
“CAMI taps into these sensory-motor difficulties, showing that they are not shared with children with ADHD,” explains Bahar Tunçgenç, a psychology researcher at Nottingham Trent University and one of the study’s lead authors.
The research team tested CAMI on 183 children aged 7 to 13, with a mix of autistic children, children with ADHD, children with both conditions, and neurotypical children.
The results were striking:
- Autistic children had significantly lower CAMI scores, and their scores correlated strongly with autism symptom severity.
- Children with ADHD performed better than those with autism, though their scores were not significantly different from children with ASD alone.
- Neurotypical children had the highest CAMI scores, and their performance was linked to motor ability and attention span.
Challenging the Traditional Autism Diagnosis Model
For years, autism diagnosis has depended on behavioral observation, parent-reported questionnaires, and structured clinical interviews.
These methods, while useful, come with limitations:
- They rely on subjective interpretation. A child’s behavior may vary depending on their mood, environment, or the clinician’s perspective.
- They can be time-consuming and expensive. A full autism assessment can take months, if not years, delaying crucial early interventions.
- They sometimes misdiagnose children. Many children with ADHD, anxiety, or speech delays exhibit behaviors that mimic autism, leading to either false positives or missed diagnoses.
The CAMI system represents a potential shift in how autism is identified.
Instead of lengthy interviews and subjective assessments, CAMI provides an objective, data-driven measure of motor imitation ability—one of autism’s core underlying traits.
A Game-Changer for ADHD Diagnosis Too?
Interestingly, CAMI’s effectiveness in distinguishing autism from ADHD could be just as revolutionary.
ADHD and autism share many overlapping symptoms, including difficulty focusing, impulsivity, and social struggles.
Because of this, misdiagnosis is common, with many autistic children first receiving an ADHD diagnosis.
However, ADHD is primarily characterized by attention and impulse control issues, whereas autism involves sensory-motor and social communication difficulties.
CAMI’s ability to isolate motor imitation challenges could give clinicians a clearer, more reliable way to separate the two conditions.
What’s Next for CAMI?
Despite its promising results, CAMI isn’t quite ready to replace traditional diagnostic tools—at least not yet.
- More research is needed to validate its accuracy across larger, more diverse populations. The current study relied mostly on children of similar backgrounds, and researchers want to ensure it works just as well in different age groups and cultural settings.
- Refinement is necessary to improve its ability to distinguish ADHD from autism more consistently. While the results were promising, they weren’t definitive enough for clinical use yet.
- Integration with clinical settings is a future goal. Researchers hope that pediatricians and psychologists will eventually incorporate CAMI into routine autism assessments, providing a faster, easier way to diagnose children.
“What really makes CAMI so exciting is its simplicity,” says Tunçgenç. “Video games are already so popular.
It’s fun for kids and delivers fast results that are easy to interpret for clinicians. My hope is for CAMI to eventually be used in clinical practices everywhere.”
If future studies confirm CAMI’s effectiveness, this video-game-based diagnostic tool could revolutionize autism diagnosis—making it quicker, more objective, and more accessible than ever before.
