Autism and ADHD can be diagnosed in babies through ‘Intelligence’

Scientists could soon use “smarts” to identify autism, ADHD and other neurodivergent conditions in babies by analyzing their movements.

As part of an ongoing study, researchers from the University of Sussex, England, are using clothing equipped with motion sensors, along with video footage, to monitor the movements of babies from birth to 18 months of age.

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By comparing specific movements such as squirming, sitting and crawling with infants’ social and communication skills during the first 18 months of their development, researchers hope to identify key motor behaviors that predict symptoms of neurodivergent conditions.

Gillian Forrester, lead author and professor of comparative cognition at the University of Sussex, said Newsweek that the ultimate goal of the study is to determine which early movement traits may be associated with a later diagnosis of autism.

“This could lead to much earlier screening compared to our current diagnostic practices. Early screening, in turn, could lead to early and novel interventions,” she said.

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“I am extremely excited about this new research because it gives us a better understanding of how our body movement in the first days of life informs our later social and communicative development.”

Aptly named The child grows up The study aims to show how repetitive and less varied movements in newborns are linked to conditions such as autism and ADHD, while more complex and varied movements are linked to typical cognitive development.

“It is known that from the first days of life, the way we move helps prepare our brains and bodies to navigate a complex physical and social world. However, the direct links between a baby’s early movements and abilities their social later in life are not well understood,” Forrester said in a statement.

“By collecting data on infants’ earliest movements, we hope to provide clinicians, general practitioners and parents with the tools they need to identify early markers of neurodivergence in infants. We hope this research will lead to consideration, diagnosis and early interventions during infancy to support children and their families”.

The research will be showcased at this year’s Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, where participants can play an interactive ‘Baby Boogie’ game to test their motor skills against those of a newborn baby.

The game demonstrates the difficulty of imitating the complex and variable movements associated with healthy cognitive development.

“The way we solve problems with our hands has a similar movement structure to the way we put words together to create meaningful speech. But we often investigate ourselves in isolation from the rest of the animal kingdom,” Forrester said.

“Our research explores how we became (and become) the upright, walking, talking, tool-using great apes we are today – through evolution and development, creating a bridge between us and the natural world.”

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