Diagnosis by iPad?

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Just thought some folks might find this interesting:

http://www.nature.com/articles/srep31107

It's not ready to roll out yet, but it looks promising and hopefully it might one day provide a neat alternative to the complicated, fallible methods of diagnosing ASD that we currently have.

One thing I don't quite get - "ASD is typically considered a social and emotional disorder. Therefore, current diagnostic instruments directly address social and emotional aspects of the syndrome. However, motor control underpins social engagement, emotional expression, and cognitive development" - I can't see how motor control could be so important in social and emotional matters. How would a difference in motor control have a big impact on these things? The only thing I can think of is that an unusual gait, for example, could lead to a bit of social exclusion, but its effect would presumably be fairly limited. As for emotional development, I can't think of any way motor control would affect that. Anybody?

Considering how Western culture places a big importance on sports and physical activities, having poor motor control can affect your hand-eye coordination/ body response and exclude you from these things. Also motor control effects writing and not being able to write (at least using a pen or pencil or even type), will put you behind in school and in life as writing is something everyone uses.

My sensory difficulties - vestibular and proprioceptive - were put down on my diagnosis as the cause of my poor motor skills. Although the guy who assessed me for ADHD reckons I also have dyspraxia but didn't assess for it.

I hope that the developers include the standard "For Entertainment Purposes Only" disclaimer. Otherwise, they're opening themselves up for a slew of malpractice lawsuits.

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I've often been made fun of for having an unusual gate. Also trouble opening jars and bags--people will very easily laugh at you when, as an adult, you struggle with this. And as a man you can be asked often to help open tough jars. It's embarrassing when others expect you to do this easily and you struggle. I've also tended to just watch if someone throws a ball at me, so obviously I will get hit. This does not really get you respect.

But, that's getting off topic. Wouldn't gestures related to emotional expression be related to motor control? I've definitely been laughed at for making unusual gestures. I don't know if we'd count facial expressions, but my face does fall asleep after active social interaction of a certain length, which can make it hard to interact. It's hard--not impossible, but hard--to go on dates and manage this while getting to know new people and trying to stay in the moment.

Interesting

Interesting replies.......it seems motor issues have more relevance to social issues than I'd originally thought. Perhaps the difficulty in the article is down to the use of the word "underpin" which has various definitions. I was taking it as meaning that motor issues were pretty much the central deciding factor for the social and emotional symptoms, whereas it could just mean they're pretty important but not particularly more important than a number of other things. I'm still not convinced about the "emotion" angle though - I can see how gestures meant to express emotion could be a little strange and misleading in an autistic person because of motor issues, but there's a lot more to autistic emotional issues than that, so although it's significant, I don't see how it could be considered as underpinning the emotional issues.