Cartoons Could Help Diagnose Autism in Kids

Study finds differences in how autistic toddlers look at moving images

By Katherine Thompson, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 30, 2009 10:18 AM CDT

(Newser) – The way in which toddlers are drawn to animated movement may help facilitate the diagnosis of autism-spectrum disorders, reports the BBC. In the study, children who were developing normally focused on the half of a split-screen that featured an upright animation; children with signs of autism showed no preference between that and an upside-down version, unless the upright cartoon was paired with sound. The findings could also lead to new treatment methods.

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Jennifer Aldrich, a educator trained in autism with the Warwick, R.I., school department, works with a student. New advances have raised hopes for better treatment for autism. (AP Photo/Stew Milne)

Eight-year-old Charlie Blakey was diagnosed with autism at age 3. He is receiving treatment that his mother says is helping; a new diagnostic technique might help other kids get treated earlier. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Considering kids' fascination with toys like the Lite Brite, it makes sense that autism researchers chose simple light-point animation to create moving images for their patients to look at. (©TikTik)

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Attention to biological motion is a fundamental mechanism of social engagement, and in the future, we need to understand how this process is derailed in autism. - Dr Ami Klin, an author of the new study

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Cartoons Could Help Diagnose Autism in Kids