Lumi Request a pilot

For professionals

Lumi gives you a structured, play-based observation of a child. It is one source of evidence among several, and it does not diagnose.

A professional with a clipboard sitting with a young boy who is covering his ears

Who it's designed for

Lumi is for trained professionals working with children aged about 5 to 11 where there are questions about attention, social communication, sensory processing or learning.

  • Educational psychologists

    A consistent observation you can repeat across children and over time, to inform consultation, formulation and advice for statutory assessment.

  • SENCOs

    A clear, structured picture of how a child approaches different kinds of task, useful when planning support and when making a referral.

  • CAMHS clinicians

    Observational information to bring to multidisciplinary discussion, alongside history, rating scales and clinical observation.

  • Community paediatrics

    An additional view of the child's attention, motor control, social attention and sensory preferences, gathered in a calm, standardised way.

What Lumi produces

Lumi produces observational indicators: a structured record of how a child responded on each island, with timings, choices and patterns, the assessor's own time-stamped tags, and a data-quality note for every island.

It is not a normed, standardised test. During the pilot, read Lumi's output as structured observation rather than as scores to compare with a population.

  • Attention and impulse control from a go/no-go game at Firefly Glade.
  • Visuospatial working memory from star sequences at Star Echo Cove.
  • Social attention from gaze and arrow cues at Peekaboo Pier.
  • Emotion recognition at Feelings Village.
  • Perspective-taking and non-literal language at the Puppet Theatre.
  • Fine-motor control from path tracing at River Run.
  • Waiting for a larger reward at Treasure Wait.
  • Play patterns and preference for sameness at Shell Shore.
  • Sensory preferences in Lumi's Den.

How it fits a good assessment

Neurodevelopmental assessment rests on bringing together many sources of information. Lumi is built to contribute to that, not to shortcut it.

ADHD: NICE guideline NG87

NICE NG87 describes diagnosis of ADHD as the role of a specialist with training and expertise, based on a full clinical and psychosocial assessment, a developmental and psychiatric history, and observer reports. It is clear that a diagnosis should not be made on the basis of rating scales or observational data alone.

Lumi provides observational data. It belongs alongside the history, reports from home and school, and clinical judgement that NG87 describes.

A girl at a desk resting her head on her hand, surrounded by doodles of pencils, a clock and the letters ADHD

Autism: NICE guideline CG128 (under 19s)

NICE CG128 describes autism diagnostic assessment as a multidisciplinary process including a detailed developmental history, direct interaction with and observation of the child, and information from settings such as school.

Lumi can add a structured observation of social attention, emotion recognition, perspective-taking, play and sensory preferences to that process. It is not an autism-specific diagnostic instrument and does not replace one.

Lumi does not diagnose

Lumi records how a child played. It does not decide whether a child has ADHD, autism or any other condition. Conclusions belong to qualified professionals, using all the evidence available to them.

Reading the report well

  • Start with the data-quality note for each island. A flagged island may tell you more about the session than about the child.
  • Read results in the context the assessor recorded: time of day, tiredness, recent changes, how the child seemed.
  • Look at rests and battery check-ins. A child who needed several rests may have been tired or overwhelmed, which is useful to know in itself.
  • Compare with what you already know from history, school, home and other tools. Look for agreement and for differences worth exploring.

Pilot status

Lumi is a prototype in pilot. It runs on a test server and has not yet been validated against established measures. We're looking for professionals who can help us understand how it works in practice and where it falls short.

Help shape the pilot

If you assess children with suspected SEND and would like to try Lumi, we'd like to hear from you.

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