Could i have Autism?

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I was about to post something similar. I'm thinking that the OP's difficulties with language and communication are skewing the IQ test results below the results that they should be showing. I doubt someone with an IQ of 68 could SPELL communication. I can't spell it without resorting to Firefox's spell check.

OP, at one point in the '80s a doctor actually wrote down that I had mild mental retardation just because I told him I was in special education. Needless to say that was not correct. My IQ tests far higher than that.

Oh, OP, if you can read and comprehend my post there is no way in hell your IQ is as low as 68.

I'm sure the test the OP took scored them at 68. I'm also sure that score might as well have been obtained from a magic 8 ball.

Yes, that's part of my point; IQ doesn't predict very much about a person, especially not an autistic person. I see a lot of talk that seems to assume IQ is some kind of physical reality about a person, like height or eye color. In reality, it's a measure of how well you did a certain set of tasks, on one specific occasion. It's more like a letter grade on a report card than anything else; and just like grades at school can be high or low for reasons that have nothing to do with ability, so can IQ scores.

While it's quite likely that someone who has problems with language would get a lower IQ score (and this is seen among autistics very often), you're underestimating the 68 quite a bit. Back when they still used "mental age", that IQ would have meant that an 18-year-old was performing just a little better than a twelve-year-old on the test. Would you expect a twelve-year-old to be able to read your post and spell "communication"? I would.

(They no longer use "mental age", since it is meaningless for adults and inaccurate for young children; they've switched to a Bell curve model now...)

I'm in a special program, IQ has to be under 70 to get in, So I'm with lots of PDD. There all even smarter than me, They can write and spell like anyone else or do math.

My most recent assessment was at the hospital 4 years ago, It also came back as mentally ret*d

My function is about the same as a 10-12 year old, I'm sure they could comprehend these post just as well.

I can't do any math at all, Can't do any subjects from school. Hardly know my ABC's. Can't read Hand writing. I tried a few IQ test online before just for kicks, I couldn't get pass IQ 50. If you throw me in grade 1 right now, I couldn't do it with out help.

Every post i made here, Took me like 20 mins.

I'm behind a computer, so its hard to see my function, I actually spent the last 10 years in my bedroom being locked up 15 hours a day. I was starting to get suicidal and my depression was through the roof.. So last 3 months, I joined this Special program.

Last edited by XshadowX on 13 Sep 2010, 5:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

I'm sure 10 year olds can do that just fine

I can't spell SPELL communication with out spell check, This is how i would spell it around, comunincion

From what I understand of IQ tests...

- They aren't static. They are adjusted periodically to reflect your abilities against your peers.
- Disabilities like Dyscalculia (which the OP may have) could hinder a score considerably, even though other areas could be perfect.
- Time is a factor in IQ tests. People who fail to manage their time, to realize this, or need extra time to think... could still have good ability, just are not as fast as their peers.


And then of course, there are people like me who overthink the questions. I did incredibly well on most IQ tests I've taken, yet only reently I discovered that I probably failed bigtime on many of the visual pattern sequence recognition questions. Not because I couldn't find patterns, but because I was looking for horizontal, vertical and diagonal patterns in the questions -

When it seems the question was simply:
* Look at the pattern sequence in first two lines and then solve the pattern for the third line
I was thinking
* a cube of nine images with the bottom right missing.. what best fits the empty spot of the cube?

Since the instructions weren't as clear as that, I interpreted the question a bit too creatively.
And probably lost a lot of time. And points.

XshadowX, would you mind telling me how old you are now? I won't be upset if you don't wish to share your age, i'm just curious as I believe you and I may have some things in common. I have taken seven professionally-administered IQ tests in my life. I scored anywhere between low average (94) to very superior (143) on these tests. On five out of the seven tests....my full-scale IQ was high average or higher. Nonetheless.....there has always been a large discrepancy between my verbal IQ scores and my performance IQ scores in favorable of verbal. Thus I have been told I have a non-verbal learning disability. My performance scores have always been anywhere from borderline to high average while my verbal scores have been between average and very superior.

Whatever the case....I have believed I am mentally ret*d for most of my life. I am very bad at math beyond simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. My mechanical reasoning/visual-spatial skills are also quite poor. Last but not least....I believe I have a very severe and very unusual problem with aspects of my memory (including semantic, episodic and procedural memory). I have no objective confirmation of this problem (In other words...I have never been diagnosed with any memory problems aside from deficits in my visual memory. These are common enough in people with Asperger's syndrome and non-verbal learning disabilities.), but it seems very, very, real to me and equally debilitating. It is possible for people to have significant memory problems which simply elude detection the standard neuropsychological memory tests. I believe these memory problems have much, if not everything, to do with my problems with math and many other things as well.

Apart from all these problems....I also have many, if not all, the issues which commonly occur in those with Asperger's and non-verbal learning disabilities. I have problems with social skills, psychomotor skills, executive functioning and some fairly mild sensory problems. I am 41 y/o and i've never lived fully independently (financially, at least) of my family. I have only had unskilled low-paying jobs and i've been unemployed for over a year now. I have no significant skills to speak of and i'm not really talented at anything. I only have an AA degree in liberal arts which I obtained with course substitutions for the math requirements.

In short....I think almost anyone would agree i've had very difficult life and all because of this very bizarre, incongruous and abnormal brain I was given. Very few people can relate to my problems other than some who also have an autistic spectrum disorder, NVLD, or a related neurological disorder. None of this has done wonders for my psychological well-being either.... to say to very least. I have spent much of my life in a deep state of depression and crippling anxiety. I feel like i'm under constant stress and I used to have very bad panic attacks as well. To make matters worse....I was viciously and relentlessly bullied all throughout my K-12 schooling. My peers threw rocks at me, spat upon me, pulled knives and guns on me, robbed me, threatened me with rape, shot me with BB guns, etc.....ad infinitum. I was also emotionally abused by my parents, particularily my mother and that abuse came darn close to physical several times. Needless to say....the shabby treatment I received for all those decades both in school and at home has made me extremely misanthropic and angry. I often say that if the rage I feel could be weaponized, it would utterly obliterate all of infinity. Nonetheless... I am a very non-violent person who keeps all this fury bottled up inside. For I have no way of canalizing it except through violence and violence is ONLY acceptable in cases of self-defense IMO. One of my only cathartic releases for all this rage and hatred I feel is heavy metal music.


Anyway....that's my story in a rather large nutshell. I could be far more detailed and nuanced about all this, but I just wanted you to know that you're not alone. I know very well what it feels like to believe you're mentally ret*d and to me....it's the worst feeling I can ever imagine having. Still....I have no logical reason to believe either one of us are mentally ret*d. I just think we're people with learning disabilites who were treated like vermin by society, our families, our peers, etc...We fell through the proverbial cracks and didn't get the help we needed when such help could've made all the difference in the world. I have not given up fighting though and I hope you won't either. I am planning to go back to college in Jan at the ripe old age of 41. I plan on taking that dreaded subject known as math as well and this time....i'm going to succeed at it even if it literally kills me. I had and still HAVE countless dreams and aspirations....I wanted infinitely more out of life than i've received up until now. The way I see...I may not receive a master's degree or something until i'm 50 or even....at all. Still....if I don't even try...then i'm GUARANTEED to be a 50y/o without a master's degree. It's not just about educational attainments either. I have a great passion for nature and travel....I would love to see as much of the world as possible before I die. I would love to scuba dive, or at least snorkel, the Great Barrier Reef and the Fiji islands. I would love to see the luxuriant tropical cloud forests of the mystical Andes mountains. There are so many things I want to do and experience yet....so I find the thought of giving up unbearable. I want to become a much better guitar-player than I currently am. I could go on and on....but there is no need. All i'm trying to say is don't give up on yourself.....ever. You are human and you are worth just as much as ANYONE else. You deserve just as much happiness (and alot more than some of the cruel and abusive cretins in this unfair and crummy world) as anyone else.

Last edited by Horus on 14 Sep 2010, 3:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

It sounds like it's possible you have it. Although I doubt three year olds communicate better than you do. Three year olds cannot type, nor express themselves as well as you just did (I have a daughter). But I get your overall point: you have a huge communication barrier. That's one of the biggest signs of autism. I would suggest seeking a specialist you already see for your other problems and ask them about autism. It's common to be diagnosed later in life because Autism wasn't thought of much, even as recently as the last twenty years, let alone the last thirty. Mine went undiagnosed all through high school and I'm only 20.

I mean, they communicate better with talking in person, I should know. Because i live with my 4 year old niese. She just communicate 10x better or maybe 50x & lots of times i get jealous. a few times i told my self, I'm never going to speak again.

I think, I learned to communicate being online because i spent 18 hours a day on the computer the last 10 years.

Horus, I posted my age in my first post, I'm 27.

Like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. I don't even know what that is, I know its math, But i don't know the type it is or what kind of thing each stands for.