Asperger's difference in IQ subset scores

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Where did you get these figures from? I'm interested as my recent WAIS test puts me in the last group - VIQ was significantly lower than PIQ.

When I was diagnosed with AS in 2000 I did not have to go through all of that.
Is it now a requirement for a diagnosis?
I am wondering if requirements for getting diagnosed has changed in the past 12 years.

They were in The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome.

Which page, Tuttle? I can't find it.

edit: found it. Page 229

Last edited by HalibutSandwich on 10 Dec 2011, 9:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I can't give you a page number as I use a kindle, but I can tell you that its in chapter 9.

I unfortunately do not have a recent IQ test. I do know I tend to do fairly well with some (not all) visual and spatial things which is more associated with autism diagnoses than AS diagnoses. but I am also good with writing/verbal which is more associated with AS. However, I'm better with written than with verbal, and sometimes I lose one or both (verbal first, then writing more rarely) while I always seem to have visual and spatial stuff. I am also fairly certain that I do not have NVLD.

I wish I could find my IQ test from grade school, especially for subscores. I do wonder if my hyperlexic vocabulary had an impact on my overall score.

How people perform on the BDT (Block Design Task) should be what's important on the IQ tests. 52% of HFA and AS use local processing as a default while only 2% of NT do. In a very interesting study BDT and similar tests were performed with HFA/AS and NT gifted subjects; the HFA/AS group performed better on the BDT than the gifted NT group who were ~30 IQ points higher on the FSIQ test. With a population difference of of 52% vs. 2% I think the BDT part of the IQ test should be a very rough indicator of the possibility of ASDs. On a sidenote I think the reason FSIQ tests are so common in a AS dx is for the purpose of dietermining whether to call it AS or HFA. An IQ test isn't requirered to make a dx.

My last professionally given test was in 2003.
I don't remember the exact details. But I do remember the test giver telling me I did better on the block design test than anyone she had given the test to. That was the best part of the test for me.
I also remember that the worst part of the test for me was the verbal part.
I'm part of that last group where PIQ is much better than my VIQ.

I believe WAIS IQ results in conjunction with WMS memory test results would probably be more telling. I'm suspecting those with disabilities would have more subtest score scatter on the WMS, possibly even especially in longterm memory. I know that I personally had a ton of scatter in the longterm memory indices (like 98 percentile compared to the 10th percentile on another subtest) which I *think* would be unexpected for a normal NT.

Anybody have WMS results with them offhand? I have mine and I could post them here if it'd be interesting to anyone.

I was extremely good on mine too, to the point where the psychiatrist was very surprised. My test had nothing to do with an evaluation at that time, it was back around 87 or 88. But the reason we do so well on it is the same reason we have problems in areas of abstract meaning and long term planning; it's the local mode of processing which is so common in us. I'm willing to bet that the way you solved the BDT puzzles was by mentally segmenting the blocks into individual units then putting each block in the same spot as the 'coresponding block' on the picture. NTs have a global mode of processing as a default so they have a difficult time mentaly separating the picture into individual blocks.

Well that screws me as I did only average in the block design. Does that mean I don't have AS?

Actually it seems I'm one of those people that prove AS diagnosis in adults is not clear-cut and requires a multidisciplinary approach. My WAIS score doesn't really fit with Asperger's - average on the BDT, poor VIQ, above average PIQ and superior processing speed. Working memory also showed above average. However I had a speech pathology assessment the other day and the results pretty much negated the WAIS results. The pathologist was a little puzzled about this at first. Working memory showed to be very poor, but she realized the WAIS mainly tested numerical memory, not verbal and is probably why that discrepancy arose. Point is she works in a specialist team to diagnose autistic children, and they're branching out into the "youth market" - up to 25yo - so she has at least a bit of training with adults. And she taught me much more about how my mind works (or doesn't) than any intelligence test.

At the end I asked her what she thought about me having AS and she said she really thinks I do. I may end up getting diagnosed with PDD-NOS or something but that's not the end of the world. Just another fail for stereotypical intelligence assessment.

I wonder about my working verbal memory so I'm wondering, do you know what assessment you took? I also scored pretty well on the WAIS's working memory subtests, but it seemed like it was much more dependent on "numerical" memory instead of "verbal" memory and my testing results showed that I was probably REALLY good at visualization and so I was good at visualizing numbers which may have resulted in a deceptively high working memory score. I'm suspecting my verbal working memory or "general working memory" might be a bit lower...

Like I said 52% of the subjects had this mode of processing vs. 2% of the control group. You could be in the 48%. I never meant to suggest it as a method to DX , only that it might provide a clue when someone is being evaluated for an undetermined condition or set of conditions.

Seven years ago my school psychologist administered the WISC for me, and my verbal IQ was 17 points higher than my performance IQ, with my verbal IQ being in the genius range and my performance IQ being in the very superior range. Of course, there is a lot of variation among people, even when they have a specific shared set of traits, so I can see how different people on the autism spectrum would perform differently on the IQ test.

Mate I can't remember what the actual test is called although I looked at it several times. Obviously if it had a numeric name I'd remember, lol. Hopefully someone else can tell us.


Yeah, and that's about it. For example, I did the WAIS a few years ago as well. That time it was a little less formal and I basically blitzed the BDT (got all but that last confusing puzzle in good times) and got a higher VIQ than this time. I think my ranked score was around 97.5 percentile. This time I got 79 or something - a high average. So what were the differences? You tell me. Intelligence tests aren't like doing a math or english exam where you get to study what's important to the test. If the test results were combined it would probably give a more accurate result of my AS standing. Which is something I've asked psychs why that doesn't get done only to be told the tests are designed to take variables into account. Which still doesn't explain the discrepancy in results. So how can you standardize a test that depends as much on a persons mindset as it does on their intelligence/knowledge?

Or you could be like me - I used that mode of processing but that was one of my weakest scores.

On one of block design puzzles I wasn't being able to figure out scale of the things in the picture for quite a while and thus didn't know where to start and had to fidget a lot to figure that out. Also, I just had difficulty physically placing them down quickly and correctly despite knowing what I wanted to place down at each point (other than figuring out how to start the last one).

That mode of processing doesn't innately mean a high score.