My self-diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome

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For me it was:

EQ: 33/80 (is it 80?)
SQ: 36/80
AQ: 32

But, if I had taken the test in my early 20s I think my scores would have been quite different! I learnt a lot about people in my 20s, i studied them on purpose to figure out what they were thinking and even with all my study I still got below average on the EQ. Apparently my score is in line with the empathy of the average NT male, and an NT female would wipe the floor with me... so NT males are naturally considerably lower in empathy...

as for systemising. I have been forced to become more organised since leaving school because I had to hold down a job.. so if I had taken the test at 20 it would have been more like:

EQ: 22
SQ: 15
When I was in my teens, I couldnt cross a road, type more than 5 words per minute (was tested and told I was the worst typist ever by the teacher) and was always losing things, couldnt carry more than one thing (for example if I went out with a handbag and an umbrella I would come back with just the bag, or just the umbrella...

And as for the AQ, I didnt see autism in myself at 20, I thought autistics were people who didnt have much emotion (I had been misinformed) so I would probably have got much lower AQ. There are questions asking whether I "understand people" and I honestly thought I did in those days. I was oblivious to how little I knew about people.

Lately I have realised how in denial I have been about the extent of my obsessions, and that has raised my AQ score a bit and I think it more accurately reflects me now.

Last edited by zen_mistress on 26 Nov 2009, 6:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I think I see what you're getting at. I don't think the tests are a sham necessarily, and I've read elsewhere that some of them were devised for use by experts -- but that's in conjunction with interviews, history, and so forth.

I am finding that I get much more from going over my earliest memories -- how I used to play, with others and alone, how I spent my time, what bothered or stressed me and what didn't. I started this thinking that I never did any repetitive, stereotypic behaviors, or stimming, but then I remembered how I used to spin jacks rather than play jacks with them -- for hours at a time -- and how i used to line up and arrange chess pieces on a board in various symmetrical patterns, tracing patterns in wallpaper or tiles, rocking from my heels to my toes on the playground (recess was major stress time for me!), shifting from one foot to the other, drumming my fingers in sequence, swaying back and forth. This I didn't get from doing online tests. I had to really think about it, and it was odd the kind of shift in my thinking I had to engage in, because so many of those were unconscious behaviors. But they became conscious at some point, usually when an adult insisted that I stop, or when someone else pointed out what I was doing as odd.

Besides that, I find that if I take a test more than once I can pretty easily manipulate the results. So I think the first time through gives the most valid score. But the first time through they're also very difficult for me. I find myself needing to really take apart the questions. Some of them are almost impossible to answer. And I find myself tending to answer the way I think someone "should" answer rather than the way I really want to answer.

I also think that a child taking some of these tests, or a young adult, would get skewed results compared to an older adult, or vice versa. I have so many things I've learned about by dealing with people through the years and even from taking classes, that it is difficult to separate my learned ways of coping from my true self. I had a terrible time reading faces when I was young, but I score pretty well on the face test now. However, I have to really study them and think about them. It's not instinctive, as I think it is for an NT. I also learned to read body language from taking classes in behavior. But it's easier for me if I'm observing others, not talking to them. Then I can read their body language based on what I've learned, which is much easier than reading the body language of someone I'm actively conversing with.

I just don't know how much of that kind of variation or nuance can be discerned from tests alone.

yep devised by and for experts to be used within the assessment process, exactly!



yes indeed your childhood history is a great way of approaching a self-diagnosis. though i am of the opinion that assessing your own childhood memories isn't all that reliable. memories we have as a child are shaky and sparse at best, and it is well documented that peoples (long term) memories become reshaped and don't always reflect reality (if you want info on this, let me know). It is always best to get the perspective of a person, or a few people if possible, who were adults when you were a child and who spent time with you, such as your parents. they have an adult perspective of your childhood behavior and most likely a clearer memory. All the things you listed as your childhood tells could be NT behaviors as well, it takes that outside perspective for it to be known in what context you doing those things (for instance, lining up chess pieces in patterns for the fun of it, or lining them up as a stim....either is possible...).

not at all saying self-reflection is completely invalid, not at all, it's how you decide what questions to ask!

(little note: when getting an outside perspective on your childhood behaviors it is not always best to tell whoever you are asking that you are asking because you are trying to figure out if you have AS or not, it could manipulate their responses (positively or negatively).



this touches on the points i didn't bring up before, score manipulation and lack of supervision...

i have the same problem with the tests, the questions are HARD to get your hear around! and that is why they are meant to be done in a professional environment. when doing these tests in the presence of a specialist they will explain to you "how" to take the questions and what to do if you get stuck. if you can not choose from that answers listed, you are free to not answer or give an alternate answer (these may be later discussed). not so online.

and yes people will take the test more than once, without the specialist supervision they might take a couple of tries to grasp the test and understand what to do, or figure out how to answer the seemingly 'unanswerable' questions! by the time they are ready to take the test "for real" they already have a preconceived idea of the questions and what answers will determine what score. completely invalidating the results entirely.



i hate that faces test. i am utterly horrible at it. even though i have taken it before i still can't get a high score. BUT in real life, i'm quite good at reading facial expressions, so i'm not really sure what that test is about.

the sad thing about being on the high functioning end up the spectrum is sometimes our coping mechanisms end up defining who we are. anything that people see as positive social aspects of our personalities may be coping devices which are a struggle to maintain and tiring and if we were to let them drop they would no longer see us in that positive way....so we must maintain, and in the end...it is out coping devices that are seen, not actually who we are. it sucks.

My standard query to such responses: why are you more qualified to determine the efficacy of such tools than others? I'm not arguing against the validity and necessity of reviewing childhood history - far from it, as it was the next step I took in approaching my understanding and working towards a diagnosis. I am quite aware how these tools are used, and that they are not definitive or a means of accurate diagnosis, but as I said... they are a tool for those seeking more information. You're calling the very tools, which as you said are used by professionals as part of the process, a sham - which is incongruous. Either the application isn't valid (which is not what you argued) or the tests themselves are flawed and the professionals are using poor tools themselves. You also appear to assume that all those who have responded are self-diagnosed, or were when they got their scores. However, you are spot on in that without supervision and attention, the possibility of getting skewed results is high. It depends on the person involved, however. I took each test once, then got a control of 20+ others to take the same tests to provide a baseline. In retaking such surveys, my score variance has been -2/+2 since the initial results. But that doesn't mean they are a sham; only that the numbers returned are a mere part of the process, an indicator at best, and require review to assess their own variance.


M.

AQ=44
SQ=61 (shorter version)
FQ=58
EQ=29

i don't know how i can explain myself any clearer. it's not about qualifications, it's about common sense and information! i'm not qualified as anything, but i have common sense, and ALOT of information. and of course, i have taken these tests in real life and seen exactly how they are supposed to be carried out, and it doesn't translate accurately online! you don't have to be a qualified anything to figure that stuff out, and if you did, then the ENTIRE concept of self-diagnosis would be out the window anyway as it is literally unqualified people making decisions that would usually take a qualified professional to make. people know what they know i guess.

when i said 'sham' i was responding to the THREAD as a whole. the thread is titled "my self diagnosis of asperger syndrome" and the content of the first post is dedicated primarily to talking about those online tests, the posts the follow are primarily people relaying their scores from said tests. so....a self diagnosis thread + links to diagnostic tools + people using those tools + posting their stats = me saying self diagnosing using those tools online is a sham. i'm not calling the tools a sham, just the application of them implied by this thread (which is not what they are intended for). except i made my original answer shorter out of fear....which was pointless, seeing as you are doing to me exactly what i was trying to avoid by making a short, quiet little post.

i never assumed anyone in here was self-diagnosed (dunno where you got that from???), or that anyone was anything at all. and i never said that these tests weren't useful as a guide. but as a stand alone reason to say "i have AS", i just don't think so. and that's what i wanted to say that these online tests alone are not a reliable way to self-diagnose, and from what you've said, you seem to agree with me.

so what's the problem??

hmm interesting.
i took the AQ only this morning and scored higher (41)
but i have started trying to understate , ie pick slightly instead of strongly on certain things,just incase i have talked myself into believing i have aspergers, lol,here are myscores when i'm holding back.
the SQ isnt typical of aspergers i guess, but o be honest none of the questions were particularly relevant to things im interested in , and with 2 kids and a needy partner to cope with i just dont have the time or energy lol.i am also highly disorganised, and quite likely to lose any list before i start ticking things off, or print fabulous route plans, then leave them at home

here goes

AQ...39/50
EQ....10/80......( oops )
FQ....14/135.....(oops again)
SQ....17/80

hmm interesting.
i took the AQ only this morning and scored higher (41)
but i have started trying to understate , ie pick slightly instead of strongly on certain things,just incase i have talked myself into believing i have aspergers, lol,here are myscores when i'm holding back.
the SQ isnt typical of aspergers i guess, but o be honest none of the questions were particularly relevant to things im interested in , and with 2 kids and a needy partner to cope with i just dont have the time or energy lol.i am also highly disorganised, and quite likely to lose any list before i start ticking things off, or print fabulous route plans, then leave them at home

here goes

AQ...39/50
EQ....10/80......( oops )
FQ....14/135.....(oops again)
SQ....17/80

I have a copy of an AQ test and it does say that though it is not a diagnosis, around 80% of people who were diagnosed with an ASD scored over 32.

The average score of an NT is 16. A bit of a difference.

Not a diagnosis, but a good cue for diagnosis or further research and investigation.

47/50
8/80
17/135
31/80

I have never been officially assessed for AS, but my son has, and I had to fill out several questionnaires. I think these test, whether done online or administered by a professional, are a good tool. However, in both cases, the answers to the various questions are so subjective that that itself can taint the results.

Example: "I frequently find that I have trouble keeping a conversation going." Well, to answer that question, I think about my experiences in conversations. I only have conversations with a small handful of people. I do not struggle to keep conversations going with my husband, because we are either talking or we aren't, and there is no stress. I don't have trouble keeping a conversation going with my mother, because we have a number of topics that we always discuss in detail. If I were in a situation in which I needed to keep a conversation going with a stranger, or perhaps one of the other moms at my kid's school, then that would be very difficult, but I'm almost never in a situation like that. I don't approach people for conversation unless there is something to discuss, and they don't approach me. So, I can't say that I frequently have trouble keeping a conversation going, because I am rarely in a position in which I am expected or pressured to talk to someone I have nothing to say to. One possible answer is that I strongly agree, because I probably wouldn't avoid people so much if I actually had something to say to them. But perhaps a better answer is that I strongly disagree, because I literally do not find myself in that situation very often at all, since I don't put myself in that situation.

That's just one example, but many, many of the questions get me in the same way. If my mother were to answer questions about what I was like as a child, well--she's an extreme introvert with aspie traits, like myself, and likes to sew all day and put crayons in rainbow order. If she is given a questionnaire which requires her to compare me against some norm, then her responses are going to be different than they would be if she were an extreme extrovert who like to throw parties and gossip. I found the same thing when filling in the questionnaires about my own son.

I guess my point in all this is that, whether the test is administered by a professional or taken online, the questions are just as difficult to answer accurately, and only tell part of the story. I have no clue if I can guess what people are feeling or if I get upset if I can't work on my hobby. It depends on the specific situation.

I personally have made the self-assessment that I am at least mildly on the spectrum, not so much because of scores on a test, but mostly because of how my experiences with life, friendship, and work, and way of relating (or not relating) to people in the world is so much like that of other women and men on the AS spectrum.

BTW, Makuranososhi, I love your new avatar. Alan Rickman is my favorite actor in the world (bit of a special interest thing going on), and "Snow Cake" is one of my favorite movies. Alex Hughes is one of my favorite characters. I wasn't expecting the new avatar, so when I saw it, I got all giddy and felt like wiggling my fingers and going, "Wee-hee!" I guess that says something right there.

Wanda, I'm a Rickman/Snowcake fan as well. I had a similar reaction to the avatar lol I watched Snowcake four times this week. My husband is quite sick of that movie.

So what`s the problem?


"If you were in a situation in which you needed to keep a conversation going with a stranger, would it be difficult?" was not what they asked.


But there was nothing, like nothing at all about whether you avoid people or not in the question.

We're digressing terribly - but thank you. I love Rickman, but had never heard of Snow Cake. I have a mission now.

I don't think an online questionnaire can diagnosis someone, but it does point people in the right direction. I consistently score around a 43 on the AQ survey, and my other results can be found here and on the rdos thread. I even had twenty people (more, actually) take the AQ test as a baseline comparison, and found it to be more accurate and representative of personality traits than I had expected. Some of those who scored highly yet are decidedly not on the spectrum had many of the characteristic interests that are commonly seen on here regarding computers, music, and a need for structure... yet they had little trouble with emotions, change, situational anxieties and interpersonal interaction. To even be detached, I asked my wife to answer the quiz based on her impressions of me (as well as another friend who had known me since childhood). While the scores were lower, they remained well above 32... and these were people that I was able to function comfortable around. So it was rather telling - but at the same time, I tried to utilize the tools differently than others might choose to do so during the discovery process.


M.

If I learned how to do something because of experience, should I pick the choice that I would've picked when I was younger, or by how I perceive things now? Because that would have an effect the score.

These are actual tools created and used by the foremost professionals in Autism, the only issue's that need to be resolved over the use of the on-line test is by a professional Psychologist to analyse the qualitative impairment and it meeting the criteria for diagnosis.