Please read!... (About Aspergers diagnosis and I.Q)

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Hello everyone, I'm a sixteen years old guy whom is currently in HS. I talked to a psychiatrist and took a I.Q test and those were my scores: (Scale Points)

Verbal comprehension: 93
Comprehension : 12

Perceptual Reasoning : 92[b][u]

Block Design : 5
Matrix Reasoning : 15
Visual Puzzels : 6 I think, it says in Swedish "Bildkategorier och Likheter (Picture categories and similarities)".

Working Memory : 94

Processing Speed : 80

Whole Scale : 87

And the rest of the diagnosis, I'm kind of meeting the criteria (just a few things that doesn't apply to me, or none), the question is: Do I have a mental impairment? I wanna do something innovative in the future like Albert Einstein did (I love astrophysics more than anything) but is it impossible for me? It's starting to worry me alot. Or is it simply the fact that I have to be very creative when it comes to visualizing because I am good at it. I also have a bad listening/reading comprehension and I'm bad at taking instructions, is it related to I.Q or both IQ and Aspergers?

Or is I.Q just some random s*** we humans have come up with? When I actually think about it isn't everything humans come up with false or unreabile because it's nothing universally? (Sorry off-topic lol)

Mental impairment is below 70. 87 is considered low average, but not borderline intellectual functioning or intellectual disability.

IQ isn't perfect (because you can practice IQ tests without becoming more intelligent generally, for example), but it is the best we have.

You're below average in IQ tests. However, intelligence is not fixed and can be improved through work. I suggest you work hard to grasp the basic concepts of astrophysics, and then keep working hard. Many of your peers are at an advantage because they have already "put the work in" (I am not saying you are lazy at all, maybe they just had helpful hobbies when they were younger). If you want to be a world leader in physics then you need to work hard to overtake them.

I tested at 165. I can't hold down a job, have breakdowns all the time, and I live with my parents. IQ has much, much less to do with your success in life than discipline and good coping skills do. find something that works for you and give yourself to it as much as possible - dysfunctional intelligence isn't worth as much as well adjusted mediocrity.

there's absolutely no reason you can't learn advanced physics. if you want to make that kind of thing employable, I'd recommend looking into applied statistics or computer science/electronics. honestly I think people on the autism spectrum have an advantage in these fields, since we tend to be more overt about thinking in algorithms to begin with.

It's just some random s***.

What is the actual diagnosis?

My scores were Verbal Comprehension-102, Perceptual Reasoning-77, Working Memory-80, and Processing Speed-85. My overall Full Scale IQ according to the psychologist was 83. None of those scores indicated an Asperger's diagnosis but a nonverbal learning disability one.

I don't know what to tell you in terms of IQ. I honestly don't know much about it.

First of all, IQ tests are mostly BS. However, I have to correct the misinformation here. Average is 100 with a standard deviation of 15. So, 85 to 115 is the range of average. At 87 you are in the average range.

When it comes to intelligence it's really not about how much you've got (as measured by IQ) but how you use it. I have a reasonably high IQ but I struggle to apply it in any meaningful way. I have a friend whose IQ is the low end of average and he is much more able to put his intelligence to practical use than me. My 40 or so extra points of IQ don't help much when you compare me to my friend.

Try to find those things that you are good at and enjoy and do your best to excel at them. Devote as much of your free time as you can manage to learning about your chosen areas. Forget about your score on a test and do everything you can to advance your agenda. You should also consider managing your expectations though. Not everybody gets to do something of the same magnitude that Albert Einstein did. This isn't to say you can't accomplish something great but you're setting yourself an EXTREMELY lofty goal there. It's good to have lofty goals but it can also be bad to push yourself too hard and bad if you fail to achieve your excessively lofty goal. Try to find the balanced way that works for you.

IQ tests are just a gauge of intelligence. They evolved from the Binet scale which was originally used to screen people to be put into mental institutions in Europe and subsequently to screen applicants wanting to get into the US army in WW1.

They never were and still are not a true measure of intelligence nor are able to predict or gauge capacity for intellectual development. There is also an element of cultural bias in the tests.

To me the IQ test is unfair because I never took geometry or physics in school, but did well in undergrad and graduate school. Made great grades and took college algebra and stats and never took geometry and physics. When I took the visual skills for the neuropsychology test I was unable to complete more complex block designs and thought it was not a big deal and that I was just not good at that. Come to find out I have visual spatial deficits and I was able to go home after the block design test and draw on paper how it should have worked. So frustrating and never realized I had visual spatial deficits, but always wondered why my friends always seemed to have a better sense of direction than me and there is also the issue of driving a car in reverse and parallel parking.

Yes apply yourself and learn what you like and please do something you like. Do not get a career and do something begrudgingly for anyone else (like me and I regret it so much). Having a good attitude means so much when go for a career you like.

My verbal IQ was 112 and performance IQ 82 (there may be 4 different measurements that are averaged out and not sure) and the point difference is vast and my overall IQ is 100 which is average. I know I could study and work on it and improve, but the point different would most likely remain 10 points or more different.

Good luck.

My IQ got tested at 160 but I'm 24 and struggling with life. I am a part-time university student in a top rate UK uni doing pharmacology, but I'm struggling to keep up with the work and I am having to repeat the second year, because I was too ill to do the exams last year.

Yes IQ 160 is great but having schizophrenia, severe OCD, severe AS (my psych said my AS is severe), chronic migraines and weekly / daily meltdowns means that I haven't got as far in life as I would like to. I've never been in a paid job before and I am not allowed to drive so I never learned how to drive.

But another thing I'm concerned about is my processing speed, how am I supposed to learn Astrophysics if my listening/reading comprehenson is bad, is there any way of improving it besides reading boring books? (I prefer Sci-Fiction books). Also there's a lot of subjects in school that are preventing me from learning astrophysics/mathematics.

And is creativity affected by intelligence? I usually have a lot of philosophical question that I tend to be able to answer.


One last thing:[b][u]

How come I can learn mathematics/physics very quickly but the rest not? The only difficulty I have in math is when I have to read a lot (intructions).

You can find ways around your listening/reading comprehension issues.

Firstly, it might be worth getting tested for dyslexia.

In university, you might find it useful to record your lectures so you can listen again later. That way you can easily recap anything you don't understand.

To help with your listening comprehension, try listening to lectures on YouTube, or just listening to songs with complex lyrics.

There's nothing wrong with reading science fiction, but maybe try and supplement it with popular science. I don't know which books are easily accessed in America, but here are some authors I recommend:

Pop sci:
Jim al-Kadlili- his style is quite easy to read even though he covers some complicated concepts. Might be a bit patronising if you are already familiar with them though.
Chad Orzel- quite witty, he writes books "to explain things to your dog"
Michael Brooks- talks about some things that are a bit different in an amusing way
Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw- very popular over here, they know how to adapt things for a lay audience
John Gribbin- a friend described him as "the dream teacher"
Ian Stewart- Maths rather than physics, but he picks out the most interesting things about maths. Very good books.
Alex Boese- another maths writer, his is more "case study" and cultural than Stewart. Still very interesting.
Steve Jones, Nick Lane, Richard Dawkins- very good popularisers of Biology.

Science fiction:
Philip K. Dick- the master
Ray Bradbury- the other master - both are particularly good at short stories
Douglas Adams- Hitchhiker's Guide is the best comic sci fi book there is. An absolute must.
Laini Taylor- more fantasy than sci fi, but still extremely enjoyable.
Hugh Howey- fantastic dystopian fiction. Some of the relationships are a bit weak, but the story and scenario is compelling
I can't remember the authors of these books, but other great, lesser-known dystopian works are "Ready Player One" and "The End Specialist".

Thinking about it, most of my favourites are fantasy rather than sci fi. I'm sure loads of great sci fi will come to mind.

Eventually you will need to read "boring" books in order to become an astrophysicist.