What do you think about this autism gauge?

Post Reply New Topic

On my teen forum I posted this video. And a bunch of kids on the spectrum responded to it and it ended up with me posting the image below and saying Carly is probably somewhere in the red and I'm somewhere in the yellow.

[img][800:214]http://i.imgur.com/8TjoSAu.png[/img]

I guess the question that comes to mind is: what does the left right position indicate?

I think maybe a better model for the spectrum is something like this:


Where the hue indicates different traits and the saturation represents the severity of symptoms in that trait. Then you could do a sort of radar plot on that spectrum that gives a fairly accurate indication of the impact of those traits on the individual.

I think a multi-axis spectrum is a better idea because if you go with a single left-right spectrum, people can be misled by strengths or weaknesses in one area--e.g., the person is non-verbal and therefore incapable of thought, or, the person is highly verbal and therefore should have no problem getting and keeping a jobe, etc.,

But your graphic is probably a good way of introducing the idea of the spectrum to someone who knows nothing about it.

I wouldn't know where to put myself, exactly. I used to think I would be way over on the right of your spectrum, but it has been driven home over the last five years that I have some kind of Dunning Kruger effect when it comes to evaluating my own social skills and awareness. So it seems I a more to the left than I like to think, or than my self-image admits.

I like the circle better. And by multi axis do you mean circles within circles?

I prefer the circle too.

Definitely the circle. Some of us will have more trouble in some areas, some in others. A linear spectrum (to me) only shows the average of the subjects symptoms with no regard to what symptoms and the severity of each of them.

Sorry, it was clear in my mind and I did not make it clear--

The idea is that the colors around the circle are different traits characteristic of autism.
Then the line going from the center of the circle to the edge would be the intensity or severity of that symptom.

For example the reds could be Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors and Interests.

So one frequency (or shade) of red --more toward yellow, for example, would be stereotypy or stims and another frequency, more toward violet, would be special interests.

Then you could show a point near the center if you don't stim much, and a point near the edge would indicate extremely intense and prolonged stims.

To make it very clear, it might be better as a ring, because the marks for very mild symptoms will cluster near the center and be harder to identify.

The concept is similar to the radar chart that comes at the end of the RDOS guy's aspie test.
Something like this (but with different labels!)

Maybe this weekend I'll try to create a real ASD version.

I really like this article, it uses the color wheel metaphor

http://graphicexplanations.info/2013/09 ... -spectrum/

I also like the circle the best.

The circle gets my vote too.

What exactly is Autism? is much like the question, What exactly is color?

Apparently NTs are all white.
j/k

If you do, will you share it here?

I prefer the wheel as well. It would be cool to have a wheel with all sorts of symptoms from different types of disorders and just eliminate labels.

I'll be a jerk and say I'd rather have a n-dimensional matrix: n = number of diagnostic criteria. That way, we can represent our condition as a set of n numbers.

I like the color wheel, but I thought of it as a sphere rather than a circle.

But I keep thinking something like a torus would be even better.



I like the idea that the spectrum is dynamic, not static.

A multi-axis spectrum in the form of a sphere is most likely the best model. Also the position you are on the sphere is not fixed, we move through different positions depending on our developmental stage.