Testing for asperger's syndrome

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I feel that there is a strong possibility that I have asperger's syndrome and I want a professional test that would be able to tell whether I have the condition. I have went to a place near me called associates in behavioral science and have done an intake session with them as well as therapy. Now they are telling me that there is no test for autism. How can this be? Asperger's syndrome isn't a label that you are given when you are born where either you have it or don't have it. It is something that you have to be tested for. Everyone that has been diagnosed with autism has been tested for it. There's another place called UIC that may be able to test for aspergers, but wants $2,500 for the testing. I'm irritated right now because all that I want is a simple test to tell me whether I have it and what type of practices that I should proceed with if I do have the condition. Please help.

If you were in Utah I would refer you to a guy who can do it for about $750, he is an autism specialist at a University here.


I know even several hundred dollars is still not reasonable for many of us to have to pull out of pocket.

It isn't that easy. There are two paths to diagnosis.

If you are having problems and go for help, a licensed professional treating you may diagnose an autism spectrum disorder. This is often covered by insurance. Alternatively, you can be given structured tests by a psychologist. Often not covered by insurance, and very expensive.

There is no simple test, and that is irritating.

What you need if you have Aspergers though will depend on the person. Would you want to say whether you need help with benefits or communicating or what you are needing help with?

This fora is chocked full of people talking about their diagnosis.

There's a pretty good online test here> http://rdos.net/eng/

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt64408.html

If the test that you are talking about is the one that I think you are, then I have taken it before. I believe that when I took the test I scored an aspie score of 116 out of 200 and a neurotypical score of 86 out of 200, which would indicate that I have an average case of the condition.

Waterfalls, I would say the main things that I need help on are to stop overthinking and trying to be everywhere with my thoughts. To get more comfortable with my thoughts and thinking patterns. I also feel that I need help with my communication skills and social interactions.

For the knd of help you are looking for, a therapist with experience treating people who have ASD is probably what would be most helpful. They're tough to find. But if you can, it's worth it. People and agencies involved with kids sometimes know who is good at that and many will see adults.

They are wrong. There are tests for autism, they just aren't medical like blood tests or MRI scans. The tests are mostly observational; they might involve talking to your parents or giving them a questionnaire to fill out, such as the Autism Diagnostic Interview II (ADI-II), or the BASC-II if you're under age 25. There's also the ADOS-2, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, which is a 40-minute to hour-long semi-structured interview in which you do a few activities -- like telling the story from a wordless picture book and creating a story using random objects as props -- and hold a conversation with the examiner about such topics as friendship, relationships, emotions, etc. The ADI and the ADOS are both considered "gold standard" tests for assessing autism in that they are the most accurate and reliable tests we have currently for the disorder. You may also be given an IQ test, a test of fine motor skills such as shape-tracing, tests for executive functioning such as the trailmaking test, and several self-report questionnaires such as the MCMI-III, the SCL-90, the BASC-2 self-report (again, only if you're under 25), and/or the BDI and the BAI, which test for symptoms of comorbid depression and anxiety respectively. Apart from the ADI and the trailmaking test, I took all of those tests during my assessment. I would ask the practitioner you went to see why he thinks there are no tests for autism and see what he says when you bring these up; it may be that he just doesn't have the skill to administer them, in which case he should refer you to someone who can, but he is definitely wrong when he says there are no tests for autism.

(Note, all the tests I mentioned are used in the U.S: I don't know what they do in other countries, but I'm relatively certain they've universalized the ADOS and the ADI to be used globally.)

Depending on a) where you live and b) your financial situation, you may be able to get a discounted rate. I live in Indiana and went up north (near Chicago) to a psychologist that offers both general counseling and ABA treatment. Since my income is so low (since I am a student) I was able to get a discounted rate ($85.00/ session) without insurance. I would call around and ask for referrals from psychologists. There may also be a list of practitioners online, that diagnose adults. There has to be someone that will do testing for you at a reasonable price.

I think the people who told you there is no test for autism were being honest. Your own online diagnosis is all you need.

"the main things that I need help on are to stop overthinking and trying to be everywhere with my thoughts. To get more comfortable with my thoughts and thinking patterns. I also feel that I need help with my communication skills and social interactions"

Eureka - you have made the necessary breakthrough. From now on, you need to work on your ability to observe your own behaviour, and compare it with the behaviour of others.

I'm not sure how old you are, but the younger the better. By the time I understood my problem, I was so set in my ways that I couldn't change. But at least I now understand, and have managed to minimise the amount of agonising which I used to do.

I still have to read every sentence in a book several times before moving on, and when I listen to the radio, I constantly lose track of what they are talking about because my mind wanders onto something new every few seconds. I think it's ADD.

One thing I have seen is that unfortunately it seems like if you go to a doctor telling them you believe you are on the spectrum, they are less likely to believe you. I've watched this with a family member. In my case, nobody knew WHAT was different about me, so they were starting from scratch and arrived at the conclusion themselves. Maybe it's that doctors don't want to think patients know as much as they do, I don't know.

A few years ago I went to my doctor and told him "I think I have Asperger's Syndrome". He didn't think I did but sent me to the in-house psychologist at the medical clinic for testing.

Lo and behold (see my signature below).

The same psychologist told me later that after she sent my diagnosis to my doctor she ran into him in the hallway and he said to her: "I've had <eggheadjr> as a patient for many years and it didn't look to me like he had Asperger's".

She told me she replied to my doctor: "Guess you weren't looking very closely Doc".

I was not tested at all. I was in therapy at the time and the psychologist said that after working with me for some time that I definitely had Asperger's. There was no testing, no rating scales, or no anything else like that, but it was an official diagnosis. I have updated other testing, such as speech and language testing since then, but I have never had testing for ASD.

I was tested at the place which said that there is no test to absolutely confirm whether you have Asperger's or not. Only things that help indicate whether you have the condition. I think they are right in that sense, although there may be scanning technologies that can evaluate whether one has the condition with far more accuracy than any written or verbal test. I honestly felt that the tests given to me where BS for the most part and had little to nothing to do with testing for the condition. The tests I was given goes as follows: placing a series of colored blocks to match that which is shown in a picture, memorizing numbers said to me, saying what 2 words have in common with each other, pointing out what is wrong in simple scenes such as a beach scene, finding the odd picture out in a series of pictures, and tests for processing speed which they said that I did very poorly on and I agree with that result. I was also given a questionnaire with 500 true false questions (who the f**k does that), which I felt was very bogis. I think this test may have been the BASC-2 self report that you were talking about. From that they said that I might have been depressed. There may be some truth to that due to me not feeling like I can get to where I want to be, but I feel that it's not the root of my problems. I went to a psychologist who has said that the testing I was given was not very accurate. He believes that I don't have it, but I get the feeling that he doesn't like to diagnose people with disorders and is going to be naturally more biased towards people not having disorders. As mentioned before, I really feel that scanning technologies are more accurate than cognitive tests, because cognitive tests don't really tell the full story and go in depth, detailed, and look inside like scanning technologies do. Also, I have heard that it's not uncommon for someone who believes that they have asperger's to be diagnosed with another condition.

I was able to get testing done for $200, which said that I don't have it according to that test. I have a quick thought: I remember that when I was younger I would cry a lot, but now I can hardly feel my emotions at all. This indicates that it is not a genetic thing for me, but rather a deterioration. I feel like I have deteriorated in other aspects of mental function as well such as memory and processing speed.