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New test facilitates dx of autism

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beneficii
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11 Dec 2013, 3:55 pm

They use the RAADS-14, a short and sweet test, to distinguish ASD from other conditions:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 070217.htm

Here is a copy of the test:

http://memogen.se/tests/RAADS-14-Screen_en.pdf


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Willard
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11 Dec 2013, 4:12 pm

I there a key for scoring the test? Not that it matters, I guess, as I could just check off the entire first column.



JSBACHlover
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11 Dec 2013, 4:25 pm

For almost all of them, either it applies to me now and when I was young, or only to when I was under 16. I'm certain I would "pass" with flying colors.



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11 Dec 2013, 4:36 pm

Thanks for bringing that one up - it's a bit worrying that such a complicated condition can be summed up in just 14 questions. I think that there are more invasive questionnaires about being the biggest One Direction fan are out there. Occam's Razor comes to mind.

And for those who are interested, this is the actual test: http://memogen.se/tests/RAADS-14-Screen_en.pdf



Random42
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11 Dec 2013, 6:15 pm

Willard wrote:
I there a key for scoring the test? Not that it matters, I guess, as I could just check off the entire first column.



The article said the maximum score is 42. Using that, I figured that the max score for each question is 3. For all questions except 6 it is never: 0 younger than 16: 1 only now: 2 always true: 3 question 6 is the opposite never: 3 younger than 16: 2 only now: 1 always true: 0



According to that I scored either 42 or 39

This is because question 6 is "I can make small talk and chat" I CAN do this... But I am not good a it :) so it doesn't last very long.

Ex.

How are you?

Fine. How are you?

Good. What do you think about the weather?

Uhh... It's...uh cold.


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AQ: 39
Aspie-quiz AS:154 NT:50
RAADS-R: 194
EQ:15 SQ:114


pete1061
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11 Dec 2013, 8:45 pm

Random42 wrote:
Willard wrote:
I there a key for scoring the test? Not that it matters, I guess, as I could just check off the entire first column.



The article said the maximum score is 42. Using that, I figured that the max score for each question is 3. For all questions except 6 it is never: 0 younger than 16: 1 only now: 2 always true: 3 question 6 is the opposite never: 3 younger than 16: 2 only now: 1 always true: 0



According to that I scored either 42 or 39

This is because question 6 is "I can make small talk and chat" I CAN do this... But I am not good a it :) so it doesn't last very long.

Ex.

How are you?

Fine. How are you?

Good. What do you think about the weather?

Uhh... It's...uh cold.


One of my special interests is weather, so it's my opportunity to glaze over eyes by going into meteorologist mode.


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Random42
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11 Dec 2013, 11:40 pm

pete1061 wrote:
Random42 wrote:
Willard wrote:
I there a key for scoring the test? Not that it matters, I guess, as I could just check off the entire first column.



The article said the maximum score is 42. Using that, I figured that the max score for each question is 3. For all questions except 6 it is never: 0 younger than 16: 1 only now: 2 always true: 3 question 6 is the opposite never: 3 younger than 16: 2 only now: 1 always true: 0



According to that I scored either 42 or 39

This is because question 6 is "I can make small talk and chat" I CAN do this... But I am not good a it :) so it doesn't last very long.

Ex.

How are you?

Fine. How are you?

Good. What do you think about the weather?

Uhh... It's...uh cold.


One of my special interests is weather, so it's my opportunity to glaze over eyes by going into meteorologist mode.


:lol:
That was mine in 5th and 6th grade. Though it was mainly just tornados.


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DX Aspergers

AQ: 39
Aspie-quiz AS:154 NT:50
RAADS-R: 194
EQ:15 SQ:114


Callista
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12 Dec 2013, 2:19 am

Yeah, I'd check off the whole first column, too. That's probably pretty typical for anybody with autism. Apparently, most NTs get a very low score.

But I wonder how good this test is at distinguishing between autism and something else--like, autism and social anxiety disorder, or autism and language disorders. They mentioned ADHD group as getting a slightly higher score than the NT group... What about very introverted people? What about people with personality disorders?

Telling autistic apart from NT is not too difficult, either for a doctor or for a written checklist like this one. But that's not the problem they typically face when they diagnose someone. if someone is in their office with problems bad enough to see a doctor for, they've probably got something going on, whether it's simple life stress or some other disorder or autism. A useful test can tell the difference between autism and similar disorders. Telling apart autistic and NT is really not such a big issue--the patient has already determined, by the time they step into the office, that they need some kind of help. It could just be that they're going through a tough time that many people experience, and just need reassurance that they can cope with it, but nobody who's totally problem-free is going to step into a doctor's office and ask for an autism evaluation.


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beneficii
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12 Dec 2013, 2:42 am

Random42 wrote:
pete1061 wrote:
Random42 wrote:
Willard wrote:
I there a key for scoring the test? Not that it matters, I guess, as I could just check off the entire first column.



The article said the maximum score is 42. Using that, I figured that the max score for each question is 3. For all questions except 6 it is never: 0 younger than 16: 1 only now: 2 always true: 3 question 6 is the opposite never: 3 younger than 16: 2 only now: 1 always true: 0



According to that I scored either 42 or 39

This is because question 6 is "I can make small talk and chat" I CAN do this... But I am not good a it :) so it doesn't last very long.

Ex.

How are you?

Fine. How are you?

Good. What do you think about the weather?

Uhh... It's...uh cold.


One of my special interests is weather, so it's my opportunity to glaze over eyes by going into meteorologist mode.


:lol:
That was mine in 5th and 6th grade. Though it was mainly just tornados.


OMG, you too? I was so into tornadoes in elementary school and still kinda am! My being into tornadoes was mentioned repeatedly!


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beneficii
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12 Dec 2013, 2:44 am

Callista wrote:
Yeah, I'd check off the whole first column, too. That's probably pretty typical for anybody with autism. Apparently, most NTs get a very low score.

But I wonder how good this test is at distinguishing between autism and something else--like, autism and social anxiety disorder, or autism and language disorders. They mentioned ADHD group as getting a slightly higher score than the NT group... What about very introverted people? What about people with personality disorders?

Telling autistic apart from NT is not too difficult, either for a doctor or for a written checklist like this one. But that's not the problem they typically face when they diagnose someone. if someone is in their office with problems bad enough to see a doctor for, they've probably got something going on, whether it's simple life stress or some other disorder or autism. A useful test can tell the difference between autism and similar disorders. Telling apart autistic and NT is really not such a big issue--the patient has already determined, by the time they step into the office, that they need some kind of help. It could just be that they're going through a tough time that many people experience, and just need reassurance that they can cope with it, but nobody who's totally problem-free is going to step into a doctor's office and ask for an autism evaluation.


According to this, specificity of the cutoff score of 14 is about 50%, so about half that would score 14 or above would not have ASD:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24321513

Accordingly, it is meant only as a screening tool, not a method to be used by itself for definitive diagnosis. The very high sensitivity of 97% suggests that few people with ASD would get missed by this screening tool.


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binaryodes
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12 Dec 2013, 11:39 am

I basically ticked the entire first column too.Its highly relevant that the spectrum is now totally continuous as opposed to being comprised of multiple discrete categories. This appears to have widened the field somewhat. My aq is 35 so I shouldn't have scored so far above the cutoff


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12 Dec 2013, 11:28 pm

Willard wrote:
I there a key for scoring the test? Not that it matters, I guess, as I could just check off the entire first column.


I found this: http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/autism-quiz.htm

I found some of the questions difficult to answer. For example, "I get extremely upset when the way I like to do things is suddenly changed". Well, sometimes that's true (that I get extremely upset). Other times, I am only mildly annoyed.

In any event, my score was 30.



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13 Dec 2013, 1:01 am

And for anyone interested in the LONG form of the test:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... 766/#Sec29
Results walkthru:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... 766/#Sec30

I kinda miss the "somewhat agree" choices :P