Is the AQ test a diagnostic? I scored 29,twice.

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If the AQ test result falls outside of the ASD score,does that invalidate an official diagnosis?

Edit: 41 on the Cambridge behaviour scale (31 15 minutes ago)

No, no online test invalidates official diagnosis which makes it incredibly frustrating to get diagnosed especially when you doubt yourself/ doctors doubt you.

Since you are still hanging around here with a 29, don't you think you have maybe found your tribe?

No, it's just one of the screening tools used by clinicians.

I can't wait until this is over.

In the original research testing the AQ, 80% of adults with a diagnosis scored 32 or above compared to 2% of controls.

A further paper proposed that when used as a clinical screening tool, AS could effectively be ruled out when a person scored less than 26.

Going by the above findings it's perfectly possible for you to be on the spectrum. Good luck in your appointment.

I took it again. Received a 33. Half an hour ago,I received a 25.

I'm really confused here.

I really want to be invited to social gatherings,but I just suck at being normal. I really want to do these things,but I can't. I am more comfortable by myself.

Now you are sounding like an aspie! lol

I'm a people person deep down. I really wanna be normal and go out. But at same time,people bore me. And I just don't feel relaxed in social situations. So yes,I *would* prefer to be at a party than a library.

Hello again Tom,
In answer to the question, the AQ set of questions is not a diagnostic in itself.

It is a screening tool, answering those sets of questions honestly helps pick out traits which may be consistent with being on the Autism spectrum.

It is not an exam with that set pass mark.

AS others have noted, in the various experiments used to validate the AQ test, 80% of people known to be on the spectrum who answered that set of questions were scoring 32 or above. when those questions are answered by people definitely not on the spectrum, the average score is around 15.

So, 29 would be coming into that band on the borderline of whether the person is on the spectrum or not.

It gives information which assists the person making the diagnosis. remember that the diagnosis process is a range of assessments - the screening questionnaires such as the AQ, collecting accounts of your life from people who have known you over a long period, a number of diagnostic procedures involve setting some particular exercises and observing the way you might set about them. The would also involve some significant face to face interviews with you. They also look at things in the background. How well one succeeds or otherwise at finding work, keeping work, making friendships, making closer relationships, how much success or otherwise one has in keeping such relationships, whether one has difficulties or blind spots in other areas such as executive functioning.

For example, the questionnaires might pick up many traits (say a score of 38), but the person may, at the point of assessment, have worked out some successful compensations, or in the area of passionate (fixated ?) interests, they may have a passionate interest which has gained them knowledge which is valuable in certain fields of work, meaning they had been able to find and keep employment. On the more in depth interviews they may have scored a total of 15 out of 18 possible points on the instrument, and the threshold might be 10, indicating that their profile was autistic, in the part of the spectrum the particular process was designed to identify, but because there was no particular lifelong handicap such as a history of unemployment, destructive relationships, jobs gained but then lost, their assessor indicated that a full diagnosis would be unlikely.

On the other hand, the traits may be fewer or less obvious and a score around 32 or less be returned by the questionnaire, but those traits which are present may have made a person's blind spots regarding others or executive functioning sufficiently impaired that they had a history of unemployment, or being regularly dismissed, or put on performance monitoring, or disciplinarians, or a history of distressing break ups or divorces, basically stuff which causes hardships and griefs, and because of the severe impact such things have on one's life, they would be diagnosed.

It is the combination of both the traits and the traits causing hardships which is an important consideration in diagnosis, especially diagnosis as an adult.