Question about quizes/am I diagnosable?

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I get that no one here can tell me the answer to whether I could be diagnosed or not. I'm just looking for some feedback on a few things that confuse me.

First, on the Aspie Quiz I got a 121, on the AQ I think I got a 37, and on the list of Aspie women's traits I think I could check off almost every single one.

So, obviously I'm confused. I had kind of accepted that I was borderline and left it at that. Lately I'm wondering again if I would be diagnosable. It kind of obsesses me actually. I was reading a blog by an Aspie writer and she said that if you can read facial expressions you would have a really hard time getting a diagnosis. I can read facial expressions and don't recall ever having a problem with that, or with face blindness or anything like that. I remember staring at people's faces as a teen and really studying them and being almost fascinated by them.

Anyway, any insights as to why my scores would be all over the place, and whether you could or couldn't get a diagnosis if you can read facial expressions?

Only an appropriately-trained and licensed mental-health professional is qualified to give a valid diagnosis. As far as I know, there are no WP members who fit that description. On-line quizzes do not have the observational abilities that a real human being may have; nor does any on-line quiz have the education and years of experience that an appropriately-trained and licensed mental-health professional will definately have.

This is completely aside from the fact that "Asperger's Syndrome" is no longer an official diagnosis under DSM-V.

If you think that you may have some form of Autism, then please seek out an appropriately-trained and licensed mental-health professional, and do not rely on the opinions of any poseurs, or any spurious answers from any on-line quizzes.

Huh? I was certainly not asking to be diagnosed by anyone on an online forum. That is ridiculous. Maybe you should reread what I actually asked and then answer that. Some of us don't have hundreds of dollars to chase a useless diagnosis, so we reconcile things in our own way.

Hi, I never imagined I could have AS until I looked at the women's traits researching to try to understand someone I was working with. I had a real eureka moment and pursued a diagnosis from this. I can do lots of the things we are not supposed to do such as read expressions or hold down a job. You read a lot of worrying things here such as people being told they cannot have an ASC because they work, or are married etc. etc. I am fortunate in that I live in the UK and it was relatively easy to get a diagnosis from a specialist service. Elsewhere it appears there are a lot of people happy to take your money without the real specialist knowledge. As it is such a broad spectrum, you would not have all the traits but if you decide to pursue diagnosis make sure you go to someone who is properly qualified to make the diagnosis.

Poseurs?

And who would that be, exactly?

This site strikes me as a place where people come for support, not to "pose" as something they're not.

You think that those who only suspect they may be on the spectrum -- and I'm among those -- are just "poseurs"? Jumping on a bandwagon because they think it's cool or they want to be part of something?

Let me tell you Fnord, in the years that I've wondered if I'm on the spectrum, rather than feeling gleeful that maybe it's cool and oh, I should go and hang out on Wrong Planet, instead I was feeling like I'd rather die than discover I'm on the autism spectrum.

That's not a slur on those who are for sure -- it's just the reaction of a person whose struggles had been anything but those of a "normal person" and yet who had tried so hard all my life to believe I'm "a normal person". Yet everything in my life points to the spectrum. I'm 51 and belong to the generation who didn't get this kind of thing "looked into." God knows how many peole of my age fell through the cracks unlike the generation today whose carers, teachers, family doctors are on the alert for every stage of life. Not in my day they weren't.

I can only speak for myself but I would say that nobody's being a poseur around here. And it's an incredibly unsupportive and vicious thing to say on a site like this.

Whether or not someone with very subtle AS traits is diagnosed depends entirely on who they go to see, and the experience that person has. Also, sometimes there are signs that people aren't even aware of, that a trained and experienced professional can spot easily.

Very important point above.

The aspie quiz is scored 1 to 200, the AQ is scored 1 to 50.
It's best to take some time to read the scope and analysis of a test if you choose to take it.

Facial expressions are generally easier to interpret by a person if they are "high functioning", at this position on the spectrum high emotional states will be obvious and subconscious communication may be too subtle to be read.
It's very hard to know what is missing if you can not identify it.

I don't know that I have very subtle AS traits. I just know that my test scores on these specific quizes would make it appear that way. Like I said, for the women's Aspie traits I have almost every single one of them. I seem to relate to and understand other Aspies much more easily than "other people" - as Dh (who is also borderline or on the spectrum) and I have always referred to them. I understand my Aspie 8 year old son's reactions to life much more than I understand my 3 year old NT daughter's, and I believe I was much more like him as a child. Though she is a delight to have around, she is completely different than the rest of us.

I just took the RAADS-R test posted over on the Women's forum. It says a score of 65 or higher is consistent with a clinical diagnosis of an ASD, and I got 126. I was trying to be really careful about how I answered the questions too, because many of them were somewhat true, but since there was no scale I chose "never true". So now I'm really confused??? Why would this score be so high, yet the other quizes are so borderline?

ETA: Maybe I'm scoring this wrong? It seems unbelievably high? I can't figure out where I went wrong though.

Re: Facial expressions

I understand why you would be confused about this. People with Aspergers by definition have average or above average intelligence. Therefore, one would suppose that they are good at noticing patterns in the world around them.

Facial expressions are just a pattern like everything else. When someone is expressing sadness they show a sad face. When someone says they are happy, they smile. And so on, with all the facial expressions.

I think all intelligent people can learn these patterns, whether they are Aspergers or not. There is nothing magical about facial expressions that prevents them from being learnt by Aspergers people, as far as I can see. To me, this is just common sense.

I think the problem in Aspergers people arises in that they cannot fluidly apply this knowledge (there is a sentence in the Wikipedia ariticle about Aspergers to this effect). Its to do with not being able to process multiple channels of communication. So, in a real life conversation, you may be so focused on the content of the speech that you completely miss the nonverbal stuff that goes along with it.

The difficulty with this is that you do not realise you are doing it. The very crux of the matter is that you are not aware of the non-verbal signals that you are missing and so Aspergers is very difficult to spot in yourself.

I believe that the feeling of Aspergers is not "Someone is making a strange facial expression, and I don't understand it", more its "I have a vague feeling I'm doing something wrong in this conversation and I don't know what it is".

Disclaimer: this is just my opinion, I'm in no way an expert. I'm not diagnosed myself, so cannot give you any advice on that I'm afraid

Fnord doesn't seem to be reading anything anyone actually says. He just copies and pastes the (almost) same lines every time someone asks something diagnosis-related. Very unhelpful.

When I did my AS assessment, tests showed that my ability to read faces is just slightly below average. That's just one part of the diagnostic criterion, though. The other part is that I don't show facial expressions myself and for that reason people can't easily read *my* face. That's just as important for diagnostic purposes. Also, I have only partial faceblindness. That is, I recognize most people if I meet them in familiar surroundings, but only few people if I meet them somewhere unfamiliar. And I can't describe facial features, not even those of my own parents.

I am a woman, and I am very good at reading facial expressions, yet I still got diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.

Like Foxfield pointed out, facial expressions are just a pattern like everything else, and intelligent people can learn those patterns. I happened to have a bit of an obsession with human psychology, facial expressions and body language when I was younger, so I am now a self-taught face- and body reader!

I must say that I am best at it when I am not also talking to the person whose face/body I am 'reading'. I can't seem to do both at the same time.

actualy,aspergers isnt defined by average or above inteligence,this is a stereotype.
aspergans just have to be high functioning which in itself izs defined by only one point outside the intelectual disability spectrum and higher,its got a very limited iq level criteria unlike classic autism which has no iq restrictions so of course that gives a impression that aspies are more inteligentt,to be an NT has no iq restrriction either,iq is an individual thing and not based on label.

I believe it is natural for people, when they first suspect that they could have Aspergers (based upon one or more behavioral symptoms or online test results), to join an online forum and ask other Aspies whether or not they too have Aspergers. In fact, this is exactly what I did when I first joined WP, back in December 2012.

The more interesting question (from my perspective) is how should the forum respond. And, here, I tend to side with Fnord. We do not know the OP. Hell, we don’t even know each other.

After thinking about it a bit, the proper response to the OP would be – go learn more about Aspergers. If you read one book, but are still uncertain, read another. And another. If after reading 10 books, you are still uncertain, read more. But just don’t read about Aspergers. Learn about other psych conditions (such as OCPD, Social Anxiety, Generalized Anxiety, etc.),.

If after doing exhaustive reading, you are still uncertain, but still want to know, get a diagnosis.

If you do pursue a diagnosis, prepare for it. Document as much as you can from your life to help the diagnosis process. Read Tony Attwood’s Book (“The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome”). If he discusses anything that resonates with you, document it. Read about Schizoid (or any other psychological condition). If you read anything that resonates with you, document it. Also, go through your Baby Book (if you have one). It likely contains pearls of information about motor capabilities, language capabilities, social/adaptive capabilities, temperament, sleeping patterns, eating patterns from your early child development. Document various milestones with each grade in school (e.g. performance, best subjects, salient comments from teachers/parents, key events).

As a note, my diagnosis was a journey of self-discovery. From my perspective, an adult diagnosis is only useful/worthwhile, if you are willing to put the time into it.

Rocket123. this may be an age thing. I did all this research too when first coming across Asperger's, but I did it exclusively online. There's no need to read ten or more books, as all the information is readily available online, in this forum and in others, just that you get different viewpoints rather than one author's. I haven't read a single book about AS or the psychological conditions you mention. I would have read a lot of books if this were the 1990s, but it's not.