Post-assessment thoughts (finally got the result today).

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Verbal Scales

1. Information: 28 items on a variety of information adults have presumably had opportunities to acquire in our culture. No specialized or academic information included; however, some of the items cover quite sophisticated information.

2. Comprehension: 18 items that require examinee to explain what should be done in certain circumstances, the meaning of proverbs, why certain societal practices are followed, and so forth. The test measures practical judgement, common sense, and the ability to understand and adapt to social customs. Score on each item varies (0-2 pts) according to the degree to which the response describes the most pertinent aspects of the question.

3. Arithmetic: 20 arithmetic problems similar to those encountered in elementary math courses. Problems are administered orally and must be solved without paper and pencil. In addition to math knowledge, test measures concentration and systematic problem-solving ability.

4. Similarities: 19 items requiring examinee to describe how two given things are alike. Score on each item varies according to the degree to which the response describes a general property primarily pertinent to both items in the pair. Measures concrete, functional, and abstract concept formation.

5. Digit Span: Two parts, Digits forward and digits backwards. Examinee required to repeat 3 - 9 digits forward and 2 - 9 digits backwards. Measures short-term memory, attention, and concentration..

6. Vocabulary: 66 words of increasing difficulty are presented orally and visually. Examinee required to define the words. Score (0-2) based on sophistication of definition. Measures verbal knowledge and concept formation.

7. Letter-Number Sequencing (Optional Test): Examiner presents combinations of letters and numbers, from 2 to nine letter-number combinations. Examinee must repeat each series by, first, repeating the numbers in ascending order, then the letters in alphabetical order (e.g., 9-L-2-A; correct response is 2-9-A-L). Measures "working memory," the ability to simultaneously recall and organize stimuli of different, similar types. This also is a standard test on the Wechsler Memory Scale-III.

Performance Scales

8. Coding-Digit Symbol: Numbers 1 - 7 are paired with symbols on a key presented to examinee. Examinee has 120 seconds to go through a grid of 90 numbers and place the correct symbol above each number. Measures visual-motor speed and complexity, motor coordination. There are two additional, optional extensions of the coding test that measure the examinees skills in learning the coding process after completing the initial task.


9. Picture Completion: 25 cards, each containing a picture having a part missing. Examinee must identify the missing part. Measures ability to observe details and recognize specific features of the environment (I.e., whole to part discrimination). Also measures performance in deliberately focusing attention.

10. Block Design: Perhaps the butt of more jokes than any other WAIS scale! Included in the test are nine red and white square blocks and a spiral booklet of cards showing different color designs that can be made with the blocks. The examinee must arrange the blocks to match the design formed by examiner or shown on cards. In addition to being scored for accuracy, each item is scored for speed as well. Measures spatial problem-solving and manipulative abilities, and part to whole organization.

11. Picture Arrangement: Eleven items. Each item consists of 3 to 6 cards containing pictures. The examinee must arrange the pictures from left to right to tell the intended story. Again, both accuracy and speed are scored. Partial credit is given for alternate, but less commonly given arrangements to some items.
Measures nonverbal reasoning and sequencing skills, and grasp of social cause and effect (also known as social intelligence).

12. Matrix Reasoning: A new test on the WAIS-III. Examinee is presented with a series of design with a part missing. Examinee chooses the missing part that will complete the design, from five choices. Measures nonverbal analytical reasoning.

13. Object Assembly (Optional Test): Four items, each item being a "cut up" object, like a puzzle. Examinee must correctly assemble the parts of the puzzle. Measures visual-motor problem-solving and organizational abilities, and visual anticipation skills.

14. Symbol Search (Optional test): Examinee must match one or two symbols shown on the left column with the same symbol/s in the right column of each page in the supplemental test booklet. Measures organization accuracy and processing speed

Anyway, the psychologist told me my IQ profile is quite scattered. She also told me she thinks I could do better and that the scores maybe don't really reflect my "true score" since I sort of shut down during some tests etc, and that that's probably what it's like for me "in real life" as well. I don't know. I asked her if we'll be going through the tests more in depth and she said we'll try to do that next time we meet up (in two weeks).

If you can begin to see yourself as if you were someone else this will help a lot. I do that to myself sometimes when I am struggling in similar ways. I talk to myself as if I were to talking to another person

It is how you function, that matters, and you will begin to see that clearer as time goes, you can´t know now. You have only been you. It takes a while to discover the difference.
I suppose, you have read Tony Attwood? The Complete Guide to Aspergers syndrome.
He´s done a lot on youtube as well.
Tania Marshall is working on a list of female aspie traits.
Find them on the net.

Well, I do care about intelligence quotients and accomplishments (and a lot of people on this forum seem to do too) and, to me, I'm obviously not good at anything. I don't know why people have lied to me my whole life and told me I'm smart (even the psychologist told me I am several times today) if I'm not. I'm in the average/higher average range (not sure of my exact score yet but the psychologist said it was in the higher part of average and I think I saw the number 113 somewhere). That's not good enough.

Please know that I do not hold other people to the same standards as I hold myself. If you told me you have an IQ of 113 I'd probably say that's good, because it sort of is. But not for me. I know that's ridiculous and stupid and that I'm a hypocrite but I have this really skewed and distorted way of looking at myself. I must be perfect or I see no point in living.

In autism often Theory of Mind is impaired and it is hard to imgine yourself being another person.
I cannot do it, got assessed with severe impairment in Theory of Mind.
Which does not mean that I like people suffering.
But I cannot imagine being someone else.

Interesting, I wonder if that will be the case (still waiting). As of yet, I don't have much confidence in the system itself. It seems that the prevalence of those who are qualified to make an accurate diagnosis in the mental health system in the States is very small compared to how many actually make diagnoses. Until the eye tracking technology or brain scans (or some other yet known to us physical diagnosis) become more common place, it's gonna be hard not to be skeptical. I know I fit enough criteria to warrant a diagnosis, so for all practical purposes, I assume the diagnosis, though I still wonder if my oddities could be better explained via a conglomeration of other factors.

I have a hard time understanding what ToM actually means. It's very interesting because I think I have poor ToM in one area but strong ToM in another if I understand it correctly. I can analyze myself very well as if I were looking at myself from outside of myself and I can coach myself as if I were coaching a ski or swim student. I can also talk to myself and sometimes console the younger parts of myself as if I were someone else doing it. But I am often told that I don't understand what other people are thinking. I get told this a lot so I think that if that is also ToM I am pretty poor at that. I also get told that I don't always relate to what others are feeling. I can relate if it's really big and obvious but more subtle or complex things I have a much harder time with. So I don't know if those are both ToM things or not.

Theory of Mind is the ability to understand what other people may be thinking. In it's most elementary form, it's the ability to understand that different people have different thoughts. Involved with TOM is perspective taking, being able to think about and understand an event or situation "through the eyes of another." These are all social thinking skills that develop without formal instruction in neurotypical individuals, starting at a very early age. These are also skills that most people, including educators, assume exsist in all people, to a greater or lesser degree of development. This is not the case within the autism population.

Theory of mind (often abbreviated ToM) is the ability to attribute mental states ? beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc. ? to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, and intentions that are different from one's own.

Maybe first one must have the ability to attribute mental states to oneself before one can do it in regard to another person. But I don't know.

That´s how it works.
The difference is, that it comes intuitively in NT´s, whereas people with autism has to learn by experience, thought and concious comparison.

Aspies are said to be very self centered, exessively interested in self,- but we probably have to in order to develop socially, - because we often have to learn by intellect, what comes intuitively to others.

That´s how it works.
The difference is, that it comes intuitively in NT´s, whereas people with autism has to learn by experience, thought and concious comparison.

Aspies are said to be very self centered, exessively interested in self,- but we probably have to in order to develop socially, - because we often have to learn by intellect, what comes intuitively to others.