The new AS Test (Among the best I've seen)

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I thought you might be interested in this Facebook AS Test at http://apps.facebook.com/specastest .

It's obviously not diagnostic, but I think it's a better test than others I've seen (I suspect it's more predictive than the AQ test) and gives an understanding of what sorts of things people on the spectrum struggle with. I say that it's probably the best I've seen, so far, because it's the only one that's said I'm probably NT which seems far more reasonable than the other popular autism tests, like the AQ test and RDOS's ASPIE test which suggested "I'm probably aspie" and "You're half aspie / half neurotypical", respectively, and it seemed to correctly predict other aspies and their probable "level of severity" pretty accurately.

Let me know what you think.

btw, I scored 29 out of 72 with the result that I am not likely on the autistic spectrum. It also gives a more detailed analysis of my results here - http://apps.facebook.com/specastest/Sho ... 1305432184

I always get a little frustrated with any of these tests, when they ask questions that are similar to this one : do others find you boring?...... and I'm all.... "UH, now, *if* I have aspergers, then freaking HOW WOULD I KNOW if "others" find me boring???????????? you would have to be asking them, now wouldn't you? and that would be hard to do, as there are very very few "others" with whom I socialize even slightly. The husband finds me boring, but then again, we've been married 16 years, so he's heard it all once or twice by now

I always get a little frustrated with any of these tests, when they ask questions that are similar to this one : do others find you boring?...... and I'm all.... "UH, now, *if* I have aspergers, then freaking HOW WOULD I KNOW if "others" find me boring???????????? you would have to be asking them, now wouldn't you? and that would be hard to do, as there are very very few "others" with whom I socialize even slightly. The husband finds me boring, but then again, we've been married 16 years, so he's heard it all once or twice by now

I don't have a Facebook profile; therefore I score 72/72.

This score means that it is quite likely that you are on the autistic spectrum

Below is a list of the criteria used to create this test. Entries in green are criteria that are likely to apply to you, entries in yellow are criteria that may or may not apply to you, and entries in red are criteria that are unlikely to apply to you.

A: Possesses a decreased tendency to socially osmose behaviors and beliefs, as manifested by 5 of the following:

i) Difficulties with non-autistic social interaction (such as missing social cues, difficulties with small talk, difficulties learning what constitutes culturally acceptable behavior, etc).

ii) Marked differences in the use of non-verbal behaviors (such as using more or less eye contact that the norm, significant amount of blinking during eye contact, unusual facial expressions, decreased or increased use of hand gestures, unusual body posture, etc).

iii) Difficulties in recognition of non-verbal communication (such as difficulties in recognising subtleties of facial expressions, difficulties picking up emotional cues that are recognisable to others, etc).

iv) A tendency to develop interests independent of social influences, or a tendency to not adopt interests that are shared by an immediate social group.

v) A tendency to develop a significant number of ethical rules, belief systems, or rules of etiquette that can not be traced back to cultural or social influence.

vi) A tendency toward literal interpretation of verbal communication and of the behavior of others.

vii) A need for explicit instruction in matters (such as social interaction) that others typically learn implicitly (by using an instinctual knowledge base to watch and figure out what should be done).

B: Is affected by "Autistic Inertia", as manifested by 3 of the following:

i) Persistent difficulty in commencing new projects or tasks, changing activities or activity levels, or moving to the next step of an existing project or task.

ii) A tendency to focus on a particular task to the exclusion of all else.

iii) A tendency to develop "special interests" - interests that involve a larger amount of time or a greater intensity of focus than the norm.

iv) A tendency to adopt repetitive motor movements (such as hand flapping, leg bouncing, or complex body motions).

v) A tendency to develop specific non-cultural rituals, habits, or routines, and to adhere to these rituals, habits, or routines with a greater intensity than the norm.

C: Has sensory processing differences, as manifested by 2 of the following:

i) Difficulties functioning within or coping with high sensory environments (such as around fluorescent or flashing lights, around certain types of background noise, or around other types of sensory stimuli that would not bother most people significantly).

ii) Hypersensitivity or hyposensitivity to particular sensory stimuli (such as acute hearing, a particularly high or low tolerance for pain, an abnormal ability to notice small visual details, difficulties in noticing sensory stimuli that are immediately apparent to others, etc).

iii) Has an unusual degree of interest in, or obtains an unusual amount of pleasure from particular sounds, colours, patterns, or textures (where the interest or pleasure is derived purely from sensory stimuli, rather than from association to something else).

iv) Has a tendency to focus on particular parts of objects, rather than the object as a whole.

v) Possesses some form of synesthesia - the tendency to experience one form of sensory or conceptual experience as an entirely separate form of sensory or conceptual experience (such as experiencing visual or scent stimuli when particular sounds occur; strongly associating specific colours, sounds, or personalities to numbers or words; etc).

vi) Difficulties identifying people by their facial features.

AS Test Score: 67/72. Tests are good for pointing out tendencies but I'd guess many introverts would score very high on this test?

If you didn't have problems determining if someone is getting bored, you should have no problem knowing that you don't have problems with it. However, if you do have problems with determining if someone's getting bored, then you either don't know or you know that you do. So, if you don't know, you must have problems.

Another way to qualify the answer to this question is by answering the following question, "Do other people find you boring?". If you answered 'yes', then you have no problem detecting boredom. Personally, I'm of that group.