Adult Asperger's Assessment (Why it's inaccurate)

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Yes, like they forget (or never even think) to consider someone else might have first noted the "250 Count" (or whatever) clearly placed within plain sight on the toothpick box!

Exactly. Over these past six months or so, I have noted the quizzical looks on the attorney's face as he "got to know me" a bit during our conversations leading up to last week's SSA appeal hearing. In the end, however, I had somehow managed to ever-so-carefully "present myself" in ways that ultimately made it possible for him to experience a transitional "> interesting > enigma > "Ah, 'Aspie'!" kind of thing rather than the far-more-typical "> interesting > enigma > pariah (offensive NT)" feelings of many others.

And yet Chronos' criticisms are valid, and taking them into account would probably make the AAA an even better tool.

You are right, but any tool that uses the answers of the person will have this problem.



You have to remind the theory behind the AAA, that autism is a result of low empathy and middle or high "systemization". According to this theory, autistic people while want to know the precise details of the things, then probably will have interest in numbers (for exemple, they will want to know the exact measures of a bed).



Again, you are right, but any tool that uses the answers of the person will have this problem. The same applies, of course, to all "people saying me" and "I am difficult in..." type of questions



No, the assumption is that autistic people prefer fact (museum) to fiction (theater); again, we have to remember the theory behind the AAA.

i have been so thoroughly and repeatedly misunderstood when i thought i was speaking absolutely directly and unambiguously that i have actually wondered whether i am completely mad, doing / saying hideous things to people and then being unaware of it later. the response i sometimes get is to someone clearly other than the person i unwaveringly know myself to be.


i have had an evening of reading a million things that i would have spoken would i have found words for them before someone (thankfully) else here did.

this one, although my commentary really adds nothing to the thread, i could not resist replying to.

While it's effective as a screening tool, the subjectivity of the questions and their openness to misinterpretation and other problems introduces quite a bit of possible variation in someone's "true score" depending on the person's subjective biases and their interpretations. As far as I know, this type of variation isn't described by any statistical property during the construction of the test, so it's quite a problem and it certainly isn't intended as diagnostic.

Also, there's significant overlap between the Control population and the AS/HFA population and so it really isn't that discriminative in the "border line" autistic area. 5% of control NT males scored above a 35, while 30% of AS/HFA types did. What's the problem? According to wikipedia, the Aspergian population numbers 1 out of every 250 people (A worst case estimate of the incidence.) or .4%, and so there'll be approximately 5/.4 = 12.5 times as many NT males getting a score of 35 than Asperger males.

So, guys claiming the self-diagnosed "Aspie" status for getting an AQ score of 35 or below can be readily doubted.

I think the best exam is a more objective one and it seemed that Queendom's Emotional Intelligence test showed some promise as such, according to my statistical analysis. However, their normings aren't reliable as the "ability scores" aren't normed, only the "self-assessment"/"self-report" scores are, so it's pretty much useless in its current form for self-diagnostic purposes (Unless you do really awful.).

Yep, same here (And, I really do think I'm probably going insane, lol.). For some reason, it seems that presumably the 'more intelligent' types find me easier to understand, so it seems to depend on the listener, but it really wouldn't be a problem if I readily understood the way everybody thought and how they interpreted verbal information. I envy the types that can readily adapt to the way anybody thinks and communicate with little problems, or those whose communication is perfectly crystal clear to everyone.

I agree with you about the test.

I found it very difficult to take the test.

Like you I saw the illogical bias as I was taking the test.

The questions look to me to be hastily assembled and ill conceived at best.

Then I realized something.............this test would identify anyone who was trying to score high on such a test!! !

I often wonder how anyone filters out the people who try to fake a test.

A person who claims not to know anything about the subject and then goes on to score highly, either has a connection to the material or possibly has pre-knowledge of the material through study and research and a disire to score highly on the test.

I read the questions like you did and thought how silly they were. They are looking for a very limited slice of people with that test. A sub group of a sub group.

Why not ask if the testee prefers black over gray?

All the questions that envolve other people leave me wondering, How should I know?

Do you often offend others without realizing it?

Nope.

Where did you purchase the murder weapon?

I didn't buy it I found it.......................oh wait!..................HAHA gotcha!

Remeber that in that scene Rainman looked and stated that there were less than 250 toothpicks on the floor. He counted them presumably.

So they look at the box and see 250

Then the waitress notices that there are a few still in the box which validates Rainman's original assertion.

I think the number he used was 247 and there were 3 in the box, but it has been over 10 years since I saw the movie and I have just recently been unable to replay every movie I have ever seen from beginning to end scene for scene and even quote most of it.

It is fun to rewatch movies in my head sometimes though. Although now I notice holes in places sometimes. I wonder if "regular" people do that?

This is weird, like I walked into a place where I don't have to constantly explain "What I meant by that was......"

I simply assumed that people were stupid or willfully ignorant of what was plainly obvious.

And how can you explain to someone something that is obvious?
How does one explain color to the completely blind?

Not in my own experience, and I am continually commenting to my wife that a given "technical director" needs to do a bit more research the next time around!

The one that really gets me is the sound of squealing tires on dirt ...

That is how I interpreted the question (the literal way). Of course both the literal and the non-literal apply to me anyway.




Good point. If it weren't for my mother, I probably would have said disagree on this one. No one ever tells me I am impolite, but sometimes I say things that I think are normal, and my mom tells me it is impolite. So, I must seem that way to others sometimes too; they just do not tell me.



Good point.



I know I am unaware of people's intentions because when I read a book I am absolutely certain I know what the person's intentions, etc are and then I get to part that TELLS you what the intentions are...and I am always wrong. I think the question infers that other people will also find out whether they are correct once they finish the story. Now, IN PERSON, that would not happen, but a story is written out for everyone to read.



I always found this one difficult. I love both, actually, and I don't see one as the more "autistic" place to go.

Not only do I agree with "chrono" about the types of questions, the version I've read allows for the following responses: True now and when I was young/True only now/True only when I was young/Never true.

So, it also depends a lot on what you may or may not remember from your childhood.

i find number 44 interesting because it scores positively towards a higher AQ if you agree that you do enjoy social occasions

psychology-tools'com/autism-spectrum-quotient/

the site is linked as "take the AQ test" on wikipedia's Autism Spectrum Quotient page