Updated final version 2 of Aspie-quiz

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I've only seen and been given an OCD questionnaire in person; I've never seen an ASD one (though I know they give the AQ test in England as a screening tool), for what it's worth. Parents are called in, yes, as is the structured interview/observations. OCD is probably easier to determine via a test, as something like, do you have intrusive thoughts, and do you do such and such to attempt to dampen them?

The problem I ran into with the "Aspie-quiz" is quite easy to recognize in retrospect; I know perfectly well when it's my turn to talk in a conversation due to learnt behaviour from watching others (this is a social reciprocation question), but it doesn't ask anywhere if you can actually interact with others (the inability to interact with peers is a criterion from Gillberg's for example).... So, you can know how to do something, but be unable to actually do it, and you'll score less than someone who's higher functioning than you are. Plus, I didn't see any questions relating to a lack of peer and romantic relations (social isolation).

Of diagnostic note, I meet each criterion from the DSM-IV-TR barring one from the communication cluster to a clinical amount as per my psychiatrist. And I meet all of Gillberg's barring motor clumsiness (which should deny me an AS diagnosis in that regard, but they fudged that).

Your Aspie score: 176 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 39 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie


About 2 years ago
_____________________________________

Today
Your Aspie score: 174 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 27 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie



I am getting lower scores now - does that mean I'm getting cured

No, because it is the score difference that counts.

But high-functioning people can actually learn to interact with others as well, so this isn't so good either. If I would do something about this in Aspie-quiz, it would be to ask if one could naturally interact with others. While you could be "cured" according to the Gillberg criterion, you could not be cured of having to learn to interact with others. The natural inclination is what is important in Aspie-quiz, and not what you can and can not do. In fact, it should be impossible to be cured of being Aspie in Aspie-quiz, but I realize I'm not there yet.



That is because most Aspies actually want to be social, but are unable to because of living in a neurotypical environment. These issues relate to environmental problems, and was selected out in the development process of Aspie-quiz. IOW, these are not inborn differences in Aspies, they are acquired problems. They can probably also be cured, and because of this they would make it possible to be cured of being Aspie.

I decided to go through the questions again, with the sole purpose of eliminating formulations that could rely on adaptation.

List of questions that might depend on adaptation:

Question: Do you find it difficult to figure out how to behave in various situations?
Possible remedy: As a teenager, did you find it difficult to figure out how to behave in various situations?
Or: Did you have to learn how to behave in various situations?

Question: Do others often misunderstand you?
Possible remedy: Do others often misunderstand you when you act naturally?

Question: Are you usually unaware of social rules & boundaries unless they are clearly spelled out?
Possible remedy: As a teenager, were you usually unaware of social rules & boundaries unless they were clearly spelled out?

Question: Do you find it difficult to work out people's intentions?
Possible remedy: Can you naturally work out people's intentions?
Or: Do you find it difficult to work out people's intentions or did you have to learn how other people think in order to understand their intentions?

Question: Do you tend to say things that are considered socially inappropriate?
Possible remedy: Do you tend to say things that are considered socially inappropriate when you are tired, frustrated or when you act naturally?

Question: Are you good at returning social courtesies and gestures?
Possible remedy: Are you naturally good at returning social courtesies and gestures?

Question: Do you often talk about your special interests whether others seem to be interested or not?
Possible remedy: As a teenager, did you often talk about your special interests whether others seemed to be interested or not?

Question: Do you know when you are expected to offer an apology?
Possible remedy: Do you instinctively know when you are expected to offer an apology?

Question: Can you pick up quickly if someone says one thing but means another?
Possible remedy: During a conversation, can you quickly pick up if someone says one thing but means another?

Question: Are you good at interpreting facial expressions?
Possible remedy: Are you naturally good at interpreting facial expressions?
Or: Are you good at interpreting facial expressions when talking to somebody? (this is much harder to master than interpreting while not talking to somebody).

Question: Are you so honest and sincere yourself that you assume everyone is?
Possible remedy: Are you naturally so honest and sincere yourself that you assume everyone is?

If people have other suggestions, or have other issues that can be affected by adult coping strategies, please post them here. I think the above areas are the areas were I have made progress and really should answer differently if answering according to the current situation.

Last edited by rdos on 21 Sep 2009, 6:52 am, edited 2 times in total.

Well at least the shape is closer to a normal one...that should count...or add up to something ?

Your Aspie score: 163 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 39 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie

One more thought about this. AFAIK, there is no question that asks about this, but there are tangental questions:
- In conversations, do you have trouble with things like timing and reciprocity? (this one does ask about the ability to do it)
- Do you instinctively know when it is your turn to speak when talking on the phone? (and this one asks if you know it instinctively).

So, I don't know if this is an issue or not? How would these be reformulated so learnt behavior would not be an issue?

For those listed, they appear to be ok, as they're directly asking if you instinctively know such and such in a certain situation.

I think a question that needs to be added, just for those who only participate in mechanical interaction (i.e., "'Can I have this please?' 'Here you go.' 'Thank you'". This is basic mechanical interaction that can be utilized on the phone or in person--throw in all of the problems with nonverbal cues, like avoiding eye contact and lacking emotional inflection in the voice, and you have an ability that most individuals with an ASD, whether HFA or LFA can do), that'd immediately kick up the score in favour of the ASD side by a lot of points.

"Do you actually partake in social conversation with others?"

This would factor in for the aloof and passive groups that don't interact socially, rather than those who participate in spontaneous [and random] social interaction, but can't apply a basic script to it, which this test is biased towards IMO.

I can't remember if one was there, but a specific eye contact question would be good too:

"Do you avoid eye contact?"

And to probably throw the whole thing out, an added "sometimes" choice would help; so "a little", "sometimes" and "often" would be the positive hits, with "no" equating to nothing of note for that question.

I have been seeing a pattern in the shape of the spider graphs; of those falling firmly on the Aspie side (but not so much on the extremely high Aspie scores of, say, 180+), there is usually a bias towards the Talent module. This tends to be followed by the Perception module and then by the Compulsive Module. With the super scores, there would be less difference between modules. I've seen/heard so many Aspies declaring that they don't have any particularly high abilities but I suspect that they are underplaying themselves and that they would have similar graph shapes, the real difference being in the type of talent.

Last edited by RarePegs on 21 Sep 2009, 2:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It is also possible that more people that are online, and do Aspie-quiz, have special talents, while the one's that are not have less scores in the talent area and more in the perception area, for instance. But you are right that there are some typical shapes. You will also baiscally never see certain shapes, like high or low scores on both sides.

Your Aspie score: 135 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 64 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie

Define natural. Social interaction, even for those who are NT, is learned behavior. Because I've been doing it so long, you could argue that I have eventually learned to automate it, but rather it's taken me a lot longer. It's sort of like driving a manual tranmission car. While I'm still aware that I am shifting gears at a fundamental level, I don't really have to put a whole lot of thought into it to keep the car going in a forward direction. I still will occasionally stall in unfamiliar situations (when starting up a steep hill, for instance), but it's not usually disastrous. Of course, I'm on the mild end of your test (AS 132 / NT 77 or something like that), so I certainly cannot speak for others.


I don't know how true this is, judging from what I've seen of people here. While that may be true for many, it is certainly not true for a significant number of folks here. I think it's one of those variances you see across the spectrum.

I've thought about this, too. Yes/Often will mean different things to different people. For instance, there is a question, "I get frustrated when I can't sit in my favorite chair." Imagine two people, Ferdinand and Isabella. Ferdinand might always feel a bit annoyed and frustrated when someone else is sitting in his favorite chair. No one can tell he's frustrated, because he doesn't show it. He gets on with life and sits in a different chair--but he still wishes he could be sitting in his favorite chair, and he just feels a bit irked inside. Isabella, on the other hand, sometimes is perfectly happy if someone else is sitting in her favorite chair, and it doesn't bother her one bit. But at 8:15 pm on Friday night, when it's time to work on her sudoku puzzle, she MUST sit in that chair. She gets so frustrated at not being able to sit in the chair that she paces back and forth, pulling out bits of her own hair. But since that doesn't happen every time, she puts "sometimes" for her answer, while Ferdinand put "often".

I hope that example isn't too weird. I'm just saying that one person's "sometimes" is a lot more severe or autistic-like than another person's "often".

In fact, I've never taken an "official" AS diagnostic test for myself, but I have had to fill out a lot of questionnaires about my son for his diagnosis. You have to answer the questions against some standard of "normal". I grew up in a household where it was more "normal" to want to sit in your room lining up your toys than to want to hang around outside with the neighbor kids, but a lot of the questions seemed to imply the opposite. Before my son was diagnosed, it never really occurred to me that some parents might worry that their kid would rather line up toys than play outside with the neighbors.

If it helps, I am very mild AS.

I guess that could be true. It's not so much a matter of not being social. It's more about not knowing how to be social. I don't want to be social whenever I feel like it's impossible to be liked and respected by others. It's such a complicated mess and it seems so easy for most people but not for me. This inhibits me from being social. I want to be social with people who like the same things as me and who don't think I'm stupid or weird and it's an excuse to treat me like crap and be disrespectful or rude, treating me like a second class citizen because they think they are better. This is the real reason I seek my own company, more so than actually wanting to be alone. I don't want to deal with people who come at me with judgments and misconceptions, who don't really like me but only tolerate me, who criticise me or want to remake me into what they think I should be. It's just so exhausting, listing all the reasons I would rather not be with the people I've encountered.
That, and it seems like it's always been a disaster. Math and people, two subjects I feel cursed in.
I don't think it's always a matter of lacking social reciprocity; not wanting to be with others. It seems like it when looking at the end result, but a lot of little steps lead to the lack of social reciprocity. It's not a matter of lacking it from the beginning. Socializing looks like Mt Everest, impossible to climb. It's also hard to determine, why, exactly, it never works out. and why, exactly, I should want to be with people or why they should want to be with me. Seems like they don't want to be with me for the same reasons they want to be with everyone else. But, that's probably an oversimplification which is something, among many things, I do when thinking about my social situations. I can't figure them out and give a realistic, honest account of them. They mystify me.
It seems like my problems understanding math and socializing with others are similar and could be related.