Set of scientific tests related to Autism Spectrum Disorders

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hi, i was adding emphasis with the underline, but i see what you mean.

hi, i was adding emphasis with the underline, but i see what you mean.

Didn't this have sticky status? I just hard to work to find this for a friend. =/

I tend to score very autistic on these tests even though I go through life as a professional with only a few suspecting my DX.

We all have great cognitive plasticity and can learn any of these behaviors we put our mind to: they are parlor tricks.

Over the years I have begun rejecting tests of behavior and begun working on a theory that "autism is a simply a different cognitive style". We excel in the pursuing the specific interests we are attracted to "obsessively". This has been the source of essentially all major contributions to human culture and it what I now consider our greatest strength.

The naivety (a generous description) of the mainstream has labeled our strength, a huge boon for humans, one of the three defining disabilities of our disorder. Schools have squelched it. Doctors have prescribed against it. Peers have derided us for our strength. Saddest of all, autistics have bought into this lie. We have become dysfunctional.

I will no longer be defined by a bunch of hack mainstream tests that describe what we can't do as well as they can (read somebody's eyeballs), and start defining our unique assets by changing semantics:

A tendency to focus on oneself vs Good ability to Tune Out Social Distractions
Inflexible behaviors vs Excellent Structure for Organization
Rigid attitudes vs Resilient Against Peer/Authority Pressure
Narrow interests vs Specialized Knowledge & Skills

All of this enhances our ability to 'Think Outside the Box', essential to novel discoveries.

Maybe you guys can help me refine my thinking and develop ways to define and measure what makes us great...?

Glad you "stickied" this again!

Yes! Wise words worth remembering. Thank you.
The worst is to fall into the "dysfunctional"-pit.

That's how I see it as well. In terms of scientific research I find the "intense world" theory the most promising avenue.



I like this transposition into strengths. Perhaps the last point could be worded as "Personally validated deep knowledge and corresponding specialised skills". The mainstream scientific publication process, in particular the way in which researchers cite each other, relies extensively on so-called social proof, and discourages independent autodidactic validation of evidence.



Any thought process is shaped by the limits of personal experience and perception. I sometimes describe myself as living outside the box because I am acutely aware that everyone is living in a different box. Typical minds seem to prefer building up second hand "knowledge" via cultural transmission vs. building up first hand knowledge via personal observation/experiments.



Your third point "Resilient Against Peer/Authority Pressure" is a key element that fits in with my observations above. Drawing on personal experience and in line with intense world theory, possibly heightened sensory sensitivity (to different degrees, varying in each individual, and affecting one or more senses) is the other key component. Together these two elements allow us to build up deep knowledge, and to notice associations and patterns that escape the more casual or socially oriented observer.

A default tendency to ignore social status when interacting with others is a core strength. The typical primate mind is wired not only to respond to authority pressure, but also to preemptively speculate about social implications before communicating, which leads to indirect language and frequent misunderstandings. A refusal/failure to speculate about social implications is easily misinterpreted as a lack of empathy.

In particular I have found it useful to replace "social" with "hierarchy" or "status" when interpreting observations made by researchers who are not on the spectrum. I care deeply about the physical well being of other creatures including humans, and I am a vegetarian. However, I don't see the point of social status or authority that is not backed by deep knowledge. I have no problem in ignoring conventions that have no purpose other than keeping established social hierarchies intact.

It can be argued that autism becomes disabling if sensory sensitivity is such that it leads to continuous overload, even in a quiet, sheltered, and isolated environment. Perhaps more research should be directed towards identifying all the environmental variables that may lead to sensory overload, and to developing tools and facilities that allow individuals to control the variables, and therefore to reduce the level of sensory overload.

Thank you, jbw!! !

I love your additions and comments. The obliviousness to social hierarchy has been very instrumental in breakthroughs in the science and the arts - most of which were accomplished by people who would probably be identified as spectrum if modern day psychs could get at them.

What saddens me is that the autistic cognitive style is pathologised, even though it often goes hand in hand with an extreme emphasis of fairness and an honest and non-competitive style of communication and interaction. The world needs more of this, and not less!

Perhaps the increase in the diagnoses of ASD is not only a matter of better screening and broader awareness, but also the result of an increasingly hyper-competitive environment, where all those who don't play the social status game are sidelined and considered defective. The remaining question in the mainstream public media then becomes one of how much support for the socially non-standardised "defectives" is deemed appropriate in a "civilised" society.

I study civil rights movements and the Deaf culture for guidance.

The Deaf simply redefined themselves as a separate culture without disability. They started their own university. Until the advent of cochlear implants, the Deaf would basically take over rearing of a deaf child born to hearing parents. This is documented in The Sound and the Fury. When a hearing or visually impaired child is in school, a same-impaired adult would come in to teach them how to be sensory impaired in the seeing/hearing world.

I think when a child is diagnosed with autism, an autistic should be hired to instruct the child how to be autistic in the world. It would be cool to have our own university. Autistic Friends Network is a friendly forum where people consider the other's argument during disagreements. On the other forums, there are a lot of feisty people who are entrenched in their viewpoints and cannot tolerate another's. So I don't think there is enough community to move forward in civil rights at this time. Maybe if we could just mentor children, there would be less anger in our group.

My scores seem sort of borderline to me. I'm not sure that Asperger's/autism is quite the right description for me. I was diagnosed with ADHD before and I question that, too. I feel that I'm not neurotypical, and I've been researching different disorders, but I'm not sure that any of them really fit me. Or perhaps I'm in denial, I don't know.

***
The numbers:

BAP Questionnaire:
109 Aloof
83 Rigid
114 Pragmatic
5 Diagnosis
Above cutoff on all 3

AQ: 32

EQ: 13, SQ: 10.
Clearly I am just terrible at everything.

EIQ: 61 (I think that is a percentile?)

HSP: 16

Mind in the Eyes: 33

Face Memory: 88%

I find it interesting that I did above average on the understanding faces tests. It's certainly never something something I would have thought of as my strength.

Aspie Quiz:
147 Aspie
73 NT
Very likely an Aspie/neurodiverse

***
PS, I'm new and this is my first post. Hi!

Hi and welcome to WP, Mickey-elle!

1. BAPQ:

Autistic/BAP
You scored 111 aloof, 102 rigid and 110 pragmatic.
You scored above the cutoff on all three scales. Clearly, you are either autistic or on the broader autistic phenotype. You probably are not very social, and when you do interact with others, you come off as strange or rude without meaning to. You probably also like things to be familiar and predictable and don't like changes, especially unexpected ones.

Your Analysis
You scored 111% on aloof, higher than 61% of your peers.
You scored 102% on rigid, higher than 63% of your peers.
You scored 110% on pragmatic, higher than 86% of your peers.
You scored 8% on diagnosis, higher than 85% of your peers.

2. AQ: 38

3. Empathizing Quotient (EQ) and Systemizing Quotient (SQ) test

Your Empathizing Quotient is 20. Baron-Cohen (2003) suggests that this means "you have a lower than average ability for understanding how other people feel and responding appropriately".

Your Systemizing Quotient is 41. Baron-Cohen (2003) suggests that this means "you have an average ability for analysing and exploring a system".

4. EIQ: 62

5. HSP test: 24

6. Reading the mind in the eyes test: 23

7. Aspie Quiz

Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 131 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 61 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie).

my results for the AQ test was 44.

hsp: 23
(cant edit my last message, been too long)

aspie quiz: Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 151 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 29 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)

My Scores

BAPQ: You scored 108 aloof, 102 rigid and 108 pragmatic
You scored above the cutoff on all three scales. Clearly, you are either autistic or on the broader autistic phenotype. You probably are not very social, and when you do interact with others, you come off as strange or rude without meaning to. You probably also like things to be familiar and predictable and don't like changes, especially unexpected ones.

AQ: 41

EIQ: 39
Your results indicate that you need to work on improving the skills that can help you identify, perceive and express emotions in yourself and others. Difficulties in this area of emotional intelligence can hinder your ability to read others, to understand how they feel, and to effectively identify your own emotions. Lacking these skills could mean that you struggle to relate to others and may sometimes even question why you yourself behave the way you do. Review the results below for further information in order to identify where improvement is recommended.

HSP: 22 (Highly Sensitive)

Aspie Quiz: Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 182 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 34 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)

A couple of the tests/links didn't work for me, so I couldn't take all of them.

BAP Test:
Language Differences
You scored 86 aloof, 77 rigid and 87 pragmatic
You scored above the cutoff on the Pragmatic scale, regarding the social use of language. This suggests you likely have some trouble with communication, which is probably more evident in informal, social settings than in more formalized settings where the expectations are explicitly stated. On the other hand, since you scored below the cutoff for aloof and rigid personality, you are probably fairly sociable and flexible about change. You are probably on the broader autistic phenotype.

AQ:27/50

Aspie Quiz
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 109 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 121 of 200
You seem to have both neurodiverse and neurotypical traits

EIQ:105

HSP:13 (cut-off is 14)

EQ: 31/80 (cut-off being 20)

Last edited by antarticanrepublic on 02 Aug 2014, 9:43 am, edited 1 time in total.