Without going into too much detail on myself, I'm around 20 years old and was diagnosed with PDD-NOS a couple of years ago. (after going through much torment to figure out what I had.) I'm currently in the process of recovery (I don't know what that means to people here, since many here seem to be skeptical of even recovery from mild forms of autism), but one thing I feel would really help would be to have idea of my true IQ. I know how many on the autism spectrum have depressed IQ scores, but I've never really come across much on those with PDD-NOS. It's caused me so many long running identity issues, and to have some idea of my true IQ score would not only give me peace of mind, but I also feel act as a good component to recovery- such as understanding the nature of my processes and what I could work towards to improve, not to mention just give me internal drive.
I first took an IQ test in 2002, but never finished it. I eventually took a raven's in 5th grade for entry into the gifted class, but was just 2 points below entry. (I know raven's are very g-loaded, but I'm not familiar with what their scores stand for.) My next one was in 2007 where it was never fully graded, but a huge discrepancy between my verbal ability (in the 120's) and my working memory (in the 70's) was noted. I ended up taking 2 more I think in 2008- one I just scored 111, the other I'm not sure, but it was noted my verbal ability was in the 99th percentile (higher than 2007.) Then, one I took in 2009, my overall score jumped up to 126. This was sometime after about 6 months of sensory integration therapy (which only really affected my motor skills). I took another in 2010 where I ended up at 121, and my most recent one, in early 2011, was some condensed IQ test where I ended up at 118.
I've been a tad over the board, but in only the past few years have I seen any real stability with scores. I've gone through so much, but my scores haven't changed much, and that kind of goes in line with how, at heart, I hit the same exact walls I've been hitting for close to 10 years now. This all comes down to the fact my case of PDD-NOS seems to be very minor. Virtually every case of children I've read or heard of, they show significant deficits even in very early childhood. My symptoms were always quite minor- I had some definite oddities I don't want to go into, and I was very hyper and pretty sensitive and preferential, but barring the former, nothing that out of the ordinary. I did show some behavior problems throughout elementary school, and in some cases some borderline delinquent behavior, but there were plenty of kids worse than me throughout elementary. I didn't really start having problems until middle school.
In particular, all of the other cases of PDD-NOS I've come across show traits similar to me, but markedly exaggerated. And that brings up the issue of my IQ (and personality) independent of PDD-NOS. It seems like my earliest scores would have registered 110-120 (or around 120), so I really have to ask- for people who show such relatively high scores that early on, what would they show upon making substantial improvements or full-blown recovery? In fact, what are the typical scores of early diagnoses of PDD-NOS? I've seen studies claiming jumps of over 20 points after therapy. As mild as my case is, it's been, in the long run, very debilitating, and I get the impression virtually all PDD-NOS cases show similar IQ deficits. I personally have virtually no doubt in my mind my IQ is in the 130's, but I really just don't know.
I've also been hoping I might be able to find someone who might be able to get a picture of my IQ from neurological scans. There's been mountains of research done on the neurology of general intelligence in the past couple of decades, and while we still can't get a very exact picture of someone's IQ from brain scans, I imagine there'd be some diagnostic outlet independent of plain research that would allow me this opportunity. Someone or some group that would be willing to pinpoint aspects of my brain structure/functioning and get a picture of my IQ from there. I've read much literature on it in the past several years, but I always remember, in 2005, seeing a documentary on gifted children where it was noted they had generally had average brain sizes, but very slow glucose metabolizations- which is a noted correlate of IQ. It was just a very simple, easily identifiable chemical process, so it makes me wonder how hard it be to come by atleast something like that.
It's not even a matter of an autism diagnosis, which I've heard brain scanning has only begun to be used in that. I plan to contact some groups over the course of this week, but in the meantime, what can anybody tell me here of IQ progression in PDD-NOS cases and what I might expect? (and maybe some options for getting a neurological assessment.)
Last edited by Gi4jfAAe on 25 Jan 2012, 11:09 am, edited 4 times in total.
23 Jan 2012, 11:51 pm
I'm either slow when I move, or have abrupt movements. I prefer the former, though. A possible explanation of the huge difference between POI and PSI could be that I trade some speed for precision at tasks that I find difficult, that is, when my attention can't shifts from one information (or symbol) to another fast enough I will be slow, rather than unable to complete the task or make too many errors.
