Autism quotient test

[MOSEY]

We recently took the following autism quotient test on the web, just out of curiosity, as our eldest son has AS and we wondered if perhaps, we had characteristics:

 

http://www.glennrowe.net/BaronCohen/Autism...umQuotient.aspx

 

Just wondered if anyone knows if there is a similar test which can be taken online for kids? My youngest son is quite eccentric and very individual. We love him to bits - he is fabulous company and great fun to be around. The school want to test him for AS but we are not convinced. They feel he struggles socially at times - I think he is just a bit unusual in his interests, for example, he loves street dancing. He does not display any of the anxiety/obsessions/ pedantics/processing delays of my eldest son who has a dx of AS. He is also sailing through his school work whereas my eldest son has struggled, even although he is very bright, because of processing delays due to his AS. I think they are being influenced by my elder son's dx, however, I don't want to ignore their concerns as I think it is imperative that he should know if he has AS in order to live a happy, fulfilled life.

 

I wondered if there was a test we could do online to guage whether or not he was typical of the autistic spectrum?

 

Any advice would be received most gratefully and honesty would be most appreciated!! Thanks, Mo

[Cat]

 

A very good autistic friend of mine is noted for saying 'if you know one autistic person then you know one autistic person'. I can totally identify with this on a personal level having two autistic sons myself who are polar opposites. My eldest is what I think many people would assume was a typical AS person (except there is no such thing as a typical AS person) my youngest on the other hand is outgoing, extrovert, not only loves taking part in many sports but is also good at them which kind of bucks the trend when it comes to autism or does it. I have no doubt at all that my yougest is also autistic even though he is about as far removed from presenting like his brother as is probably possible. I suppose what I am saying is that no two autistic children/adults will present the same even when they are brothers. That said it does not mean that your youngest has AS only an assessment for ASD could tell you that. Not everyone with AS will have a processing delay. My eldest certainly does not however my youngest does. Another saying that my autistic friend has is 'there is no one more individual than an individual with autism'

 

Cat

[call me jaded]

You could google some of the tests:

 

CARS GARS CHAT ADOS ABC

 

These are check-lists/scores and are just an indication, not the be-all and end-all of diagnosis.

[Guest featherways]

Have a look on the Autism Research Centre website at Cambridge. Easy enough to find by searching for those words online. There is a TESTS section and in it are lots of the tests for different ages of children. None are a diagnosis, they're just examples of the tests that the experts use as part of diagnosing children or adults.

[MOSEY]

Thanks folks - I appreciate your responses. I'll have a wee look at your suggested web tests for my wee boy.

 

Cat, thanks for sharing your thoughts about your sons with me. I appreciate it! I think the reason we were quite bemused by the school's recent suggestion is that it has sprung from nowhere and we ourselves had no concerns, whereas with my eldest son, we have been aware of quite noticeable traits from day 1 and so were never in any doubt regarding assessments for him. It also occurs to me, though, that as parents, we are sometimes so close to our children that we cannot see things as others do! I'm glad you shared your sons' story with me Cat.

 

 

[Cat]

Thanks folks - I appreciate your responses. I'll have a wee look at your suggested web tests for my wee boy.

 

Cat, thanks for sharing your thoughts about your sons with me. I appreciate it! I think the reason we were quite bemused by the school's recent suggestion is that it has sprung from nowhere and we ourselves had no concerns, whereas with my eldest son, we have been aware of quite noticeable traits from day 1 and so were never in any doubt regarding assessments for him. It also occurs to me, though, that as parents, we are sometimes so close to our children that we cannot see things as others do! I'm glad you shared your sons' story with me Cat.

 

I am in no way suggesting that your youngest has an ASD. Just wanted to point out that even when living with ASD it is not always possible to use how one child is presenting as a yard stick for another.

 

Cat

[MOSEY]

I realise that Cat. Thanks

[ian stuart-hamilton]

Sorry, I'd be failing in my duty as a psychologist if I didn't say this - be VERY VERY careful in interpreting test results. They are only used as a guide, even by clinicians. I know this is teaching everyone to suck eggs, but I had to say it! There, I feel better now ...

 

Now I've stopped being nanny, perhaps I could add a little something. People often suppose that standardised tests somehow magically tell you everything about a person. In reality, 'all' they say is how exceptional the person is relative to the rest of the population. For example, in an intelligence test, if you get a score of x%, 'all' this means is that by looking up in some tables, you can find out what percentage of the population scored worse (or better) than x% in the original test sample (which is taken as representative of the population as a whole). The same applies to most other tests - they simply tell you what percentage of the population score differently from the score you're interested in. But muddying the waters is the question of how accurate the test is. It could be, for example, that on the day of the test, the person being tested was in a bad mood, was coming down with a cold, was distracted, etc, etc. So the test in and of itself may not be a particularly accurate gauge. It should therefore only ever be one tool in the diagnostic armoury.

 

Before anyone leaps to the wrong conclusion, I'm not saying that tests are useless or they shouldn't be given. They are useful and nearly always should be given. But don't think that in themselves they are automatically infallible.

 

[call me jaded]

Before anyone leaps to the wrong conclusion, I'm not saying that tests are useless or they shouldn't be given. They are useful and nearly always should be given. But don't think that in themselves they are automatically infallible.

 

Interesting point. I always have huge concerns about the objectiveness of this kind of scoring and whether people (including professionals) see what they want to see.

Edited July 4, 2009 by call me jaded

[bid]

The Adult Asperger Assessment AQ and EQ tests are properly used as part of clinical assessments which include parental/familial information about the person's childhood.

 

What concerns me is when people do them online and self-diagnose from the results.

 

Bid

Edited July 4, 2009 by bid

[something_different]

just took it out of interest,

 

i got 42

 

i do not have a dx of asd nor have i 'self dx' myself. i admit i do have some traits, but could just be a quiet quirky person

[MOSEY]

Thanks everyone - I appreciate your comments. I'm going to wait until we meet with the educational psychologist before I give any more time or thought to my youngest son and a possible dx. I think I'm still in denial/misbelief about my youngest which is why I wanted to dip our toe in the water by tentatively testing. I think it could just confuse me further - I will wait and see what the professionals say when they see him.

 

I think the school are seeing a little boy who is a bit of a character and quite outgoing who has an elder brother with AS and jumping to conclusions. It seems that anyone who strays from the norm nowadays has to be checked out and categorised. Why can't we all just be ourselves and enabled to express our individuality? To be allowed to feel things differently and see the world in our own ways without being told we have a problem? Equally, I know he needs to know if he does have an ASD.

 

There - rant over - I feel better for that! Sorry to burden