IQ TESTS

[lee2010]

I have never really ever bothered to take iq tests until it became known to me that i have a likely hood of having aspergers, i find that iq score varies a lot depending on which one i take. How relevant is iq in relation to diagnoses of aspergers ??.

 

I ask this as i have never shown any interst in iq as im good at the things i find interesting as im obsessive about them but others i am not, i dont think im good at iq tests and personally dont beiev they have any bearing on inteligence just wondered what others opinions was on this ??

 

thanks lee

[zenemu]

I have never really ever bothered to take iq tests until it became known to me that i have a likely hood of having aspergers, i find that iq score varies a lot depending on which one i take. How relevant is iq in relation to diagnoses of aspergers ??.

 

I ask this as i have never shown any interst in iq as im good at the things i find interesting as im obsessive about them but others i am not, i dont think im good at iq tests and personally dont beiev they have any bearing on inteligence just wondered what others opinions was on this ??

 

thanks lee

 

Not very. It is true that people with Aspergers are usually of average intelligence or above, but IQ isn't diagnostic criteria.

[coolblue]

IQ is an average of a bunch of tests that assess a range of abilities. People with ASDs tend to have what's sometimes referred to as a 'spiky profile' which means they can do brilliantly on some tests and very badly on others. So the average (the IQ) doesn't really tell you very much.

 

The individual tests can be very useful because they can tell you where your strengths and weaknesses lie. If you didn't already know, of course.

 

cb

[lee2010]

IQ is an average of a bunch of tests that assess a range of abilities. People with ASDs tend to have what's sometimes referred to as a 'spiky profile' which means they can do brilliantly on some tests and very badly on others. So the average (the IQ) doesn't really tell you very much.

 

The individual tests can be very useful because they can tell you where your strengths and weaknesses lie. If you didn't already know, of course.

 

cb

 

That certainly applies to me then as i can go low nd then above but thats dependent on the test and the questions i read somewhere (think relevant to america that) you have to have a above average iq to meets the diagnostics for aspergers.

[justine1]

My two boys have ASD dx's and have not had IQ tests. Sam is intelligent but I would say he is more average really,not gifted.Dan is nearly 5 because of this I am not really sure if he is above average but he is doing well at school,more so than Sam.

 

My 10 yr old NT has not had an IQ test but it has been offered recently as he is above average and is on the gifted and talented register.

[Lilypad]

Hi. I'm not sure how to quote on this but when you mentioned the diagnosis in America and having to have an above average IQ, I think they tend to base alot on a person's IQ over there which in my opinion is wrong. A child psychologist once told me that professionals prefer not to test a child's IQ for many reasons - I believe one reason is that it can be unfair and damaging to their personality. Another reason is because it is not necessary.

Also, may you be thinking of the AQ (Autism spectrum quotient) test?

Edited January 19, 2011 by Lilypad

[lee2010]

Hi. I'm not sure how to quote on this but when you mentioned the diagnosis in America and having to have an above average IQ, I think they tend to base alot on a person's IQ over there which in my opinion is wrong. A child psychologist once told me that professionals prefer not to test a child's IQ for many reasons - I believe one reason is that it can be unfair and damaging to their personality. Another reason is because it is not necessary.

Also, may you be thinking of the AQ (Autism spectrum quotient) test?

 

Hi it was the following link i came across but he refers specifically aspergers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOe0SKjrENs.

[Tally]

It is part of the diagnostic criteria that a person with Asperger's will have an average to above average IQ. This has led to some misleading messages about people with Asperger's being really clever.

 

What it really means is that if you have a learning disability or low IQ, then you will be diagnosed with something else instead of Asperger's.

 

I agree that IQ is not a very good measure of intelligence. I apparently have a high IQ and am a member of Mensa, yet I have only average A Level results and work in a supermarket.

[bonbons]

It is part of the diagnostic criteria that a person with Asperger's will have an average to above average IQ. This has led to some misleading messages about people with Asperger's being really clever.

 

What it really means is that if you have a learning disability or low IQ, then you will be diagnosed with something else instead of Asperger's.

 

I agree that IQ is not a very good measure of intelligence. I apparently have a high IQ and am a member of Mensa, yet I have only average A Level results and work in a supermarket.

 

 

 

My 15 yr old had an IQ test but she really didn't want to do it! It took 2 attempts on 2 different appointments to complete it as she has a real fear of failure and very low self esteem. Needless to say, she didn't do too well, but the the report clearly states that the results have no relevance to her aspergers DX.

Edited January 19, 2011 by bonbons

[Special_talent123]

It is part of the diagnostic criteria that a person with Asperger's will have an average to above average IQ. This has led to some misleading messages about people with Asperger's being really clever.

 

What it really means is that if you have a learning disability or low IQ, then you will be diagnosed with something else instead of Asperger's.

 

I agree that IQ is not a very good measure of intelligence. I apparently have a high IQ and am a member of Mensa, yet I have only average A Level results and work in a supermarket.

 

I had an IQ test, what the IQ test does is test whether you have a disability associated with aspergers/autism. i know this ive had this test, but usually if your on a learning disability team they have to test your IQ to see if you have one, because when i were on the LD team they could only be on there team if there IQ is below 70,, i know its discriminative. so if your IQ is below 70 it means you have a learning disability.... as autism or aspergers wouldnt count.

 

it also told me where i can live to hence LD support living, LD adult placement.

[anewman]

IQ testing has a number of problems anyway, and should not be considered gospel.

Edited January 23, 2011 by anewman

[chris54]

---- so if your IQ is below 70 it means you have a learning disability.... as autism or aspergers wouldnt count.

 

 

 

If you have a IQ of be low 70 you are considered to have a Moderate or Mild Learning Disability. As far as I am aware there is no need to have any other identifiable condition for this to be the case.

 

As I often point out to people this should not be confused with Moderate Learning Difficulty, It is not uncommon for some one with a "High" IQ and still be described as having Moderate learning difficulties.

 

This whole area is subject to ongoing debate as to what the various term do/should refer to.

In the US the term Leaning Disability is used more freely than in the UK.

[zenemu]

It is part of the diagnostic criteria that a person with Asperger's will have an average to above average IQ. This has led to some misleading messages about people with Asperger's being really clever.

 

What it really means is that if you have a learning disability or low IQ, then you will be diagnosed with something else instead of Asperger's.

 

I agree that IQ is not a very good measure of intelligence. I apparently have a high IQ and am a member of Mensa, yet I have only average A Level results and work in a supermarket.

 

Actually, it is entirely possible to have a low IQ and Aspergers, in general and when combined with other conditions - Anencephaly is one that instantly springs to mind. Although IQ tests are commonly given during diagnosis, they really aren't relavent, they are used more as a way to illiminate various learning disabilities, most of which are known to cause social anxiety. Actually IQ is irrelevent to ASD's, other than the curiosty that they usually are at least of average intelligence.

 

It is also important to recognise the fundemental flaws in IQ tests. There are many forms of intelligence, emotional, spacial, social, logical and deductive just to name a few. Most IQ tests focus either on spatial reasoning or logic and excelling at them in real terms means very little. Different forms of intelligence tend to play against each other too - most people with Aspergers excel for the first few years at school for example, but when social intleeigence becomes more important and the child becomes more aware of their own short comings in this area, their academic performance tends to suffer as a result.

 

Personally I never put much faith in IQ tests. Certainly a diagnosis should never hinge on the results of an IQ test.

[Sally44]

I think that cognitive function tests are more illuminating than IQ tests because they would show up the areas the person was good at as well as showing the areas of difficulty. They would detail the individuals "spiky profile" by naming the abilities and disabilities.

My son is going to have a range of these carried out including processing speed, reading speed, working memory, visual memory, phonic awareness etc.

 

I also seem to remember from watching "QI" (not that anything Stephen Fry says is Gospel!) that in general terms the level of IQ considered 'average' was around 70 some decades back, and that IQs scores have been gradually increasing over the decades.

[lee2010]

My IQ can vary quite differently depoending which IQ test i take mostly around 102 as high as 122 which isnt massive, others i have had less lol. I hate these tests as some questions i can do easily and others i cannot at all !! i think in another enviroment i may do less which wouldnt be fair reflection they is many contributing things that have contributed to this such as poor education and lack of learning the basics which i never did at school. College was a different issue as in that enviroment i learned more in 3 years trhen i did in school.

 

Thanks lee

[zenemu]

One other thing I should like to point out is that that for people with ASD's the accuracy of these tests is questionable anyway, depending entirely on the context and environment under which the tests themselves are done. If you were to take a someone with Aspergers for a diagnosis for example and one of these tests was suddenly pulled out of a drawer and they were expected to do it out of the blue, the likelyhood that they could concentrate enough to get anything like a relaible result is so small as to invalidate the test anyway.

 

In my opinion, any test like this during the diagnostic process is a waste of time and a source of unecessary stress.

[MelowMeldrew]

One other thing I should like to point out is that that for people with ASD's the accuracy of these tests is questionable anyway, depending entirely on the context and environment under which the tests themselves are done. If you were to take a someone with Aspergers for a diagnosis for example and one of these tests was suddenly pulled out of a drawer and they were expected to do it out of the blue, the likelyhood that they could concentrate enough to get anything like a relaible result is so small as to invalidate the test anyway.

 

In my opinion, any test like this during the diagnostic process is a waste of time and a source of unecessary stress.

 

 

The old adage it aint what you know it's how you apply it counts too.... A number of autistics have considerable memory recall, but are simply collecting facts for its own sake, not applying that knowledgeable as such... So some can do the rubic cube in x amount of seconds.... and ?