There are quite a few online Asperger’s Syndrome tests. I thought it might be fun to take each of them and then do a little write up.
So, welcome to “Take a Test Tuesday,” a new series that will go on for as many weeks as I can continue digging up new tests to take.
I’m going to kick it off with my favorite online Asperger’s test, The Aspie Quiz, but first a few words about online tests in general. Although some of the tests you’ll find on the internet are used as part of a diagnostic battery, it’s important to remember than an official diagnosis includes additional elements such as neuropsychological testing, observation by a psychiatrist, an assessment of childhood development and interviews with family members.
While you can take these quizzes and get a result that says you’re “most likely an aspie,” they aren’t diagnostic instruments. A formal diagnosis can only be made by a qualified doctor.
With that in mind, let’s get started.
The Aspie Quiz
The Aspie Quiz was developed by Rdos. It’s been through many revisions over the years, with the addition and subtraction of questions based on, among other things, how well the questions correlate with the answers of diagnosed individuals. If you’re interested in statistics or how tests like this are developed, you’ll love the Aspie Quiz Evaluation page. It has a wealth of information on the rationale for which questions have been included or dropped as well as the correlation between quiz scores and various diagnoses.
The Aspie Quiz is not used in any official diagnostic capacity and is billed as a test to be taken for fun, but you’ll often find aspies quoting their scores in their signatures at places like Wrong Planet. Rdos has also written about how the Aspie Quiz compares to the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) test, which has high validity as a diagnostic instrument.
The Aspie Quiz is made up of 150 questions that fall into six domains: talent, compulsion, social, perception, communication and hunting. That last category isn’t one you’ll see on any other Asperger’s test. There is a short explanation about the “hunting” questions in the detailed quiz results, tying the questions to cooperative vs. passive hunting traits. However, the explanation also states that the hunting questions have no “diagnostic relation.” The other five domains cover topics more commonly thought of as differentiating aspies from NTs, such as special interests, adherence to routine, and social preferences.
Pros and Cons of the Aspie Quiz
Pros
- Very detailed
- Self-scoring
- A wide range of question types
- Extensive statistical data available online
- Results include both Aspie and NT scoring scales
- Detailed scores in 12 subscales, including scoring rationale
- Commonly referred to in online Asperger’s communities
- Visual, quantitative and qualitative results
Cons
- Longer than most online Asperger’s tests
- Has not been independently validated in a clinical setting
- May be biased toward the developer’s own theory of Asperger’s
- Not officially recognized by medical establishment
Taking the Test
To take the test, begin here. You don’t need to register if you prefer not to. Just click the “I accept” button. On the next screen you’ll see some questions that the developer is using to validate the test items. Select the appropriate answers and click the “Go to Quiz” button to begin the quiz.
There are a lot of questions, but they’re fairly straightforward. It took me about 20 minutes to complete the quiz. Once you submit your answers, you’ll get a basic results page with your Aspie and NT scores as well as a graphical spiderweb representation of your subscale scores.
You can click the “Detailed results suitable for printing (PDF)” link to get a PDF file with your aspie and NT scores, your spiderweb, and a detailed explanation of your scores on the various subscales.
Scoring the Test
You’ll get two scores: ____ out of a possible 200 for the Aspie score and ____ out of a possible 200 for the neurotypical score. The Aspie score tells you how high you scored on items indicative of Asperger’s traits. The neurotypical score tells you how high you scored on items that describe common non-autistic (neurotypical) traits. Based on the combination of the two scores, the final line of the results will state that you’re “likely an aspie” or “likely neurotypical” or that you “have aspie traits and neurotypical traits.”
Here are my scores:
- Your Aspie score: 170 of 200
- Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 32 of 200
- You are very likely an Aspie
For comparison, I asked The Scientist, who is neurotypical, to take the quiz. He generously agreed to let me use his results. Here they are:
- Your Aspie score: 85 of 200
- Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 158 of 200
- You are very likely neurotypical
Finally, our adult daughter volunteered to share her results as well:
- Your Aspie score: 77 of 200
- Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 143 of 200
- You are very likely neurotypical
As you can see, I scored much higher on the aspie items and much lower on the NT items, while The Scientist and our daugther scored quite high on the neurotypical items and lower on the aspie items. I find it interesting that my scores are more widely distributed than theirs.
Obviously there are questions on the Aspie Quiz that are aspie indicators but will be answered positively by NTs. For example, when The Scientist is interested in something, he gets deeply absorbed in it, much like an aspie with a special interest. The same will be true of aspies having some qualities that are more commonly associated with NTs.
The distribution of scores between aspie and NT becomes most obvious when you look at the spiderwebs.
Mine:
The Scientist’s:
Our daughter’s:
My high scores fall almost exclusively on the aspie (right) side of the web and my NT family members’ are weighted toward the NT (left) side of the web, with some moderate scores on the aspie side as well.
The Bottom Line
While the Aspie Quiz isn’t an officially recognized test, it does seem to be an accurate reflection of neurotype and you get a pretty picture when you’re done.
Musings of an Aspie 
that was a curious little/long quiz. I was surprised at how many don’t know I had to tick – or rather leave.
“You have aspie traits and neurotypical traits” that won’t surprise a friend of mine…not sure if I’ll tell him though… friend of mine…
I wasn’t aware that there was a third possible outcome. How interesting!
I ended up leaving two as “don’t know” and had to think hard about quite a few questions. Quizzes always tie me up in knots though.
I have Aspergers, my ex doesn’t, and we both got in that range. Also, on the AQ, I think I got around 27, while she got around 40.
this is what i got as well. 125/200 aspie, 95/200 nt
Hello, comrade.
“Final version 4
Thank you for filling out this questionnaire.
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 100 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 125 of 200
You seem to have both neurodiverse and neurotypical traits”
I took it this morning, inspired by Spectrum Scribe’s post. NT, although still very different from your Scientist. I love seeing everyone’s results! It seems like a fun Tuesday post to me!
The thing I love most about the Aspie Quiz is that so many people post their scores and spiderwebs online. I enjoy seeing the results too!
I came up pretty clearly Aspie.
I got 188/200 aspie
14/200 NT
Oh, and making my Husband take it tonight! 🙂
Sounds like a fun evening! 🙂
Yeah! That’s how we do fun too! 😛 I figured out that I can tweet my graph! I can’t see why I should blog about my boring picture, but I can still share that way! I also saw Aspie Kid’s on his FB profile a while back. If you are as into this *fun* as I am. 🙂
I just dashed over to Twitter to check out your graph. Thank you for the heads up. I also saw Spectrum Scribe’s on their blog. Now to find Aspie Kid’s FB page. It’s very cool to see so many different results.
I took it for my son, to the best of my ability because I am not him and some of the questions aren’t applicable to him at his age. Very interesting! His Aspie score was 128 and NT was 59. Obviously this is something that should be looked at further, but at least it has helped me feel better about pursuing an evaluation by his therapist next week.
There is a test designed for children that might be more appropriate and it’s meant to be completed by parents. If you’re curious you can find it plus the scoring info at: http://www.autismresearchcentre.com/arc_tests. Early evaluation is a great thing, even if only to rule something out. Good luck with it!
That’s great! Thanks. That will help a lot.
You’re welcome!
One of my favorite tests due to the detailed questions. Thanks for sharing. I have my results from a year before my dx floating around. I recall they look uncannily like yours! 🙂
Lori
I love the questions on this test too. I feel like they really capture a wide range of traits and I enjoy filling out quizzes to the more questions the better!
I hadn’t seen this before–I scored “very likely to be an Aspie” which explains a lot (some of which I had thought was explained by my ADD dx, but there are things here that seem a better “fit”). And the spider-web graphics for this were very nice 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
There is a lot of overlap with ADD for some of the traits. Rdos has some info about that in his evaluation stats (linked in my post) if you’re curious. I love how much information the spiderwebs contain. My husband was amused (and not at all surprised) at how opposite our spiderweb plots are.
I may have taken this before, although I don’t recall the strange “hunting” category and don’t really understand what it’s about. That category scored the highest on the NT side, though!
My Aspie score was 136 and my NT score was 70. The only other area that wasn’t weighted toward the Aspie side was compulsion, but that may be because mine are different from the ones mentioned in the questions. 🙂
I look forward to the next one!
I don’t know what’s up with the hunting category either! The hunting category was my highest NT score as well but I don’t know what to make of that. Thank you for sharing your detailed scores. 🙂
Not so different. 171 . . . My graph is remarkably close to yours.
I wonder if there’s a typical Aspie graph? Probably not, huh.
Very atypical 🐺!! But that’s the great thing about life . . . All the differences.
I wonder how many people backtracked upon similar questions which were worded differently, just to see if they answered the same on both.
I did! 🙂
Well, for one I went back over some to make sure I answered them “correctly”…lol. Also, As soon as I realized that the word “abandoned” was misspelled in question 155, it didn’t really seem a mystery as to what my results would be. The animal sounds…hahahaha, wow! And mistaking sounds for voices…interesting. I was also thinking that perhaps a question on annoyances with people ending sentences with prepositions should be added to the set of questions. BTW, mine was 174 AS and 32 NT…
The Rdos Aspie Quiz was created to collect data to support the creator’s theory that Asperger’s Syndrome is due to neanderthal DNA. As such it’s full of questions that relate to theories about how neanderthals hunted and formed social bonds, much of which seems to be misconstruing sensory issues like oversensitive hearing, visual stimming (flowing water), proprioceptive stimming (toe walking) and motor clumsiness/dyspraxia as evidence of hunting like a neanderthal rather than a homo sapian.
It’s all extremely dubious, and it’s unfortunate that the creator’s bias meant that the test and results are polluted by the tenuous neanderthal hunting theory and we didn’t instead get questions and results about actual autistic spectrum sensory differences, which I think most of us would agree are some of the core features of being on the spectrum (and even in the DSM-5’s criteria now).
The test clearly correlates well with diagnosed Asperger’s, especially as it’s been refined to ensure it does this, it’s just a great pity that it couldn’t be refined further to drop the obfuscation of autistic sensory traits behind questions about hunting style.
Here’s the Rdos research paper on Neanderthals and autism http://www.rdos.net/eng/asperger.htm
The hunting questions are strangely grouped, but they do correlate to autistic traits like dyspraxis, stimming and sensory processing issues. I guess if you can set aside the few really odd ones (and the hunting concept in general), there is some value to them. But yes, it would have been more informative to have a category for sensory processing rather than hunting. I shall look into the Neanderthals!
Is there a way you’d prefer me to reference you (first name, blog handle)? I’d like to mention that you pointed me toward the AQ-10 in my post about it.
My first name’s Nat and you can point people at @quarridors on Twitter 🙂
Excellent – just added your name and Twitter addy to my draft. I hope you’ll continue to comment as you see fit on the testing post (or any others). You’re adding a lot to the conversation and it’s great for people to have the links and data you’ve mentioned to further research on their own.
Thanks! I’ve really appreciated the recent posts of yours I’ve read so far. The athletic aspie post was the first link that I followed here from Twitter, I saw it tweeted by several bloggers I follow. You’re on my RSS feed now so I’ll be commenting whenever I have anything to add 🙂
I possibly won’t have as much to say when it isn’t about tests, as I got a bit obsessed with analysing why some said I was on the spectrum and some didn’t during the period when I was seeking a diagnosis. I’m also very interested in the difference between dyspraxia/NVLD and Asperger’s, as that was the diagnosis I had for 5 years before I got Asperger’s confirmed early this year.
Looking forward to reading more of your posts 🙂
I was wondering if you had a particular interest in Asperger’s tests! It definitely seems that certain people comment on certain types of topics and that’s most welcome.
I just Googled NVLD and so many of the symptoms look deceptively similar to AS. More than once I’ve wondered if we aspies are more qualified to diagnosis ourselves than the experts are to render an opinion on us.
Ah well that’s the interesting thing, it was learning that NVLD wasn’t going to be in the DSM-5 as everyone had speculated 5 years ago, but was in fact had more recently been declared to be Asperger’s but as it manifests for three quarters of us, that got me finally working out what was really going on with me. I can’t find a good article including NVLD as a type of Asperger’s, but this covers it http://www.autism.org.uk/labels
It turns out that NVLD is diagnosed by an objective standardised test, the WAIS, giving a cognitive profile of several different cognitive abilities on an IQ scale. If there’s a significant difference between verbal and nonverbal scores, then it’s NVLD. It’s not based on behaviour (the triad of impairments) but on standardised measurement of ability.
Having a ‘spiky’ cognitive profile in some way is core to being on the autistic spectrum. We are good at some things and some types of thinking and poor at others. Some are extremely visual and think in pictures, some extremely verbal, some think in patterns. Temple Grandin did a talk on this recently, I can’t find the video link sadly.
It seems that because of the more objective rather than subjective nature of NVLD’s diagnosis, and because there was no strong stereotype of the sort of personality and interests that should go with it, NVLD ended up being the label disproportionately given to girls and women, while boys and men were more likely to be labelled with Asperger’s. I have a couple of friends who have just as many autistic traits as I do, one even flaps way more obviously that I ever have, but haven’t been able to access an AS diagnosis where they live, only NVLD.
(I would argue that the reason that female aspies tend to come out as more aspie than the male population in many studies on diagnostic tests, especially the older ones, is that they have to be much more clearly aspie than the men to override the gender biases of the specialists referring and diagnosing them – when you can be refused access for being ‘too warm’ or having too socially acceptable interests).
Luckily things seem to have improved greatly in the last decade with typical female presentations being recognised by most experts and from that more ‘atypical’ presentations recognised across the board, but it still varies greatly by region and whether you’re referred to someone who believes strongly in things like ‘extreme male brain’ or the old gendered stereotype.
I personally believe there are many coping strategies to get through life with the sorts of social impairments associated with being on the spectrum. The societal stereotype of Asperger’s is just one of more obvious coping strategies. There are others, especially those involving mimicry of others, that are only now being given recognition.
I’ll stop myself now before I’ve written an entire blog post in your comments section, thanks for the thought provoking statement! 🙂
Your analysis, especially of the gender-related aspects–feels right on to me. Thank you for sharing it. I did find a list of NVLD traits that was nearly identical to AS traits so your background on the relationship between the two answer my question about that. I know from looking back at my childhood standarized tests that I have a very spiky cognitive profile, with most scores in the upper 90th percentiles and then a few scores in the 70th percentiles. At the time (33 years ago) that was probably attributed to “girls aren’t good at spatial reasoning” or some such gendered nonsense.
Q’s and C’s—your Temple Grandin video (perhaps)…
My highest WAIS scores were 98th and 95th percentile (verbal reasoning and comprehension), the lowest are 1st and 5th percentile (mental arithmetic and picture completion – visual reasoning). My full scale IQ came out as 104 – pretty much average. The tests that involved working memory were impressively poor.
For reference I have a first class honours degree in Computer Science, it requires very little mental arithmetic 🙂
I found a working memory test that I want to include as part of Take-a-Test Tuesday because I think mine is poor as well. It’s great that you’ve found your niche to excel in based on your strengths!
I know this is ancient, but just chiming in to say I’m another who probably qualifies for NVLD based on the WAIS and has been told by professionals both that I’m on the spectrum (PDD-NOS!) and that that was “definitely a misdiagnosis” because I’m “gifted” instead and apparently non-normative behavior and social and sensory problems associated with giftedness aren’t to be pathologized. On the WAIS-V at age 18, I scored a 150 for verbal, but overall was 132. Working memory and spatial were in the 95th percentile, and one of the processing was my lowest at 33rd percentile. I’m a software developer who was recruited out of college despite lacking qualifications (majored in math, didn’t learn much of it, with my reasoning abilities compensating for actually learning the content) because I was obviously talented in that area. Interesting how being on different ends of the working memory spectrum (as measured by one test) apparently hasn’t prevented us from having similar experiences, talents, and positions on the autism spectrum.
My WAIS profile is a lot like yours in how extreme the various scales are. I scored in the 11th percentile for working memory (and single digits for something else) but upper 90s for a lot of the other scales. The gifted label seems to mask a lot in the eyes of the professionals (if not necessarily in every day life).
Question: On the test results chart, what is does my score mean in comparison to the aspie number. I am assuming it is the percentage Aspies scored on this. But the numbers just seemed to close too often. for example, if my score was 0, the aspie was 0. if my score was 2, the aspie was 1.82
Thanks 😀
The aspie scores are the mean scores of all of the diagnosed aspies who took the test (i.e. the scores of diagnosed aspie test takers are added up and averaged out).
If the aspie score is 0, that means that all (or nearly all) aspies scored 0 on that question. If the aspie score is 1.82, then most aspies scored 2 and some scored 1 or 0 (bringing the mean or average down slightly below 2).
Your score can only be a 0,1 or 2 because those are your choices. However, the mean is an average, so it can be anything between 0 and 2. If the aspie score is 1.82 and you scored 2 (meaning 0.18 difference in scores), then you’re very close to typical aspies on that characteristic. If the aspie score is 1.82 and you scored 0 (1.82 difference in scores), then you’re quite different from the typical aspie.
Hope this helped rather than creating more confusion!
Thank you, that was helpful. But I am wondering why some of the mean scores provided exceeded the value of 2? A few scores were 2.2. Any ideas why?
Hmmm . . . I actually have no idea why that’s happening.
Wow, that was extremely clear and helpful. thank you! This is how I understood it, but like I said. My scores were so close to the apie, I guess I was in a small state of denial.
That seems to be a common reaction! I took the online tests many times before I started to accept that I might be on the spectrum. Before that I just told myself that everyone must score high, because obviously so many of the statements were true. 😀
I’ve been working with (mainly) adults, many of whom have had clear aspie-treats. Many of them remain neuropsychiatrically undiagnosed. But wenn it’s what you see and think of all day long, you care less about who’s diagnosed or not.
I have come to consider this quiz by rdos to be the most suitable of all tests I’ve seen in use.
We/I do not use it as a diagnostic tool, not at all. We use it to direct us how to assist or support the different individuals that come to us for help.
In short: if people score aspie-like in this quiz we are usually successful when using methods intended for aspies. And the other way around.
The critics with regard to rdos’ Neanderthal theory, I’ve had some reason to consider. Given that one doesn’t believe rdos to lie and to be a fraud, I think his answers are plausible and consistent. In my judgement it is the critics who have revealed themselves as having a hidden agenda, although I don’t exactly understand what that agenda could be.
In my experience, there _is_ an obvious link between AS and interest in animals, that SOMETIMES is expressed as interest in immitating animals, sometimes in trapping, holding or hunting them.
Yes, it does seem like the Aspie quiz is a good indicator of a strong set of aspie traits in those who score high. It’s by far the one I see most quoted by diagnosed aspies as well.
I came across this test some time ago and have taken it several times over a period of about 2 years. I have found that my scores (170 or higher AS, 30 or lower NT) have remained reasonably stable through revisions of the test.
That’s great evidence for the reliability of the test. I think the aspie quiz, though it isn’t used officially, is probably the most accurate of the tests available.
When I took the test back in 2008, my Aspie score was 122, and my NT score was 78. When I took it again last week, my Aspie score was 146 and my NT score was 58. No idea whether that’s partly refinement, and / or partly being more aware of myself.
😉 tagAught
There have been a few rounds of refinement since then, so probably some of each? There are some questions on there that I wouldn’t have answered affirmatively before I read about Asperger’s and started paying more attention to my behavior.
This was interesting.The results were 118 out of 200 for the Aspie, and 85 out of 200 for neurotypical. It said “You seem to have both Aspie and Neurotypical traits.” But what does “Hunting” mean?
The “Hunting” categories come from the test creator’s belief that there is a link between Neanderthals and Aspergers. I cringe even writing that because I think the test is generally one of the most accurate online tests for identifying aspie traits. Fortunately, the hunting questions don’t seem to impact the accuracy of the results and some of them can be tied to recognized aspie traits (though they have nothing to do with hunting in that context).
I have taken it 3 times and gotten 181, 175 and 167 on the aspie side respectively, and between 50-55 on the NT side. My graph consistantly looks like a blowfish
I think the blowfish shape is fairly common and it also seems common to have some slight variation within a range of scores, depending on you interpret the questions on each go through.
It was suggested to me by a CSW at the local hospice after the death of my mother that I was very likely Aspie.
I’ve taken several online tests and they all agree. I do realize online tests are not the same as an official Dx, but it’s a relief to know I’m not alone. I have felt different and alone all my life, especially when I was younger. Now at 40++, I have learned some coping skills, but still tend to be a logical/linear thinker.
While the online tests aren’t conclusive, I think taken together with your own observations of yourself and the observation of the CSW you’ve got a lot to go on. I’m glad you feel like you’ve found a community with others on the spectrum. That’s been one of the biggest sources of relief and solace for me. Knowing we’re not alone and there are so many others like us is comforting. 🙂
Hm… I got an Aspie score of 133 with an NT score of 66… I wonder, where does the last point go…
Anyway, I’ve questioned whether or not I might be Schizoid (Got a remarkably high rating on almost all of the unofficial tests), a psychopath/sociopath (got above average, but no where near as high as the ‘real deal’), and now I’ve gotten a rather high score on this Aspie test. It says I am most likely an Aspie, but I’m unsure what I am, and what’s most surprising (to myself) is that I’m not sure if I even care in the first place. However, on the graph, the intellectual side was all Aspie, but no where near as much as yours. Another peculiar thing is that I ended up scoring on the NT side on communication (A bit of both, actually, more on NT side though) yet Aspie on social.. So, it seems I’ve the mind of an Aspie (or potential mind for this matter, as this is no official diagnosis), and the potential social & communication skills of an NT…
Then, at the end: “None, but a high score is related to giftedness.
Your group score: 8.1 of 10 (above average).”
I’ve always seen myself as being brighter than the average bear, but to hear this outright… it’s rather flattering…
It may be possible to be aspie and have that cause a “false positive” on the questionnaires for schizophrenia because ASD and schizoprhenia have a lot of overlap in terms of manifestation of traits/symptoms. (Autism as originally referred to as “childhood schizophrenia.) One of the main differences is that people with schizophrenia experience internal voices whereas people with ASD don’t. Ultimately, I think it takes a trained professional to sort out the details. Not saying that’s required, just putting it out there.
Looking at other people’s spider webs, it seems common for there to be a “bulge” on each side, with some subscales more obviously aspie and some more obviously NT. It’s fun to see which areas we have our strengths in. 🙂
That’s only partly correct, According to the DSM the ‘only’ differences in terms of schizophrenia criteria are that schizophrenics have ‘bizzare’ delusions and ‘voices are a running comentary of ones thoughts’
I could get a false positive for the latter, if the question was answered badly since I talk alound, and I here ‘my own’ voice giving a running cometry of what I am doing.
Also Dr Tony Attwoods Complete Guide To Asperger’s Syndrome, talks about someone with asperger’s having the delusional belief that they had super natural powers.
In addition lots of things can cause psychosis or seem like it, for instance thyroid issues, post traumatic stress disorder, border line personality disorder, depression, anxiety, bi-poilar, brief reactive psychosis, PDD etc…….
Schizophrenia requires that a number of strong criteria are met.
I came out Aspie Score 103/200. NT 107/200. “You seem to have both Aspie and neurotypical traits.”
Trait: ASD & NT;
Talent: 9 & 6,5. Compulsive: 3,5 & 2. Social: 6 & 6.
Communication: 6,5 & 6,5. Hunting: 6 & 6.5. Perception: 6 & 7
Thoughts?
Intraspective analysis leads me to conclude that I’m not ASD, I always just considered myself awkward.
That’s a fairly even split. It could be that you have an introverted personality or are socially awkward, which accounts for your ASD score. There’s also the idea of the Broader Autism Phenotype, which is sort of a subclinical manifestation of ASD in families where ASD is prevalent. And I’ve seen people with ADHD and other conditions score unusually high on the ASD part because of overlap in some traits, so it’s definitely not a foolproof measure of ASD alone.
In short, there are a lot of reasons why you could be scoring so evenly split on the two. 🙂
I’m curious as to whether my Dysthymia/Anxiety comorbidity would account for my ASD score? I also, as you suggested am introverted. All in all, I don’t know much about ASD, other than it seems like a particular collection of comorbids, those of which seem to exemplify beautifully and particularly humanity; in my experience all people demonstrate some degree of turbulence with communication, social interaction, and repetition. ASD seems to be the overactivity of these traits. Am I correct? I’d be curious to read more about this, if you have anything you would recommend.
Yes, there are definitely a lot of anxiety related questions on the quiz so that could factor into it.
I think that, as you say, everyone has certain traits that are also markers for autism, but the difference between being on the spectrum or not is a matter of degree. One of the key criteria for a diagnosis is that the person’s autistic traits have to create an impairment in daily living, which means they need to rather significant in degree or number. So yes, overactivity is a good way of putting it and there are constellations of traits that could (and sometimes are) alternatively be diagnosed as dyspraxia or ADHD or SPD, etc.. I haven’t ever written anything about this that I can recall but it’s an interesting topic to think about.
My scores seem to have mellowed a little bit since last time I took the test:
Your Aspie score: 155 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 40 of 200
But I suppose I’ve been studying a lot of psychology etc… so that would bias some of the results from my natural state.
Anyhow, the questions seem to change from time to time, or maybe everytime you take the test.
The question I like the most is
Do you like unusual sex.
Becase it took me a good while to answer, since I have no idea what ‘usual’ sex is, especially for someone of the same gender. The way I answered it was by using a more a-typical definition of ‘usual’ as in ‘would you like your usual sir’, the one that you have all the time. So in that sense, usual sex became boring and repetative, so I answered yes I like unusual sex….
There where some other questions I found had to answer too, for instance there was one about being interrupted etc…. and if you forget you’re in a social situation. Well you could say I forget, but I don’t actually forget, I just get sidetracked for a while…. not actually forget, even if it takes me hours to remember again. So do I say yes I forget or not.
Some of the questions are definitely tough to answer and I’ve found myself answering them differently at different times. I think part of it is the ambiguous wording – like the one about unusual sex. They probably should have used atypical or outside cultural norms or something less vague than unusual.
Re: the questions changing, I know the author updated the test continuously for a long time but I’m not sure if that’s still the case. There are a ton of discarded questions that you can view if you look at the release notes on the test’s website.
Yes there are some other ambiguous questions, it’s the case with the AQ test too. Taking things literally or in detail are traits of Asperger’s though and being more socially emotionally ‘normal’ are traits of being NT for instance (though not ASPD&co). So questions that have different answers when looked at in detail vs just knee jerk / emotional type responses should work well in screening batteries.
I just took the test yesterday. I have recognized my traits for several years more and more and have become even more isolated (although with a decent job, wife/kid) and harder to engage in small talk with many other issues. I scored a 142/200 in the Aspie and 67/200 in the neurotypical. I also scored a 42/50 in the AQ Test. I also took the Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnosis Scale. I scored a 208 (highest variance in Social Relatedness/Sensory Motor compared to the typical male aspie – with all being greater than the typical male aspie). I just decided to seek a professional diagnosis because I notice my kid and boss have worked around my issues — I would just like to be able to cope without people having to work around me. I do not mind having no friends because I am heavily involved in my research projects, but I cannot coach myself as well as I did before to push myself to be like everyone else.
I’ve been finding that my traits become harder to hide or compensate for as I grow older and I think that was one of the things that finally made me go looking for answers. It just got to be too hard to ignore. Like you said, it all starts to feel like a bit much.
It sounds like you’re happy with your life in general and looking to find ways to better cope with the challenges you’re feeling. i think making life less of a struggle is a great reason for seeking a professional diagnosis. I hope it goes well for you. 🙂
I purchased the book. Besides it being English, it comes in a language I really understand. 🙂 BTW, my devil’s advocate wife (in everything I bring up), responded when I recently told her what my suspicions were, “of course” and went on to explain ways to tell me why I was likely with an ASD.
Yay! 🙂 Glad you’re finding you can relate to it. Sounds like your wife is very wise. I like “of course” as answer–sounds like she knew it all along and isn’t going to be horrified if you get diagnosed, etc. That’s such a huge advantage.
So I took the test as well … A.: 126/200, NT: 97/200, so I’ve traits of both. But I think had I taken the quiz about 5 or 10 years before the results would have been different with a stronger tendency to the Aspie traits, as after some troublesome years I decided to improve my social skills, e.g. the reading of facial expressions isn’t as difficult anymore as it was back then. Still working on the staring thing, though …
It’s true, people’s scores do change over time – some because like you they get better at certain skills and others because they realize that they have traits/do things that they didn’t previously realize.
yeah, there was a bunch of questions I couldn’t answer at all because often I can’t decide how I feel about a situation, or I don’t know if I show a certain behaviour. would be cool to have a supplement test by the same test creater to take by the spouse or a close friend of the test-taker! because I’m one of those people who may start to show certain kinds of behaviour after reading or thinking too much about a possible diagnosis … not helpful.
I’ve worried a lot about maybe adopting certain kinds of behaviours too, because I wanted to fit in or because something gave me the idea or whatever. But I’m slowly starting to accept that some of my more autistic behaviours are coming to the foreground now because I no longer have to hide them. There are others like me. It’s ok. It’s not copying. It was there all along, I just tried and tried so hard to hide and ignore them that I wasn’t even aware I was doing it. I am the champion of self-censorship. Well, like so many other people on the spectrum. Even in that, I’m not a chmapion, let alone unique. 😛
It takes some getting used to, but it’s really hard to fake these things consistently, continuously, and all across the board. If you find yourself doing things that you thought you didn’t do, then it’s probably because knowing that others do it too has finally given you the permission to do it as well.
For me, rocking and toe walking have been the major discoveries. I honestly had no idea I did any of that. Until I started noticing it more and more. Apparently it’s really common for autistic adults to superficially “regress” when they find out about autism.
Your instincts are right on. Often, part of the diagnosis process is an interview with a family member, partner or close friend to give the person doing the evaluation additional information. I took the online tests a few times early on and asked my husband about certain things I wasn’t sure on, which was helpful.
But yeah, I get the feeling that “maybe I’m doing this because I read about it” and had that little voice whispering in my head a few times as I was working through trying to figure things out initially. It sounds like you’re pretty okay with where you are, regardless of how the test results came out, etc.
When I took the tests, I remember sending the links to my parents and asking them to take the test, and answer how they think I should answer. Nothing came of it, I don’t think they followed through on it. The idea was for them to get the results first hand. If anything, I think my numbers may have gone up a tick with someone like my parents, siblings or children answering as they think I would have… based on their life long perceptions of me.
Where you said, “maybe I’m doing this because I read about it”, it made me think of something that I adopted about ten years ago. I’m the unconventional one in my family. I make my own bread, jar my own soups, am an artist that paints rows of dots, basically a nonconformist, and doesn’t seem to get along with family well, after the first few hours of a visit. Once there was a problem at a family function (minor but typical things when original family members get together) I remember telling a nephew that “I’m the artsy uncle… I’m supposed to do that.” Or something to that effect. Once I got a reputation that wasn’t the most glowing… after bristling over it for awhile… I embraced it… and now my family knows there are certain roads that are better left ‘untraveled’ when we visit…because I can flip on a dime if someone hits the wrong tripwire…. though my boundaries are very easy to see and maneuver around (so I say 🙂 )
(oops… I think I just got lost somewhere in that last paragraph… sorry about that.)
🙂
I wanted to share my ‘spiderweb’ too. They were done a couple of weeks apart about two years ago.
Thank you for adding your spiderwebs. It’s nice to see people keeping this post alive.
I think (though I’m not certain) that I’m the reclusive family member and I’ve embraced that too. Funny how we all have our family labels, like it or not.
I’m the sarcastic intelligent one? I guess? I sort of fall in the middle of the spectrum in my family. Not very noticeable compared to most.
Interesting. Doesn’t tell me much, though. [img]http://www.rdos.net/eng/poly12c.php?p1=69&p2=85&p3=50&p4=78&p5=47&p6=67&p7=33&p8=52&p9=30&p10=57&p11=90&p12=18[/img]
Darn. That was supposed to be a link to the visual of my spiderweb. 116/200 Aspie, 88/200 NT. Inconclusive – both Aspie and NT traits.
I was able to cut and paste the link. Your graph is interesting the way it’s straddling both sides of the Aspie/NT graph. There have been a few people here with similar results, showing both aspie and NT traits. It’s possible that there is another explanation for your high aspie score if you’re not on the spectrum. You scored really high on the aspie perception and talent scales but low in many of the other areas, so that might be something to consider in interpreting your scores
I noticed I’ve never posted my scores here.
Your Aspie score: 140 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 66 of 200
Spiderwebby thing: http://www.rdos.net/eng/poly12c.php?p1=83&p2=66&p3=65&p4=93&p5=72&p6=61&p7=70&p8=76&p9=64&p10=53&p11=75&p12=46
That sounds about right. 🙂 Thank you for adding them.
Just repeated the test — consistent with my previous results:
Your Aspie score: 171 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 28 of 200
And the web: http://www.rdos.net/eng/poly12c.php?p1=97&p2=97&p3=97&p4=96&p5=85&p6=98&p7=90&p8=92&p9=51&p10=63&p11=80&p12=70
Wow, I think that’s one of the most lopsided graphs I’ve seen yet! 😀 Good to know that it’s consistent over time.
Is it wrong to be jealous of your score? Especially the talent thing. Wow. I wish mine were as clear cut. I’m a better hunter than you though! Ph34r m3! 😛
In this case I’d say yes — it’s not a competition. (Cue image of presentation: and the winner in the category of “Most Aspie” is…) Talent for what though? My wife insists I have a talent for being an awkward sod 😉
PMSL :p
I think the talent questions are around things like pattern recognition and cataloging information.
That would make sense.
I just call that “awesomeness”. But I’m biased. 😛
In fact I might have to stop being so enthusiastic about autism. It’s putting people off. I mean, there are definite downsides. But I just love the upsides.
Um… Hi! My name is Chelsea and I’m 18 years old. The comment was once made to me by someone who knows me well(who’s credentials and knowledge of this subject I trust) that I might have aspergers. I wasn’t sure, so I did a lot of research. The research has led me to believe that I most likely am. I just finished taking that quiz you mentioned and my scores were indicative of this as well. The second quiz I took suggested the same. I just don’t know if I should follow up on it or see about a professional diagnosis or anything like that. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I don’t know what to do or how to proceed… I know that this post was ages ago.. It came up when I google searched quizzes. Thanks in advance and sorry for the bother!
Hi! I think whether you want to do anything about your discovery really depends on your situation. Some people find that getting a diagnosis is helpful if they need to access support services or request accommodations to make their work or school environment more comfortable. Other people want a diagnosis for peace of mind – because it tells them conclusively why they experience the world differently from most other people. But a lot of people are content with simply having a general idea that they’re likely on the spectrum and using that to make whatever changes they feel are needed or simply to learn more about how their brain works.
So it’s entirely up to you and it’s not something you have to rush into or decide on right away. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the “Adult Diagnosis” link at the top of the page, but there’s a post linked from that page about seeking out a professional diagnosis versus self-diagnosising and some of the issues that surround both. If you want to read more in detail, you might find that helpful.
I would like to add that depending on your country and the type of evaluation, you might not get a diagnosis unless you have a problem in your day-to-day life that is related to autism. This is because of Section D in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) that lists “significant impairment” as one of the criteria for autism. In my country (the Netherlands) it’s one of the things they ask about first, and you can’t get diagnosed without it.
http://unstrangemind.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/autism-and-the-dsm-5-diagnostic-criteria-section-d/
Funny, the first time I took it i got AS: 92/200 NT: 117/200. I was diagnosed with Asperger’s as a young child, so that was surprising. I thought I might have answered with “a little” slightly more often than is totally honest, so took it again and got AS: 139/200, NT: 83/200. I guess despite being and feeling “different”, I’m used to trying to act normal and see things from an NT perspective, so I don’t have a self-image of being that abnormal.
That makes a lot of sense. My scores vary a little depending on how I interpret the questions too. I think we all have a lot of conscious and unconscious coping mechanisms.
I am totally inept in social circles and very uncomfortable with small talk
Second attempt at commenting. At least I remember what I wanted to write and don’t have to spend the next hour writing and re-writing just a few sentences. Here goes..
My score is quite similar to yours (173:26), and the spider web looks almost the same for me, save for a spike at the bottom left, in the “hunting” category. Like a capital D with a crutch. 🙂
Two years ago, the shell that I had built around my self burst into pieces. I struggled to continue just living, couldn’t sleep for more than 3 hours every night and ended up hurting myself.
I was put in therapy, drugged and diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (which turned out to be the therapist’s favorite diagnosis and everyone there got it), along with 6 more entries from ICD10, because BPD actually didn’t fit quite so well.
After that, I started researching all kinds of mental illnesses, disorders and the like, and ASD kept cropping up. I took all the tests I could find, and always got the same kinds of results. Then I asked friends and family to take the same tests. They all got “normal” results. So I guess I’m part of your tribe as well.
Just like you wrote somewhere, though some aspects of life are quite difficult for me, I wouldn’t want to be different. I wouldn’t be me then. It was difficult for me to accept that I am what I am, that I’m not broken and stupid and weird. But now that I allow myself to be the way I want to be, I’m happy.
I found your book quite helpful as well.
I’m sorry WordPress wasn’t cooperating for you. Losing a comment is so frustrating.
It’s good that you kept looking for an explanation that fit you. It’s surprisingly common for adults to get a bunch of overlapping diagnoses to explain their traits when a single ASD diagnosis (or ASD plus something) would be a much better answer. I made family members take the tests too, just to prove to myself that there wasn’t some problem with the test. 😀
I’m glad you found the book helpful and that you’re feeling good about yourself now that you have a label that fits. I think that’s ultimately the most important outcome of the process.
http://www.rdos.net/eng/poly12c.php?p1=77&p2=85&p3=96&p4=81&p5=82&p6=85&p7=62&p8=53&p9=44&p10=81&p11=74&p12=81
Don’t know if this’ll work…
Hello, I’m new to all this…diagnosed with severe social anxiety, OCD, and various other things, but never Asperger’s. Though it was suggested to me in passing. My therapy was terminated as my social anxiety wasn’t improving even after years of treatment so I’m on my own now.
I’m just starting to look into this at last as I previously brushed it off since I pictured Asperger’s people as being obsessed with math (I loathe numbers!), poor with language (writing is my one skill), and unable to really “get” or read people (I empathize with others to a fault, though my SA makes actual socializing terribly awkward, and…maybe I’m not as good at reading people as I thought?). But on learning more I’m seeing more and more traits in myself, such as my obsession with certain interests (I shan’t get started on my habit of buying every decent book I can find on particular subjects), LOTS of tactile/sensory difficulties (I always thought I was just weird
), rigid routines (always written off as OCD before), angry tantrums, etc.
I don’t seem to have that sort of “disconnect” from other people that a lot of Aspies I see online or in the media have (apologies if I’m falling for stereotypes, as I said I’m new), but I’ve noticed I have next-to-no interest in befriending/really getting to know people unless we have virtually all the same interests/personality traits…otherwise I can’t identify with them enough to maintain interest in a friendship. I can make smalltalk/idle chatter a bit, but I have no desire to keep in touch or communicate further than that, because without a lot of common ground I have nothing to say, and no interest in saying anything. Therefore I’ve been quite lonely for many years, and people see me as standoffish/disinterested (which I guess is kind of true).
I don’t know, could that have anything to do with this? I haven’t read anything about this in the bit of research I’ve done yet. Getting so perplexed.
Apologies for my LONG comment (another trait of mine, longwindedness!), I hadn’t anywhere else to ask! ;_; If you can’t or haven’t an answer i understand.
(Eh, holy crud, I have an account here?? It’s logging me in?? Yikes!! o.o )
I understand about not feeling that you fit the stereotypes. I was the same way. When I started reading the experiences of autistic adults on their blogs, my mind was blown by how different it was from the stereotypical portrayals in the media.
But all of what you describe is familiar to me. I feel most comfortable socializing with people around a common interest and have little incentive to contact them outside of that context. It’s a bit of a fallacy that people on the spectrum don’t have relationships. I think it’s more correct to say that we have relationships that often follow certain patterns, which are often socially atypical.
Also, the fact that you were treated for a long time for social anxiety without any positive results feels like an important clue. If you have social anxiety related to sensory overload or atypical social skills, then therapy aimed at simply changing how you think about socializing will probably fail. Since recognizing why I have social anxiety and taking practical steps to reduce it, I’ve had much better luck.
No worries about the length of your comment. Long comments are very welcome. 🙂 I’m glad you felt comfortable enough to share your experience and I hope this is a helpful answer. Mostly, I would say read a lot of stuff by autistic adults and see how much of it feels like it fits you. In doing so, you may also start finding strategies that will help with some of the difficult aspects of what you describe.
I don’t find this test very good because it’s subjective. It also assumes that a person has not learnt to adapt to life with ASD. I am sure as a child I would have scored 180+ as an Aspie on the intellectual side judging from my diagnosis reports…
However, I scored 135 NT completely on the physical side. This was with a person helping me answer the questions, we mostly agreed on everything together.
So, something is wrong here, considering I have HFA/ASD and I am an intellectual (university educated).
Yes, that’s very true. Answering the questions as if you haven’t made adaptations as an adult would definitely make the score much higher.
I found your page after googling “adult aspergers tests”. I’m so glad its here, thank you, it’s very comforting for me today in particular. I scored 152/200 and 62/200, “very likely an Aspie”.
I’m a 45 year old British woman who emigrated to USA 13 years ago, and after reading the last comment posted recently, I answered the questions as I am today, after many years semi-successfully learning/adopting “correct” social rules and norms. My score would probably be higher if I answered disregarding my adult adaptations.
I won’t bore you with my whole history, it’s enough to say that today is a crappy day, reflecting on a lifetime of lost friendships due to what is lately dawning on me, is probably Aspergers. Since a comment I now understand was unacceptable finally ended my best friendship a year ago, I do not have close friends, am scared to enter new friendships, and keep the acquaintances I have at arms length. I’m very lucky to have a loving, wonderful husband, but thing are getting worse as I get old and I can feel myself withdrawing, scared of what the heck I’m going to say or do wrong next, professionally or personally.
I have incredibly bad food intolerances that profoundly affect my well-being and behaviour, and that’s another thing that has led me to consider Aspergers.
I’m guessing I could easily qualify for the significant impairment required to get a diagnosis, although I’m not sure how it’s done here in the USA. I’m considering seeing somebody, I don’t know who or where to start with that. I don’t want drugs and medications. I think I just want somebody to say… yep… this is what it’s been all along… you’re not a bad person, you’re just wired a bit different, that’s all.
So maybe I would regard being diagnosed with Aspergers as an explanation, not an excuse. Just the thought of it fills me with relief, of knowing why I’m such an oddball at last. I’m such a good person, with a big heart, but today that heart is heavy because I feel like so many people regard me as simply a pain in the ass. If only I could tell them why.
Just ramblings. Maybe looking for an encouraging word or two.
I’m sorry you’re having such a bad day. It seems like so many of us discover that we’re on the spectrum as a sort of “last resort” explanation for the difficulties we’ve had in life. As someone who fails a lot at relationships, I have an idea of what you’re feeling.
It does sound like you have a lot of ASD traits. You’re right in thinking that a significant impairment is a condition of getting a diagnosis and probably also in assuming that you meet the threshold a clinician would use in determining that (based on what you’ve described here).
It’s entirely possible and realistic to go into the diagnostic process simply seeking an answer. I made it clear to the neuropsychologist who diagnosed me that my primary goal in seeking a diagnosis was to better understand myself. There aren’t any medications specifically for autism, but many clinicians will recommend drugs for anxiety, depression, etc. Whether you choose to do that route is entirely up to you. I turned down both doctors who suggested meds to me and their reactions were basically “if you change your mind, let me know”.
Getting a diagnosis doesn’t magically fix anything but it does give us a starting place for understanding ourselves better and helping the people around us understand why we are the way we are. If you decide to go forward, I would recommend taking a look at the adult diagnosis series (linked from the top of the page). It has a lot of specifics about how adults are diagnosed and what the process entails.
I hope things start looking up for you soon.
So sweet of you to reply like that thank you. I’m sorry my reply is so long. I can never seem to say/write anything personal briefly and concisely. However, strangely in my self-employed professional life I have to communicate visually very briefly and clearly every day, and do it quite brilliantly. I’m an odd one.
Yes it was a poopy day when I posted, and things have looked up since. I’m extremely sensitive to Gluten, Dairy and Soy, and accidentally eating the wrong things can profoundly affect the way I feel physically and mentally. That’s what had happened when I posted. Also I’d just canceled spending Christmas with my family, because I’m scared of what I’ll say, though I didn’t tell them this. I wear myself out. They have no idea.
Since my comment:
I read all of your “Adult Diagnosis” series, which has been extremely helpful. I love that you’ve taken the time to share this stuff so concisely, and generously.
I talked with my sister, who’s a Psychotherapist, and for the first time ever confided that I’m wondering about Aspergers. She said I can’t have it, I’ve been too successful. Ha! I told her I respect her opinion very much, but there’s an awful lot I’ve never told her, and have kept very well hidden. I’m self-employed in a particular industry where I’ve learned to be VERY good at making things appear the way I want them to appear, to everyone in my life.
I then talked with my GP, who’s a lovely person as Docs go. She said the same thing as my sister. Then I confided a few of my reasons for wondering about Aspergers, things I’ve never told anyone. She then changed her opinion, and said I should be assessed for Aspergers, and told me how to go about it. So I will start that process in the New Year, and I’m already clear my intent is not for labels or medications, but only 1) to make sense of a lifetime of nonsense, and 2) learn how to get through life much better than I do, be happier, and be a better wife to my long-suffering husband.
On another note entirely — something I’m noticing from all the Aspie blogs your blog has led me to — for the first time in years I understand the words I am reading. I’ve always wondered what’s “wrong” with me that I can’t read words on a computer screen, on a blog, in an email, etc. I often have to print things out, and take them away from the computer to try and read/understand better, but my mind still gets quickly distracted, so much that I’ve become a great “skimmer”. I thought I might be slightly dyslexic, although this didn’t seem to fit. But for the first time ever, when I read your blog posts, I can UNDERSTAND every word, my brain doesn’t get distracted, and I not only full sentences but complete paragraphs without wandering off. It’s bizarre. I thought it was just your writing style at first, then I went to other Aspie Blogs and noticed the same thing. So it seems, for me at least, Aspies communicate written language in a very specific way that I completely understand, and actually feels good to read, which is a strange sensation.
Thanks for your blog, it’s a lifeline at just the right time.
I’m glad you’ve found a way to get evaluated – self-advocacy is so important, even though it can be hard and demoralizing to keep encountering people who buy into the old stereotypes about autism. And also that the diagnosis series has been helpful. I basically wrote the thing that I wished I’d been able to find when I was trying to figure out to get evaluated.
It’s interesting that you find writing by aspies easier to understand and struggle so much with reading in general. Perhaps we do have a specific communication style. At the very least, I would imagine we write in a more concrete, direct way and avoid the types of communication that we ourselves struggle with.
I Have read with great interest all the above, I was never diagnosed, because back in the 60’s, all the parents were busy with their lives and kids just had to get on with it. I got 161 / 200 on the Aspie score, which does not surprise my wife. I have never fitted in and as one earlier writer said. as I get older I am taking less risks trying to get to know people, as I have made too many failures in the past. I have trained as nurse and in social work but now do less involved jobs as the stress of dealing with people was far more than I could cope with…
img]http://www.rdos.net/eng/poly12c.php?p1=94&p2=94&p3=81&p4=97&p5=78&p6=88&p7=79&p8=86&p9=44&p10=63&p11=88&p12=75[/img]
Very true. Also, prior to the late nineties, autism was only diagnosed in those who had the most obvious manifestations of it.
I totally understand what you’re saying about struggling more to cope as we get older. People talk a lot about the crisis of autistic kids aging out of the school system, but I think there is a similar and completely invisible phenomenon happening as so many of us enter middle age and later and find our coping systems deteriorating.
Good quiz! I started thinking properly last night that I might be aspie (had been vaguely mentioned to me I think after the split with my ex-wife a while back). Seems the more I read the more I’m convinced, great blog too by the way: thank you very much for helping me feel normally abnormal! I got 145/200 & 64/200, so a reasonable way in and quite convincing. Made all the more convincing due to the fact that I’ve become “pretty highly knowledgable” about AS in 24 hours due to it now being my latest obsession and doing barely any work today due to researching on the internet. 😉 At least I now know why I can’t concentrate on anything, or obsess over it. Kinda like being hit by a train of realisation for everything that’s been screwed or odd in my life all these years. Highly upsetting to be proven “abnormal”, yet incredibly liberating simultaneously. Hopefully I’ll now be able to learn ways to help me deal with it better though. It’s like finding out the meaning of life, but it’s a pretty unsatisfying “42”!
Having an explanation, especially the right explanation, can be a huge help in figuring out better coping strategies and workarounds. Also, I think your new obsession and your intense research into it are probably better evidence than any test score that you’re on the spectrum. I fell down a similar hole researching autism and still haven’t climbed out. 🙂 Congratulations on your discovery!
Same here, when I discovered blogs written by autistic adults I spent the next 4 days not sleeping and reading everything from start to finish. It’s gotten a bit better now after 7 months. 😉
When we discover a new interest, the passion we bring to it is absolutely immense. I think it’s one of our biggest strengths, even when other people might call us obsessive.
Good luck to you on your journey!
My scores: Aspie 162, neurotypical 55. It runs in my family, though it has only been diagnosed among younger members (under 10). But apart from me, there’s my older bro, my dad, his bro, his sister, and one of my cousins who are (to me) obviously on the spectrum. I can’t remember my dad’s mother very well, but she was physically very distant (kissed dad on the cheek once in his entire life) and what you might call insensitive and rude (or seemed that way to me as a tiny kid), so I suspect her of Aspie tendencies too. Curiously I’ve been completely unable to convince my dad about my own Aspie tendencies – his fixed and unshakeable opinion is “you’re outgoing, like your mother” – well she was outgoing compared to my dad, but that’s not saying much, and I’m very nearly the biggest hermit I know! Sigh.
Sounds like everyone is outgoing compared to your dad! I can see how it’s hard for parents to adjust their perception of adult children and you might never convince your dad if his (probably aspie) mind is already made up. 🙂
Re not convincing my dad, I think you are probably exactly right (and you’re also right that of us all he’s probably the least outgoing) :). It’s interesting, you know, because quite a few of the Aspie books out there suggest that it can help Aspies if they have an Aspie parent or close relative, on the grounds that there will probably be greater mutual understanding, but my own experience suggests that’s not necessarily the case – in my family all those with Aspie qualities have very doggedly ploughed their own furrow in life and share very little in terms of interests or opinions, thus have also offered very little by way of emotional support to the others. There are good things to be said about that (we’re all very good at being independent and looking after ourselves) and bad (we probably don’t know how to be any other way). I suspect if there had been more diagnosis, or at least awareness of Asperger’s, that things perhaps might have been different though? But who’s to say. 🙂
I love the phrase “doggedly ploughed their own furrow” – perfect way to describe it. And I can see that being the case in some families. Sharing a neurology doesn’t magically mean that people will relate to each other or be especially supportive, especially if isn’t actively seen as shared neurology I suppose.
Yes, plus I think Aspies don’t necessarily know how to offer emotional support or even spot if it is needed, or if they do offer, it it’s in a way that is peculiar to themselves, you know? … It’s not necessarily what the other person may feel they need at that time, even if they are a fellow Aspie. I should add by way of qualification that when I say “good at being independent” I do mean in an Aspie way – I love my own space but am hopeless at keeping it tidy and have to make a lot of effort to remember certain financial commitments like paying car tax, for instance (which I have forgotten some years – wheee! magically disappearing car!!) But I’m sure you know what I mean. I read “I Think I Might Be Autistic”, by the way – it strikes me as a really helpful, practical book, full of useful insights, and I read it with great interest – many thanks. 🙂
Yes, exactly. My idea of emotional support is rarely in tune with what the other person needs, though I’m finally making some progress in that area, I think.
Magically disappearing car sounds like a bad magic trick. 🙂 I need to write a post where people can share all of the little tricks they’ve found to help them “live independently” because I bet we all have slightly different areas where we drop the ball when it comes to day-to-day tasks.
And thank you for the kind words about the book! It’s always nice to hear that someone has read and enjoyed it. 🙂
hi musingsofanaspie, I hope you’re well. I have been reading all your posts but not commenting beyond the once (or twice), though am very interested in all the issues you cover. 🙂 I wanted to follow up on what I said about failing to persuade my dad that I had Asperger’s. I sent him Tony Attwood’s Complete Guide two or three months ago. I didn’t hear anything and I assumed he would probably be a bit angry since he had complained about a book on compulsive hoarding I had sent him previously (my brother has this problem to a moderate degree and my dad too, though he doesn’t really recognise it as such). Anyway, I had a long phone conversation with him about a week ago and he not only said he agreed that my brother had Asperger’s but saw it in himself too. I then talked about the traits I felt I had and he seemed receptive – he certainly didn’t “pronounce definitively that I was wrong”, as he had done the last time I had raised the subject. He actually listened and we had quite a fruitful discussion about it. Family progress! It did help that one of the younger generation has been diagnosed – that opened a door when that happened. Anyway, I just wanted to say. 🙂
That’s fantastic news! Congratulations on making some inroads with your father. It can be hard for parents to accept or process these things when it comes to adult children so that’s a huge step. 🙂
What are your thoughts (anyone) on something beyond learned behavior/coping mechanisms that actually help, such as medication (Risperdol?)? There are some aspects of AS with which, after 43 years of using my own coping mechanisms, I would still find great difficulty. Having to work a few night shifts to work a project outside of normal business hours has left me not wanting to do anything…just kind of “duuuuuhhhhhh…”. I did post my result of your test off of someone else’s reply, but here it is again: AS=174, NT=32
I don’t have any direct experience with medication so I can’t speak to this but hopefully someone else who does will be able to answer. Working night shifts sounds really rough – I would be completely useless, both on the job and afterwards.
On the job I fare very well, because I do what I love to do…I can imagine you know exactly what I’m saying ;)…however, it’s the next day, weekends etc that screw me up…outside of my regular “time to make the doughnuts” routine. But I did get in touch and spoke with a neuropsychologist, and will likely go to see him. Thank you for this site!
BTW, “Quarries and Corridors” mentioned way up there that he was having difficulty finding a video. For those who do not wish to look for it in his post, here it is:
Mine is Aspie 180, NT 25.
Aspie and proud! [img]http://www.rdos.net/eng/poly12d.php?p1=81&p2=75&p3=79&p4=57&p5=68&p6=79&p7=77&p8=67&p9=75&p10=80&p11=49&p12=51[/img] Oh my, how true. Fluent in 6 languages, never forget a word and can derive most words to their origin, but answer my sincere question of “how are you”with an “I am fine and how are you” I am totally thrown off my game and wont know what to say since I had thoroughly prepared myself inwardly to listen to your rendition of how your day was or your week, trying to show empathy for your situation while desperately trying not to be irritated by the bird-like hair construction in bright red on the back of your head…. Unfortunately I married a pastor!!!! Hahaha!!!
And let me tell you, in the Christian community it is so much better never to even mention your Aspergers lest you might get demons driven out of you. Or be remembered as the “dyslexic”. I am daily thrown into an abyss of situations I would prefer never to face, so I had to do a whole lot of growing.
Basically everyday is driving me beyond Saturn and back. Yesterday I didn’t recognize our youth pastor because he was working in a distances with a T-Shirt I have never seen him in and his hair was messy. If I know you from gym, I will NOT recognize you if we should meet at a crusade somewhere. How horrible for a pastor’s wife. I train myself to remember people like others memorize Pi. It get’s difficult when your hair colour matches your skin tone. Oh yes my faith is helping me big time. God never called us to be fake and use phrases all day. There is nothing wrong in being fresh and real. Is there? Unfortunatelt churches are often places where people pretend to be oh so kind when they are actually sharks. I read other things in faces. I read the things people do not want to say, not what they are trying to say I am thrown off by those flashes of oddly pulled mouth ends, weird lightning flashes and storm clouds in the air while the voice is raised high purring like a kitten.
That’s when I do have to use phrases to get through it, but I can go home and pray to God for the right thing to happen, the truth to come to light, all that. I have to teach children’s church. I am a therapist, MA, I can work with you one on one on a deep level, but it tires me beyond anything. Church bbqs and women’s events are hell for me. Nobody around me knows this, but it takes all of my love for God to work through it and try to look like I am not totally misplaced.
The best church aspect to me is a neat, happy coloured, gentle, calm environment where you can sit and just breathe before God.
Oh gosh, pastor’s wife sounds like a challenging role for an aspie. It sounds like scripting and other workarounds serve you well, though. I love your last sentence. I’m not a religious person (in the sense of organized religion) but when I’m running or hiking or doing something in nature, I often feel that sense of “breathing before God” that you mention. It’s very calming and centering.
Hi, thanks a lot for your reply! The bible is full of great rules for daily living with its demand for kindness … Although I forget that people easily assume you are unkind when you don’t enjoy that eye contact. I am the lady that walks by with stacks of books and activities on her arms always in a hurry to get stuff sorted haha. Since I organize the entire children’s ministry that is a great way to excuse myself on sundays … funny though that I can really connect with little kids, mostly.
Yay, another christian Aspie here, hi Bridge Builder 😀 Funny thing is, my mom has at least some Aspie traits and is also not always happy with her role as pastor’s wife (she’s pretty unconventional in some points). And I remember finding it difficult to explain my doubts to our youth pastor because he did not understand that it was not from lack of knowing the “system” of beliefs, but because of something much deeper inside. Now, about a decade later, the congregation I attend at the moment has hired a new pastor and I really, really enjoy discussing with him, for finally after all these years there is someone who straddles all the aspects from historical viewpoint to pentecoastal phenomena in a way I can relate to. Talking to him motivated me to dig deeper again and volounteer to prepare some more bible studies for our youth/young adult group – there is some beauty in looking at a well-known text from different angles and geeking out about greek words. My husband, whom I suspect to be slightly on the Aspie side as well, is an avid collector of random information on sects and denominations – maybe Aspies make for good religious teachers in familiar settings?! Plus, I’ve come to find that the congregation in this big city – located close to a technical university and therefore visited by some geeky students – is much more heterogeneous and therefore easier to navigate than the one I went to with my family. Small town church = not easy for peope who are different.
So true. Haha I am also a passionate collector of information on ANYTHING. Weird thing is that I cannot stand clutter but my need to keep files of everything and it all piling up keeps creating more clutter and then I go and need my stimming to not explode. I seriously consider to invite some professional filers to come and declutter my office! Because my deepest craving is a clean white geometric empty space to work in hahaha. I do get totally bored in worship but I see it as an exercise to queten my mind. My most rational approach to anything actually is perfect for christian living: God said it, and that’s why when we do it like that, it will be the healthiest. Small towns are full of uneducated people who measure each other by standards that elude me, manicure over PhD … And since my life as a pastors wife I have learned to study the TLC channel systematically for How Tos, how to do better make up, how to dress for my type … because that’s what makes the people listen to my message. I visualize EVERYTHING and can find the deepest reason very soon behind it all. That makes me a great teacher, my powerpoint illustration on the new nature of Christ are epic hahaha!
Here is how I scored… Your Aspie score: 121 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 108 of 200
You seem to have both Aspie and neurotypical traits
This does validate the feeling that I have that I am like a bridge between the two worlds and not really fitting in with either. I have a severely autistic brother and two boys of my own (ages 9 and 4) who are both currently being assessed for autism. I used to do ABA therapy with autistic children and I was really good at it… I always thought it was because I could relate to both the kids and parents. Now I have ‘proof’. 🙂 I feel like I have so much more blogging to do on this topic… when I have time and energy…
Yes, thanks for sharing this Cynthia, it does give a great visualisation of different areas. Another one that is often used for initial screening is the AQ Test http://www.aspergerstestsite.com/75/autism-spectrum-quotient-aq-test/ developed by Simon Baron Cohen of the Autism department of cambridge university
Your Aspie score: 162 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 41 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie…
After living for more than thirty years in this world and always wondering why almost everyone I knew outside a few of my immediate family members not comfortable having me around them, I seemed to find my answer. When I was a little kid, I couldn’t understand why children of the same gender didn’t want to play with me. From adolescent to adult years, I gradually changed from being quite extrovert to an introvert after I noticed the social rejection. Though my peers would be so uncharacteristically nice when they needed something from me – like teaching them how to do ‘difficult’ homework only I knew the answer to in my whole class, old classmate asking me to loan them some money, replacing a colleague to work during the weekend shift, etc… Nowadays, after coping with the same treatment for many years, I quickly recognize the patterns where I’m not wanted, and try to avoid social situation. I find more peace and comfort being alone actually.
My attention to details and figures were often disregarded by some of my coworkers as being rigid, that I don’t need to focus so much on every single thing while there are so many things needed to be done, thus it often ended up with me cleaning up after people’s bad job.
I would often refrain myself from speaking up my mind out loud after I learned how to read people’s expression, though I’m still totally awkward at social interaction. This world is quite scary, but if I managed to survive all those miserable years, I think I can survive to the end of my days. ^_^
I took the test again today, but there is nothing about hunting this time in the web-thing – did they change the test?
Interesting. I don’t know but when I have some time I’ll investigate. 🙂
Yes. There is a new version going through the validation phase. The Aspie hunting group was merged with Aspie communication, the NT hunting group was merged with NT talents. Aspie obsession was merged wiith Aspie talent. The most important difference is that the new groups were created with factor analysis, and the new version will not be finally released until comfirmative factor analysis gives acceptable results (close but not yet achieved). There are a lot of new questions in the contact and attachment areas. These are highly relevant, and also probably a major player in relationship problems.
This is exciting! If you let me know when the revision is fully released, I’ll take it again as part of Take a Test Tuesday and do a post on the changes. I feel like the Aspie Quiz is by far the most accurate of the screening tests and it’s the place I always send people first if they’re looking for an AS questionnaire.
Oh that’s interesting, the ‘Aspie hunting’ questions always seemed to correlate strongly to sensory factors, so I’d expected to that to develop into something that was more explicitly about how sensory differences manifest. Why would things like toe walking and visual stimming on running water fall under communication? (Or are those questions being removed/changed too?). The DSM-5 has decided that sensory issues are ‘repetitive behaviours’ rather than communication (really they are neither).
Glad to hear that the Aspie Quiz is continuing to be developed and supported anyway 🙂
Most of the visual stims probably are communication. We have a paper on peer-review about this that we hope will be accepted for publication eventually. Not only do many stims correlate with specific emotions, these traits are mixed-up with things like unusual facial expressions. But there are some things in this group that seems to be related to other things, and really should be moved, but I need more traits on this. An very exciting thing is ASMR, which I’m checking further right now. Even if ASMR seems to be purely sensory, it doesn’t relate that much to the basic perception traits (like hypersensitivities). Instead, it groups with stims and contact behaviors.
I took this for fun today. SOme days I feel so “normal” so I am weird and will take Autistic tests even tho I know I am one just to feel validated.
I got this:
Your Aspie score: 186 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 45 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie
For some reason I feel better once again. Plus its kind of nice that other people don’t know where to put their arms…and the kissing question caught me off guard as most times tongue kissing is full of stuff I don’t enjoy yet other times I am fine with it…but it was kind of nice to know it was a popular enough subject to put it on the test. I would say I have a healthy sexual relationship with my husband contrary to much popular belief on Autism but the kissing saliva sensory overload at times can make me feel a tad defected. Anyway, all that to say this test was needed today to remind me I do belong even if I “seem high functioning”…I don’t know if I am making sense?:)
Validations is good and necessary! 🙂 And look at you, knocking it out of the park on your score.
I don’t remember the kissing question. Maybe it’s new? Or I’ve simply forgotten it. I should take the test again and see how I do.
Just came across this blog post after browsing a little more fully into this website. Anoth test that puts me in the Aspie camp:
Your Aspie score: 132 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 53 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie
There are differences in the way the traits are groups between the earlier tests and now. The spider webs above group traits by
Talent, Compulsion, Social, Communication, Hunting, Perception
Whereas they are now
Talent, Perception, Communication, Contact, Social, Attachment
I don’t know what difference (if any) that makes to the total NT/AS score, but I’m guessing that it will make considerable changes to the shape of the spider web. If anyone is interested my spiderweb chart can be seen at http://ubuntuone.com/0EkMJzCQ0uXpVbz3ZjtaP0
Your Aspie score: 151 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 61 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie
This would have explained a lot of things growing up!
Thanks for the blog posts! Informative. 😀
Thanks for posting your views on tests. I’d been googling aspergers on the net and I recognised a lot of the traits (and grumbled about how some of them would be tolerated or seem as normal for blokes and how women have this ideal woman that they are supposed to be like regardless of whether they are aspie or not). I though being on the autistic spectrum meant you were a maths genius, spent all day drawing skyscrapers (for a month maybe, I’d get bored after that) and was a an emotionless robot who couldn’t empathise with anyone. I do like making list, but have no interest in dates. The one that struck most was empathising with people’s pain and not knowing what to do, when not wondering what emotion want from me of course:)
Anyway, sorry for rambling. I did the test and I had to do it a second time because of too many “don’t knows”. My score was 134 for aspie and 61 for nt. I thought it would be higher. It’s a hard test to do, because there are behaviours I would probably do if I could get away with it, but I know it’s not done and I’ve learnt how to behave. Like I know I get obsessed with things so I make myself do things I should be doing first (if rather sloppily!) and looking in the vague direction of peoples eyes etc. Also I think personality comes into it – I’m quite quiet but I imagine an angry aspie type would score higher. I didn’t understand the smooth water question – I’m not afraid of a tap, but when I read the explanation I understood. With all the bad weather I was worried water would seep up from the water table and I’d get flooded. I have a fear of floods.
I did the 70question one too, with similar results, but I liked this one because it had things I recognised immediately: I am little miss tippy toes, where are my arms?, I thought I had a hair fetish(!). And I had completely forgotten at school I was once asked “Why do you always do that with your fingers?” “cos I do,” seemed to suffice. I didn’t like the trapping animals question, cos I like animals and trapping them would be cruel, again I was asked at school “Why do you always draw animals all the time?” and I am better at drawing animals than people and I do sound effects when opening doors *cringe*.
I don’t see the point of seeing a dr though. I mean what can they do? Send me on a course on how to act normal? I bumped into a person I worked with a while ago and he said he missed me cos I was friendly and talked to him and the new ones didn’t, so bow down to my high-functioning skills. Or they’d tell me I if it wasn’t aspergers it’s something else and I know I’m not normal anyway.
Sorry, about going on again, I’m sure it gets boring reading the same things in different ways.
I totally get all of this because I went on much the same journey with similar reactions when I first started exploring about Asperger’s. A lot of us get trained out of certain habits growing up and that serves to camouflage some of our aspie traits to the point that they no longer exist or at least don’t seem to. Whatever you do with your discovery, I hope it’s helpful for you to have an inkling of a potential explanation. You might find that reading more about the varied experiences of adults on the spectrum will help you identify more traits in yourself. The lists of AS traits that you’ll find online can be quite stereotypical and even the AS quizzes can make it hard to know for sure if you do a particular thing, because some of the questions are presented so narrowly.
And now I’m rambling. 🙂 At any rate, I’m never bored with reading people’s stories because I still remember those early days and how perplexing it was. It’s good to know that I can at least help people out a little by writing and listening and replying.
Hi, thanks for replying:) I’ve been reading some of your other posts and it’s quite nice to nod at things and find other people think like me and I’m not being silly and more importantly not have it end with negative things saying aspies are the worse partners in the world, ruin other people’s lives with their mere presence and should stop being weird and eat salmon. I’m a bit stuck with what to I should do now as I thought if I pushed myself to socialise more one day a switch would be flicked and I wouldn’t feel like a performing dog anymore and it seems that’ll never happen. I wish I was one of those people who say they’re asexual and don’t want any friends. I feel like I’m going around with a big sign on me now cos it’s so obvious what I am.
I went through a few stages, I think, with regard to the socializing question. At first I thought “I’ll fix it” and set about trying to learn all of the rules. That barely put a dent in my abilities. Then I figured, “screw it, I’ll just be a hermit” but that was kind of depressing. Now I’ve come around to “this is me, deal with it” and surprisingly that’s working out really well. Who’d have thought?! I think the fact that I’m being myself makes me more relaxed and enjoyable to be around. It’s definitely not for everyone, but it makes me feel better than either of the other two options did.
Not sure if this is in any way helpful but that’s the process that I’ve gone through over the past two years since first discovering this whole autism thing.
I’d like to be able to do option three, because as you say I can’t see the first two working out well. Yes, I found your comment helpful, I think I need to be more confident first though.
Yeah, it took me a long time to get to option three. I can’t say I was especially confident when I started trying it out. More like desperate and tired of the other two options. Be patient with yourself.
My score is aspie 149 out of 200, NT 55 out of 200
you are very likely an aspie
wow it certainly explains alot. Its something ive been thinking about a lot since my son was dionosed with autism and I can really identify with a lot of it especially the obsessions!
It all makes so much sense but I keep thinking perhaps im wrong,I mean doesnt everybody do those things/think like that ect. perhaps I just want to be ‘different’ ect ect im wondering if thats normal? I dont think there would be any point trying for a diognosis as it was hard enough getting one for my son who is more ‘classic’ autism let alone a 35 year old woman whos got on with it all this time. Hmmmm lots to think about!
For years when I took these quizzes, I said the exact same thing to myself – everyone must think this way/score this high/feel like this. And it turns out that they actually don’t. It took me a while to accept that. 🙂
You’d be surprised how many parents make the same discovery about themselves after a child is diagnosed. And you’re right, getting a diagnosis as an adult can be really challenging. It’s definitely possible and lots of middle aged people do get diagnosed, but there’s a certain amount of self-advocating that might have to happen in the process, so it’s helpful to first do some reading and research and kind of “make a case” to yourself so you have the confidence to see the process through if you decide to do it.
Thank you. that makes me feel a bit less crazy. i suppose its spending so long trying to ‘fit’ that when it actually does its hard to accept that it has. hmmmmmmm lots to think about in a good way. quite exciting/scary! 🙂
Sorry its commented as my blog name, spectrumpie is Hannah Povey
As I sit in my house alone, again, upset that no one any interest in hanging out with me, I realize that something is wrong here. I have known for a very long time that I am different in some ways. I don’t understand people. As a child, I always felt like the 60 year old stuck with a bunch of people who acted in ways I DID NOT understand. I still have trouble understanding people and nuances. I feel like I am acting and trying to decide what would seem most normal. How do I sit, what do I do with my hands, how long do I look at them before I look away? People make me anxious, things out of my routine make me anxious, I have irrational fears and cannot stand certain textures, sounds and bright colors. I dislike touch and am constantly pushing my husband away. About all I can tolerate is a constant pressure on my legs. Everything else feels bad to me and is overwhelming. I was labelled gifted in public school and graduated from high school and college with honors, but find menial work much easier than work where much is expected of me. I have one friend but I prefer to e-mail with her. If I talk to anyone, it’s through text as phone conversations cause me great anxiety as I like to have time to consider what I am going to say before I say it. I find the only way to get through my days is to obsess over a particular subject. It keeps my mind going and allows me an escape. If I do manage to spend time with people, I end up so anxious that I need time to unwind once I get away. I prefer to be alone a lot, but I’m getting so lonely. I have thought for a long time that maybe I had OCD or social anxiety disorder, or something of the like. But my cousin was just diagnosed with “high functioning autism” and as I research what that means, I realize that Aspergers describes my life. It would make SO much sense. Things I have always done, I now realize might be stimming. I pick at my nails, pick the skin off my lips until they bleed, scratch at my face, bounce my legs, etc. Now I am trying to get up the courage to call my doctor. But what do I say? I am sure they get people all the time who read something online and have diagnosed themselves with something or other. I took the Aspie Quiz and scored 181 of 200. Do I mention that? I am so thankful to have stumbled across this blog and to feel like maybe there is a reason for all of this. Maybe I am not just damaged and there is a real reason for all of these things that make me feel so very bad every single day. So I guess after all of that, I want to say thank you for this blog. Reading that other people have experienced the same things is comforting and I look forward to reading more.
I think you can honestly say that you came across information about autism (in whatever way you did) and after doing some more reading, you recognize many of the traits in yourself and would like to find out about getting evaluated for Aspergers/autism. There is a chance that your doctor might initially be dismissive, but if you emphasize some of the traits that you find make life difficult, they may be more inclined to listen. I approached it from the standpoint of social anxiety impairing my daily life, which got me a recommendation to therapists, which was a good first step.
I’m glad you’re finding the blog helpful and comforting. 🙂 Getting a diagnosis as an adult can be a long and somewhat difficult process but it can also be a huge relief. If you haven’t already, you might find it helpful to take a look at the “adult diagnosis” page linked from the top of the blog. There is an entire post on the various ways to try to get a diagnosis along with some advice on how to approach whoever you initially end up see (GP, psychologist, etc). Good luck with it!
Hi there! I took the quiz to find I am 123/200 – Aspie and 106/200 NT. What a mad result!! I then took the AQ test and scored 28. I guess this could be interpreted as me being “borderline” or that I may have compensated?!
I would much prefer to be in one camp or another rather than in limbo land! 😉
Your interpretation is correct. With two kids on the spectrum, there’s a good chance that you may be too. When I first took the aspie quiz, there were some questions that I was certain didn’t apply to me until I read more about autism in adults. Then I realized that I was both very good at compensating in some areas and very bad at realizing I was doing certain things (like stimming) in other areas. At any rate, it sounds like you have quite a bit in common with your children, which is a lucky thing for them!
Oooh I should say that I have two children – my beautiful son who is on the spectrum (officially!) and my super star daughter who is surely an undiagnosed Aspie. 🙂
Thank you – I do my best 🙂
Even though my communication scores as NT, I often find myself feeling an outsider in some kinds of conversations. Like I am naive. Example:
As I walk my lad to his bus I notice my other half remembered to put out the bin (trash..). He often forgets. Only it was bank holiday, so collection is tomorrow.
To make conversation I remark upon this to the bus staff who immediately laugh, look at each other and say, “Oh it’s men though, huh?” As if my comment is so obvious it is needless. “If they ran the planet nothing would get done.” The other laughs as if they are sharing this unwritten joke. And so it goes on for a few minutes.
I smile because clearly it’s funny. But I see their commments as stereotyped and quite frankly nonsensical! I am not in the least bit amused and make a note to put the bin out myself tomorrow so my other half won’t feel silly!
I totally get what you mean – this kind of chatty, space filling talk can be so confusing.
🙂 Exactly!
I have read your book (very helpful and concise!) and done a fair amount of research the last few days. One article I found which was very interesting and useful can be found here:
http://taniaannmarshall.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/moving-towards-a-female-profile-the-unique-characteristics-abilities-and-talents-of-asperwomen-adult-women-with-asperger-syndrome/?preview=true&preview_id=1196&preview_nonce=28e488b442&post_format=standard
I see myself so clearly in this list. Yet, I absolutely know that it is only in recent years that I have truly begun to meltdown and feel exhausted at times; I have “managed” and “adapted” for so long in such busy environments; I teach High School Modern Languages!!
I diagnose myself (!) as having Residual Aspergers. This is frustrating though: as I said before, I dislike things not being clear..
I particularly identified with what you said in your book about “learning to be autistic”. Oh, absolutely! It is a process of freeing and uncovering the parts of you that are buried under expectation and adaptation. To find a sense of self among the myriad of experiences and voices which have taken you down new paths far from home.
My biggest challenge remains organisation and appointment keeping. But to know why I have been struck off several dentists and why fellow colleagues have this sixth sense about which paperwork task is most pressing is a joyous RELIEF! I had thought they were holding secret meetings without me… 😉
Thank you so much for your replies and for creating this place of freedom and understanding; where my hesitant research is accepted rather than being challenged.
🙂
Took the Aspie Quiz (v3), too. Results were as expected for me with the exception of “Communication” – classified as NT there.
So took a closer look at the list of questions with my answers and to me it reads as if it also includes some forms of communication which I, at first, didn’t expect there and those are the ones pulling this aspect toward NT for me. After thinking a bit more about how I behave I now also think some answers were not accurate as I underestimated some things.
I took the test just for fun as I am/was (?) quite sure I was not on the spectrum, but rather just one of those HSP types, compounded by Social Anxiety. Anyway, my score came up as AS 142, NT 90. Until I found all the Aspie blogs, I just never felt as though I fitted in anywhere, so perhaps now I can feel at least a little part of this group? 🙂
Absolutely! I had the same feeling when I first discovered blogs of people on the spectrum. It was truly the first place I felt like I really fit in.
I took the test out of interest and apparently I’m “very likely” to have Aspergers! I honestly don’t think I have Aspergers! It was an interesting test though!
Um. Hello. Thank you for all your insights. It has been very interesting reading everyone’s comments and your posts.
I didn’t want to start this comment with um, but there we go. I must be feeling tentative.
Anyhow, I am a 22 year old girl, studying to be a primary school teacher. Much of what we study deals with the types of students we might encounter, and as I learnt about Aspergers, I started to think about my own school life, and the traits I have now… Long story short, curiosity took me to the Rdos quiz and then to your blog.
I guess I’m just a bit confused. The quiz said 135, which isn’t that high I suppose, but still ‘very likely aspie’. The main reason I took the quiz was because I identified with some of the traits, like not recognising faces, staring at people’s mouths when they talk, and the whole detachment from the conventional expectations of society thing… (close friends have informed me recently that I need to get a life, which apparently involves wanting things that I don’t actually want). And then the questions made me realise things I’d never even considered before! Like mistaking sounds for voices a lot. And not knowing what to do on the telephone. And other personal stuff.
Anyway, like I said, I guess I’m confused. I’ve always had this idea that people with Aspergers were content to be completely reclusive, and were all really good at maths (a grand generalisation, I know!). My mind can go pretty blank when I look at maths. But language fascinates me. I study Japanese, but I love just learning about English too. Sometimes I read the dictionary. I’m fun like that.
But reading these comments and posts has shown me that there are people out there with families and lives that differ enormously from one to the next, and Aspergers affects everyone in different ways. It has been very educational, so thank you for that.
I’m not even sure why I’m commenting really. Maybe I’m just wondering about quiz results, in the end. They’re not diagnostic, I know. And seeking diagnosis isn’t something I’m overly comfortable with anyway. But it seems possible, now I’ve read all this, to show Aspergers-like characteristics without being a mathematic whiz, and while still maintaining close relationships with select family and friends, don’t you think? There is no one size fits all. It is a spectrum after all.
Anywho, I apologise for the ramble. Enjoy the rest of your day or night, depending on where you are in relation to the sun and moon. ^_^
Hello! I’m glad you took the time to comment . As you said there is a lot of diversity on the spectrum and being a recluse or good at math are outdated stereotypes of Aspergers.
I think if you read the blogs of adult with AS, especially women your age, you might find traits that you can relate better to. Also, it’s quite possible to have spectrum traits but not AS.
Finally, many people choose not to seek a diagnosis for various good reasons. However, learning more about how to cope with some of the difficulties we experience can still be valuable, even in the absence of a diagnosis.
Whatever path life takes you on, best of luck with it!
Hi, I just took this quiz. I see everyone else’s either says “you are very likely an aspie” or something like that, but mine says “you are very likely neurodiverse.” I wonder if that’s different from aspie or they just changed the wording since everyone else who has commented here took it! My score was 158/200 for neurodiverse (aspie) score and 68/200 NT.
I think I’m reading this too literally and neurodiverse/aspie is the same thing haha.
Neurodiverse is a broad term meaning not neurotypical. I know that the quiz has been updated recently and with the Asperger’s label being dropped from the diagnostic manuals, the creators likely are trying to use more inclusive language. So yes, aspie is included in the broader term neurodiverse.
I’m a little puzzled at the use of neurodiverse here though. Firstly, when talking about a single person, neurodivergent is more correct. I’m neurodivergent – a group of people who are autistic, bipolar, OCD, have Tourette’s, ADHD, etc. are neurodiverse. Also, while it’s good that they’ve broadened the inclusiveness of the results, it may cause more confusion than it clears up for people who aren’t familiar with the term. And I guess as an aspie, I’m bothered by how it lacks precision. I think it would be more correct to say “likely on the autism spectrum” unless they’ve redesigned the quiz to include other types of neurodivergence.
Uh, sorry, probably more than you wanted to know. 🙂
Same here. When I took the quiz several months ago (159/200 + 44/200) the return line was ‘you are very likely an Aspie’, Last week after I had tried to ‘forget’ my previous answers (174/200 + 42/200) the feedback read ‘you are very likely neurodiverse’. Fortunately with a pleasantly high score on ‘talent’. 😉
Since apparently this thread is still alive, below I post the link to Leif Ekblabs recent peer reviewed scientific paper on the Aspie quiz. It was published in August 2013 in ‘SAGE open’ (DOI 10.1177/2158244013497722). The conclusions are based on analysis of 550.000 datasets, including people, however, who took the test more than once.
Although tough to read, this article is of interest insofar as it quite convincingly demonstrates that with its continuous modifications the quiz (unlike other online resources) is a quite reliable, even good, predictor of ASD traits. Thus it may indeed be a useful tool for initial self diagnosis.
http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/3/3/2158244013497722
Uhhh, ooohhh, clarifying note necessary on second thought! Still new to blogosphere, beginners mistake. My know-it-all comment on the Ekblad paper was not addressed to you, the expert, but to new readers going through this particular thread.
No worries – I love learning new things too. 🙂 It’s great to know that there is a peer-reviewed paper backing up the reliability of the Aspie Quiz. Anecdotally I’ve always thought it was the most reliable of the online tests, much more so than the AQ, for example. I’m especially in love with this sentence from the abstract: “The idea that neurodiversity was at the extreme end of a normal distribution was not supported, rather it was found that neurodiversity had its own normal distribution overlapping typical traits.”
Your answer was just too friendly 🙂 So I could not help myself to look up the current literature regarding the AQ test. 2013 + 2014 alone yielded 113 references in PubMed. Several of these as well as earlier publications ascribed some value to the AQ although mostly raising points of criticism as well (surprise, surprise). Sample sizes generally were rather low, involving less than 100 probands with ASD.
I selected one article of 2013 because it (i) was published in PLOS One, a highly renowned general science journal with a rather rigid peer review process (ii) is freely available for eventual download (open access) upon interest and (iii) in the graph of Figure 1 shows in an almost self-explanatory manner the recurrent problem with the AQ test: Unlike with the Aspie quiz, the overlap between NT and ASD cohorts is simply too large to present a reliable predictor. With high scores (mine is 42) of course it gets better.
full paper: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0075236
I will stop now to submit comment after comment here. Promise. 🙂
Thank you for the link. I hadn’t seen that specific paper before, but I feel the same way about the validity of the test. As I’ve said too many times, I suspect.
Yes, the wording has been changed from “very likely Aspie” to “very likely neurodiverse (aspie)”. That’s more related to Aspie Quiz having been a neurodiverse test for a long time (but with highest reliability for ASD), and finally taking the consequences of this and changing the wording. The scoring algorithm is the same though, so it is only a semantic issue.
The new group scores have also recently been updated and now use factor loadings from confirmative factor analysis. There is also a number of papers on peer-review related to Aspie Quiz, and a few more in the planning.
The test has changed since your posting–or at least the verbiage used to display results. The list now includes: talent, perception, communication, social, contact and attachment. Also, instead of Aspie and Physical, it’s now Neurodiverse and Relationship.
I’m so thankful for your blog. Finding this today has made me realize I’m not weird. I’m just different.
I’m planning to do a write-up on the revised version this fall. I haven’t taken it yet but when I do, I’ll make a new post to include all of the changes.
So glad to hear that the blog has been helpful to you!
I have suspected for at least a year now that I am somewhere on the spectrum. I scored 145 aspie and 89 neuro with a result of very likely neurodiverse (Aspie). My son’s diagnosis at the age of 4 made me very aware of my own traits. Thanks for sharing all this great info.
I made the test three times, and always scored with 150 aspie. I have Klinefelter’s syndrome, though.
I also got right in the middle even though I have an Asperger’s diagnosis. I do think there was a bias in the questions, especially the ones related to relationships (assuming Aspies would somehow have what’s considered to be abnormal sexual or relationship behavior). The only question that really bothered me was one that had to do with “unusual things you find attractive in the opposite sex” (I’m paraphrasing) because it makes an assumption that (unless you’re asexual) you’re heterosexual. I’m a bisexual woman so you can see how that might be hard to deal with.
181 aspie
I have an appointment tomorrow at the Thompson Center in Columbia Missouri. The appointment was made in January. I pray I am making the right choice to go because it would definitely shed light on things I am struggling with.
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 174 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 30 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)
I hope the appointment goes well for you – I know that nervous feeling of anticipation well.
http://www.rdos.net/eng/poly12e.php?p1=48&p2=46&p3=31&p4=51&p5=24&p6=34&p7=39&p8=26&p9=11&p10=49&p11=13&p12=27%5B/img%5D
Heres mine, I feel like my answers didn’t totally represent me, times I had to give 1 when 0 was close or 2 was close and times i was clearly not a 0 but not a 1 on a 0-1-2 scale so I feel real balance is probably around 110-aspie 100 nt. I have a medical diagnosis of aspergers.
Aspie 149/200 non aspe 66/200
I have a DX of Bipolar, Anxiety, Borderline Personality Disorder, ADHD, PTSD, OCD.
I actually came across the quiz because I think my daughter has it, she is almost 11. I took the quiz and then “Over” reserched it. I actually have many symptoms. I sometimes wonder if all my DX’s are because I was misdiagnosed. I can’t play barbies, I don’t know how. Never have. As a kid I would just set up th houses. And when it comes to eye contact, it’s very confusing for me. I am very uncomfotable looking into someones eyes. but when I look away I feel like I should look int here eyes so I look back. Then I feel uncomfortable and look away. It’s a cycle. I do like to talk, but look for an excuse to talk and only with people I know. And only about certain things. I tend to over research things. I do have interests but it’s with what I like to call “useless information”. I’m facinated by it. I like the weird news. I never know when people don’t like me and I alswys think my husband is mad at me or yelling at me. I tend to space out alot. My husband thought I was watching TV the other day while we were talking. i told him, actually, I wasn’t looking at anything. I was just kinda zoning. I cried non stop as a baby and nothing would stop me. Not even pacing and rocking me, nothing. I have a high IQ and math is natural and easy for me. My husband calls me a human calculator.
Most of the dx you listed for yourself are common misdiagnoses for autism, especially in adult women (especially BPD), or conditions that are commonly diagnosed alongside autism in adults. So it’s quite possible that you’re on the spectrum and haven’t run across a therapist who recognized it. The traits you describe are all things I can totally relate to. Well except for math being natural and easy. 😉
Aspie 140/200, NT 89/200 You are very likely neurodiverse
Knew I am different but never thought about AS 😛
Is there such thing as an aspie who learnt to adapt and act extremely well and becomes even better at noticing emotions and communicate than some of the regular individuals?…. I got taken advantage when being extremely attached a person, and then went through a lot of other stuff. So now I am a very sociable person who can rather easily see through others although always strongly dislike social situations. So I am like a person whos friend with everyone but not close to anyone. I know everything about everyone else but no one knows a thing about me.
I’ve been different but good at hiding since I was little. On the first day when I went to a boarding kindergarten at age of 1 I was comforting other kids who are crying lol. Never shed a tear during boarding kindergarten and elementary school life while all my friends (when I had a few friends lol) have cried at least more than three times. I have photographic memory, wins piano award at international level, speaks 4 languages, likes to debate about things I am interested in, and etc etc. But I just really hate social things, like they are so noisy and pointless and….. But then I am also very good at it. I thought it was split personality, and now I do feel like I can be aspie. But so weird unlike any autistic individuals I know. I am just confused…
Anyway, is there such a thing as an aspie possessing great social skills…… haha
It’s pretty common for people on the spectrum to learn social skills or to be “social” as a coping mechanism. Many of us learn by rules what other people seem to know instinctively. It’s also very common for autistic people to be sympathetic or to feel emotions very strongly. There are lots of stereotypes out there and most of them are both stigmatizing and way off base.
In addition reading the blogs of autistic adults (which reveal a lot of variation in what means to be autistic as an adult), you might also find it useful to google “active but odd” along with “autism”. You’ll find a “subtype” of autism that is very much like what you’re describing here. 🙂
thank you! Its just that there is no really an offical thing so far to explain the many different types is quite confusing and frustrating for people like me.
Ken, I relate to a lot of what you described about yourself. I feel like I spent much of my childhood and adolescence learning social skills and “what it means to be a ‘normal’ part of society and social groups” because I was never different enough to be ostracized but I never felt like it all came naturally as it seemed to for everyone else, either. Now I “pas” extremely well; people consider me friendly and warm, funny and sometimes awkward but not in a bad way (I think, lol). It takes a lot of energy to be that person for long periods of time though. I also have always been very empathetic, didn’t cry for my mom as a kid but comforted others who were upset, and I can read facial expressions and body language very well…. if I can manage to stare at someone’s face long enough to do so!! I always score very high on the online face reading tests, but they don’t take real life into consideration. Anyway, I just discovered all this a few months ago as well and it’s been quite interesting exploring what it means to be on the spectrum/AS. Good luck to you!
wow it is great knowing someone like myself. I guess now I have the advantage that I know the normal way of socializing, but I don’t really care about it too much so I can sit back and analyze everything in my head. Which scary enough makes me very good at reading others if I want to. But I just hate social occasions, they are, to me, pointless and stupid. Nonetheless at the same time I also understand the to connect is essential if I want to be the way I am. Because if I don’t know what is going on with the others, how can I protect myself?
Its just complicated……….
Anyway it’d be great if we can get in touch or sth lol, totally not creepy. But I just feel its nice to know someone like me haha.
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 109 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 95 of 200
You seem to have both neurodiverse and neurotypical traits
Really….
I did the AQ test and scored 33, just above the cutoff at 32. Not very conclusive either. What made me do the tests in the first place was the list of female AS traits I found on help4aspergers.com.
It was freaky how much it described me. And the thing about that list is that a lot of these behaviours and feelings seem completely unrelated to each other. Out of 45 traits, the only thing that did not fit was the friendlessness. I have some very good friends, but they are all highly educated and either very tolerant or pretty unusual themselves. Then there were a couple of things I thought did not apply, which I mentioned to my husband. I told him I don’t stim. He asked what I meant, and I explained, and he said “Yes you do! You sing when you’re unhappy.” and then I told him I don’t think I come across as cold and self-centered, but he told me people who don’t know me actually do think so.
So my guess is that with new and stricter criteria, I would never get a formal diagnosis, but honestly, these blogs by female aspies make sense to me in a way that nothing’s ever done. Again, I see that a lot of people relate stories similar to mine. I am fascinated by maths but don’t understand it well. My gift is for languages. I speak four languages and have a basic understanding of two more (in my experience, if you know the basics you can figure out a lot). Atypically, I speak in metaphors a lot, and people misunderstand me. But I think that comes from reading a lot more than the average person, because when people use slang I haven’t come across in books, I get really stressed. Also,music has been a safety valve for me a lot of my life, perhaps taking the place of more unusual behaviour. But I do sing at awkward moments, there is no denying that.
I had a look at some of the other disorders and miscellany that people have been diagnosed with, and the only thing that seemed to fit was NVLD, but it is so similar to AS as to be useless. And the AS fits with a lot of behaviour that NVLD doesn’t mention. I totally relate to what Ken is saying about being able to sometimes function better socially than others. In times when I haven’t had a lot of stress, I’ve functioned as an informal leader, taking care of people and suchlike. In retrospect, the two workplaces where I’ve taken such a role have been quiet and comfortably lighted spaces, with small groups that do well defined, independent tasks simultaneously…..
I didn’t think my problems were so serious because I’ve had a lot of physical health problems and thought that once I got well things would be better. But I am realizing that the pain and dizziness made the AS like symptoms come out in force, because I no longer had any energy to spare for self control. I really thought most people were almost as stressed out by social interaction as I was. Not the case, I think now.
Now that my daughter is five years old, I am increasingly having to deal with Other Parents. This is not a blessing. It is becoming apparent that I have created a lovely little bubble of nice people around myself, but my daughter lives in the rest of the world, and I am so badly equipped to deal with it.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? Btw, I am aware that the last comment was a while back, but I figure people will be returning to this page because of the topic.
Sorry, Musings. Didn’t read your last post until now, so I didn’t know you’d taken a break. Take care of yourself.
I thought I had a big chance of being autistic and scored 166 aspie also it explains why I do things like this https://www.flickr.com/photos/12553333@N05/sets/
Ive been close to killing myself because of the crashes and depression. I also think being described as the most disruptive pupil in the history of my senior school, I might have a touch of add/add as I scored incredibly high on that as well. Thank you for this website, I finally feel like I understand why the way I am
My ND score is 156, and my NT score is 56. And honestly, my scores do not surprise me, not even one bit.
I have had aspie traits as long as I can remember. I have always been socially retarded, and have always been very sensetive to light and noise. In school, the principal and teachers thought I was retarded, because I didn’t really look at anyone, I fiddled with my hands, I became distracted easily, etc. etc.
There are some things I like about ND dominant, and they are my increased sensitivity, and superior pattern recognition. However, sometimes I would rather be NT dominant, because I am socially retarded, and I tend to forget things, and these problems cause people to dislike me, espeially at work.
Reading the articles in this blog are like reading chapters of my own life. I am 68 years old, a retired teacher. I came to teaching late in life but worked with special ed kids. I was 58 when I met my first aspie students and recognized that I shared a lot of personality quirks with them. That realization and resources such as yours have at last helped me to understand my personality. I was always a loner, a reader and a collector. To this day I play strategy games by myself and use them to understand how the world works. Relationships exist for me some how, on some level, but do not ask me why they work. Conversation is difficult. Friendships have been few and far between.
well i did it cause
1 board
2 waiting on information on getting assessed in canada(bc{vancouver island})
my results
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 161 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 33 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)
I… found my way here because I had started researching asperger syndrome for a character I’m writing, but… the more I read about Autism Spectrum disorders to more I think I might have one.
My brother was diagnosed with Asperger’s before I was ever born, but I had NEVER considered the possibility that I might be ASD.
Until now.
Some things (fidgeting, tags being the most frustrating things in the universe, tapping my ring, pacing, twirling, walking on the balls on my feet, obsessing over my interests… lots of things that I do that sound an awful lot like stimming) I had never even considered odd! Or I had other explanations in my head for.
Others (Not so good on eye contact, not being comfortable in large groups, being bad at reading facial expressions, having a hard time keeping friends, etc) I attributed to social anxiety.
Like, going through the aspie quiz I kept thinking “Wait, I thought that was a social anxiety thing!”.
So I’m still not diagnosed or anything, but I have some serious thinking to do.
My results:
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 136 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 53 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)
So, yeah. Wow. Uhm. Okay.
My results:
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 162 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 48 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)
Does this mean I’m an Aspie?
My results: (Aspie) 166 of 200
Non autistic: 46 of 200
I am very likely an Aspie.
Odd – I do feel that I’m aspie, but mt test result tell different story, I will retake it. I took a few things before and many of aspie women and mother experience are mine – I don’t have a high level of ADD though (although sometime I have problem concentrating)
I got:
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 118 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 66 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)
I’m not sure if it will work (it says they only keep the data for an hour) but this is the URL of my web. Aspie traits are mainly in the talent, perception and communication sections, although I didn’t score very highly on neurotypical traits for anything. http://rdos.net/eng/poly10a.php?p1=73&p2=50&p3=85&p4=88&p5=83&p6=48&p7=51&p8=60&p9=37&p10=48
185 from 200 :/. Scheduled to see a GP today for proper testing. They say I have ADHD but this seems more appropriate.
I got a 170/200 neuro-diverse, 49/200 neuro-typical.
This test hit all of the traits that I kind of think make me different, but which the other “asperger’s tests” kind of don’t reference. Like sensory issues, information processing, and relational behaviors.
It feels like, to me at least, this test is a bit more flexible than the other ones I have seen, across different types of presentation.
Thanks much!
This was really helpful, thank you. For lots of these things (hypersensititvity to touch and sound, not being able to follow verbal instructions, being distracted, spinning and rocking) I was always told as a kid by my (abusive) mother and several shitty teachers I was just being too sensitive or immature or lazy. Even when I was trying to make myself act normal. I got 163/200 neurodivergent. But there’s still a voice at the back of my head telling me I’m overexaggerating and these things are my fault. Fucking gaslighting. ://
The relationships section was so interesting?? I never thought asexuality could be linked to autism, that’s such a relief to find out tbh. And tongue-kissing, ew, I hated it with my ex, although I liked physical intimacy a lot. And the thing about feeling romantic attraction when someone has expressed their attraction to you first, that’s basically my life lol. I got told that was a self esteem problem. This is so, so useful basically, thank you so much. My only qualm is that it assumes everyone is only attracted to the opposite gender.
Hi,
Spanish version of Aspie Quiz, my score: Aspie 140/200, neurotypal: 77/200.
What do these results mean?
postscript: I’m spanish.
The result isn’t a formal diagnosis but it indicates that you’re more likely to be autistic than non-autistic, because 70% of your answers were the answers that autistic people would typically give.
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 169 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 29 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)
Thank you for posting this. My Aspie score 173 out of 200 which pretty much confirms what I had suspected for a long time.
I’ve just take the Aspie Quiz. Here is my result:
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 167 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 28 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)
found your site yesterday, took this quiz this morning. i can finally start feeling normal in my own sense, instead of always being aware that people are just weird.
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 146 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 75 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)
ND: 154 | NT: 46 | “You are very likely neurodiverse.” | 20 y.o. Female considering seeking a dx. Functional decline due to (probable) burnout after trying to handle the stress/changes/socialization of college, then dropping out. | Any advice on seeking an adult dx in US? Difficult b/c I would have to talk to parents about possibly being an aspie in the first place, helping me find and schedule appointment, driving me there, and providing a history. (Obviously I have some issues.) Current level of functioning is really bad, so any help would be appreciated.
Your neurodiverse (Aspie) score: 176 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 22 of 200
You are very likely neurodiverse (Aspie)
Hmm…always suspected
I’ve tried taking the Version 4 test about five times now and always got “You have answered inconsistently on too many control-questions”. I noticed some control questions and made sure they are answered consistently, but I have no idea about the others. I suspect it might be because I answered “I don’t know” on all the questions relating to romance/physical intimacy because I am asexual and questions like “Is it hard for you to approach somebody you are attracted to?” just don’t relate to me at all (I’m not attracted to anyone, so the ‘approaching’ bit doesn’t even happen). Similarly “Are you more sexually attracted to strangers than to people you know well?”; saying ‘no’ still doesn’t negate the ‘sexually attracted’ bit so I went with ‘I don’t know’ even though my actual answer would be “I’m not sexually attracted to anyone at all.”
Looking at the date of the more recent comments, it seems like there isn’t much going on here, but if anyone has input on why I can’t seem to be able to answer consistently (I’ve contemplated all questions again and again to answer each truthfully), it would be extremely appreciated.
(For what it’s worth, I took the Version 2 test and got 142/200 for aspie and 53/200 for nt with a ‘very likely an aspie’ comment. I’m not diagnosed.)
(Seconding, also, the comment above that the test assumes heterosexuality, which is quite uncomfortable to read.)
Thank you for the information on this blog! It’s very interesting to read.
I got 141/200 for neurodiverse and 69/200 for NT.
It said that I was very likely neurodiverse.
My friend also took the test, and got 95/200 for neurodiverse and 105 for NT.
I took the test twice – both times my results were, “You have answered inconsistently on too many control questions.” What does that mean? I’m disappointed I couldn’t get a “score.”
Control questions are questions that are used to detect if someone is actually reading the questions and answering honestly, or is just picking random answers. They are questions everyone is supposed to answer consistently, regardless of whether they are autistic or not.
Undiagnosed, 3 years into being suspicious this answers basically all my life questions… every time I do these tests I get similar results.
Aspie score 164 of 200
Neurotypical 30 of 200
I think I’m deeply in burnout and I don’t know how to resolve, would like to get a diagnosis but the process, even to find a person who could help me with that seems overwhelming and confusing, and TBH I’m a little embarrassed to talk to my husband because while I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad trait cluster I think the stigma is high enough that he’ll be resistant- his brother is almost certainly diagnosed aspie and probably the only reason he knows how to deal with me better than everyone else.
My neurodiverse score was 182 out of 200. 😦
Thank you for sharing your spiderweb and those of your family. It was helpful to compare. Mine looks a lot more like yours and a lot less like theirs than I expected.
Thank you for sharing the spiderwebs. It was useful to compare — I am much closer to yours, and further from those of your family, than I expected to be.
I was struck several times at the questions. Knowing what I do about autism in general, I was able to place a lot of events and behaviors I hadn’t thought were atypical. For example, it had never occurred to me that spinning, walking on tiptoe, or sitting upside down could be sensory seeking; I only knew I shouldn’t be doing them at a place or time when I would be disrupting someone else. I also had to take a hard look at my past for a few questions, because while I’ve gotten lots better at reading facial expressions and expected response cues in conversation, I was very, very bad at those things as a child. I’ve actively worked to move away from a monotone and I pick up inflections very easily from others. I’m a speech pattern sponge.
I dunno, there’s just a lot here that I hadn’t recognized before that could be symptoms and/or adaptations. Thanks for helping me through this journey.