Autism

[oneofus]

Afternoon all,

Just went back to Facebook for the first time in a while and one of my friends had completed a test for Autism. Out of interest I did the same test, which appears to be serious and not one of FB's trivial quizzes. I scored 31, which puts me into the area of possible autism. The associated FB web site gave this info

The average score for the original control group of the test was 16.4. 80% of adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders scored 32 or more, compared with only 2% of the control group.


The test is not a diagnostic tool and higher scores do not necessarily indicate either Asperger syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome) or high functioning autism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-functioning_autism).


The test is more often used to assess milder variants of autistic-like traits in typically developing individuals to investigate the continuum hypothesis of autism spectrum condition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism_spectrum_condition).

I wonder if any one else has done the same and would care to discuss their findings. It may go some way to explaining my long term mild depression, I'm also a computer scientist with a bent for mathematics which seemingly correlates with tendency towards autistic behaviour.


You can read more about the test on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism_Spectrum_Quotient). There is also a link to the test, the FB link is http://apps.facebook.com/autismspectrumtest/index.php


one of us

[eeyorelover]

I didn't see this test but I wouldn't go by any test or quiz on facebook as to whether you have an issue with Autism.
Here is a link that I have been researching on because I feel my son may have undiagnosed Aspergers...
http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_FAQ

There are pages that list symptoms and the like there.
xxx
Sandy

[oneofus]

Cheers Sandy,

The test isn't one of FB's silly quizzes it is a formal study. From the Wiki page

The Autism Spectrum Quotient, or AQ, is a questionnaire published in 2001 by Simon Baron-Cohen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Baron-Cohen) and his colleagues at the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge), UK. Consisting of fifty questions, it aims to investigate whether adults of normal intelligence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence) have symptoms of autism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism) or one of the other autism spectrum conditions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism_spectrum_condition).[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism_Spectrum_Quotient#cite_note-Woodbury-Smith-0) More recently, versions of the AQ for children[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism_Spectrum_Quotient#cite_note-Auyeung-1) and adolescents[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism_Spectrum_Quotient#cite_note-Baron-Cohen-Hoekstra-2) have also been published.
The test was popularised by Wired Magazine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wired_Magazine) in December 2001 when published alongside their article, "The Geek Syndrome"[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism_Spectrum_Quotient#cite_note-3) and is commonly used for self diagnosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_diagnosis) of Asperger syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome) and high-functioning autism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-functioning_autism)

I have a strong interest in statistics which is why I'm sure the test is quite sensible and serious.

one of us

[eeyorelover]

Oh I see.
I don't know much about statistics and their reliability.
I would still suggest you have a look at the website I linked as it does have symptoms and such that you may want to look over.
xxx
Sandy

[sunshine-lady]

I got an AQ of 46, however I think this may have something to do with having OCD and bipolar - but then again, are they all linked? :shrug:

[bluebottle]

I have posted elsewhere on autism. Please consider the book Neurotribes by Steve Silberman. And to the OP of this thread, you sound as though you may fit into the autistic tribe, but check it out yourself.