Sorry! said:
What's the point of this quiz? To see how much like an autistic person you are? I'm pretty sure that autism is supposedly genetic so how does a 'normal' person taking this test and scoing say 26 have anything to do with autism. Who cares if certain actions or personality traits you exhibit are associated with autism...?
This doesn't mean your autistic or you even have any form of autism...
The point of placing it in a Science forum? I just wanted to see if I could replicate some of the findings the peer-review study had with scientists. The average for scientists wasn't high enough to be in AS/HFA range, but there was a significant correlation with "overall" score. Just because you scored in the teens doesn't mean there aren't any general patterns. I wanted to test for myself, or critical thinking.
You're correct, a score doesn't mean you have autism. It doesn't say whether you have it or not, but rather is supposed to be a good brief screening assessment. Just a thought, common sense would tell us if it's a good brief screening assessment, then it should do a good job of telling the difference between those who have already been diagnosed and the general population, and if it doesn't meet this then it's not good. In
(S. Baron-Cohen, S. Wheelwright, R. Skinner, J. Martin and E. Clubley, (2001)
The Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) : Evidence from Asperger Syndrome/High Functioning Autism, Males and Females, Scientists and Mathematicians
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 31:5-17 http://autismresearchcentre.com/tests/aq_test.asp for PDFs of various peer-review studies)
the Asperger's/High Functioning Autism group's average was 36, and the general population 16. 80% of those with AS/HFA scored above 32, while only 2% of the general population did so. So in other words, it's not as good as the real deal, professionally diagnosed, but is quite good as a brief assessment. It also says in the peer review study that it doesn't matter how you score; it only says if you're above 32 and is causing impairment then you may want ask about diagnoses. 26 is a good cutoff for making sure most AS/HFA are included, although a few individuals score in the high teens (thus not as good as formal diagnosis, but as a brief screening assessment). They replicated the study in Japan, and the group averages for clinical and control groups were only 2 points off from this study! It's also been tested against those with OCD and social anxiety disorder, who have some correlation with the score, but not enough to be within autism-spectrum range.
How do you explain the results?
