The Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised

[Warwick C]

I wonder if any one has picked up on some thing Arashi mentioned to me, that females score higher in this test for some reason.

 

[tlc]

I too had many similar problems. It seemed like I always wanted a "correct" answer to each of the questions, but often no such answer was given, and I got frustrated with the test. I wonder if it has something to do with aspie style black and white thinking, and what that means for the validity of tests like these.

The problem I had with some of the questions is they ask multiple things in one question. So what do you do if part of it is very true but the other part is not at all? So for those I tried to weigh each half of the question based on supposed relevance. But for some people especially aspies that just doesn't work or seem right. It's a pretty poor way of asking questions especially considering the target audience of this quiz. Honestly it's a poor but common way of asking questions in general, as lawyers do this to pin you on the stand when they only accept yes or no, and politicians do it when they disguise an unpopular issue in a bill for something popular in the hopes to get it voted for.

And yes I too noticed the average NT results were above the threshold. I think this shows the whole growing autism awareness (or actually lack of awareness in the past). Many people who always thought they were NT are really autistic and are swinging the results.

The part about females scoring higher overall I think is because of the same growing awareness (or lack of in the past). A female to have aspie traits is usually something that gets questioned more. A male with aspie traits has long been thought to simply have more of an extreme male brain, so I think more males (including extreme aspie males) are not included in the results.

 

[Judge]

I came to the conclusion that it's possible that some of such questions do in fact, employ a kind of deliberate form of subterfuge.

With the intent to better identify those who are autistic by deliberately confusing them based on their perceived thought processes. While Neurotypicals might be able to see through such subterfuge to correctly comprehend the question. Make any sense?

Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation being the most plausible one.

That they ARE confusing. They're supposed to be. Something more akin to Dr. Milgram's reasoning in exploring human behavior. The use of subterfuge to expose/evoke certain responses.

 

[LittleFiddle05]

I know this is a really old thread but I'm resurrecting it.

I finally got around to this test and I'm so much more confused about myself as a result. I'm diagnosed Aspie, but my score seems so much lower than others here (my score was 147). My biggest problem is that I'm only now, at 20, starting to actually understand how I've been perceived. My special interest has so often been people-related - I have a very strong theoretical understanding of people, I'm studying psychology and I've been told that I'm especially good at identifying the root of the problem rather than just the symptoms. In that regard, I'm very good at analyzing people... but I don't think I can honestly claim to emote sympathy so much as I enjoy the puzzle. I mean, I definitely care, but it's not that I can sympathize with how someone is feeling so much as I can analyze it. So when it asks (more than once) if I'm a sympathetic person... yes? or no? Yes I definitely care about people, but no it's not in a normal way. Yes I can understand emotions, but no not in an instinctive manner... And how old was I when I started developing that rational understanding? I started really trying when I was 14, but did I succeed before 16??? Sigh... so there are several questions that I didn't know how to answer, mostly because the basic, honest answer probably sounds very neurotypical (I think I'm generally perceived as sympathetic because I'm always analyzing people and offering advice...) but the way I get to the conclusions I get to is too rational and theoretical to be typical... Then there's ability to express emotions; I have a very strong understanding of my emotions, before I try to explain them to anyone I've either overthought them to come up with a script or written it out in a format like this or in some way, worked through them. I can explain because I practice explaining. But does the fact that I put so much overanalysis into it mean it doesn't come naturally, or does it just mean I'm like any neurotypical person? And then what about things that do and don't come naturally? Yes, saying "please" and "thank you" feels natural, it's habit. It was a habit before I was 16, I was performing on violin at the age of 3, my parents spelled out social expectations and gave rational explanations for why they were important. Does that mean it came to me in a natural way? Not really, I don't think... I don't know anymore. But I think it's more that my parents never expected me to take things for granted, every rule and expectation had a rational explanation and I learned quickly that way. Same goes for my understanding of symbolism; I understand it because I think about the history of the term, I take it literally and THEN analyze how it relates. Is that neurotypical, or does that mean I have difficulty understanding symbolism??

Sigh... sorry I need to work my thoughts out. It's frustrating, I definitely see myself as an Aspie, I have the diagnosis and I have plenty of specifics that back it up (not to mention some very obvious Aspie traits in many undiagnosed family members...). But to have a test that essentially eliminates the opportunity to explain the Aspie-like roots of my neurotypical behaviors, and to score so... not-very-aspie? I just which I could not be an in-between; I hate that my "aspie score" test thing essentially said I have Aspie and neurotypical traits; I don't mind not fitting in with neurotypicals, if I could just feel like I'm solidly aspie...

 

[StephF]

Wow ! I got an ASD score of 169 where the NT score for my gender was 81 !

 

[Raggerty]

"I don't think I can honestly claim to emote sympathy so much as I enjoy the puzzle. I mean, I definitely care, but it's not that I can sympathize with how someone is feeling so much as I can analyze it."
Littlefiddle05 i really liked your post.
I took the test last week with the above in mind.
I'm 50 and i know how people may react to circumstances as i've had a lot of experience witnessing it with out necessarily knowing exactly HOW they feel.
I hope that makes sense?

 

[LittleFiddle05]

"I don't think I can honestly claim to emote sympathy so much as I enjoy the puzzle. I mean, I definitely care, but it's not that I can sympathize with how someone is feeling so much as I can analyze it."
Littlefiddle05 i really liked your post.
I took the test last week with the above in mind.
I'm 50 and i know how people may react to circumstances as i've had a lot of experience witnessing it with out necessarily knowing exactly HOW they feel.
I hope that makes sense?

Definitely makes sense! For me, I have to think out a situation in order to understand how they feel (or at least, how I THINK they feel... I'm assuming my conclusions are accurate). For example: tonight I had an argument with my boyfriend, because we had plans tomorrow but I just started a new job, and they said they really need me tomorrow even after I said I wasn't available. He was really angry, which at first didn't make a lot of sense to me because it's going to be rainy, the 4th of july celebrations have been canceled, and I work one job tomorrow morning and the same job the following morning anyway so we only would have had a few hours together. I'd recognized that he would probably be annoyed that I couldn't make it for our plans. After he hung up, I had to piece it out more like a story line, starting from the present event and then branching back. "I had to cancel plans. My manager needed me to work. Tony had asked me to try not to work that night. In past, I've asked Tony to be available for certain things. In past, Tony has made sure he could be there when I ask him to. In past, Tony has turned down shifts to be there when I asked him to. In past, Tony has worked 16 hour overnight shifts and then hopped right on a train to come see me when I asked him to be available." etc. Then from there, I could recognize that it wasn't that particular night that bothered him, so much as that he's made sacrifices to be available for me and yet the one time he asks me to not take a shift, I take a shift on one days' notice. Sure, from my perspective my manager didn't really give me a choice, but from his he's always managed to be there when I asked him to. So now, after working through it all, I think I can feel what he's feeling, but it was a rational process before it was an emotional one. If that makes any sense? I'm not quite sure it does but it was worth a try...

 

[ExplosiveTMT]

Lol, my score is pretty close to that of a male NT.

 

[Andy R]

My scores seem to be quite high;

 

[Alienista]

...One of the questions is "Sometimes I talk too loudly or too softly and I am not aware of it."
If I'm not aware of it, how can I become aware enough to answer the question?
(The answer is Yes. I know because people have pointed it out to me. But what if no one tells you?)
.

Ste11ares, I laugh out loud!
Yours is a typical Aspie sincere question!

Sometimes I loose "control" (they call it education), and one of these times someone woke me up phoning me: "Hi! Did you sleep well?!"
The Aspie me: "How should I know, I was sleeping"

This is our WYSIWYG.

I was diagnosed with mild autism when I was 12, in Italy where I live. Back when Hans Asperger was still studying (I'm 54 now) and the term didn't exist. And neither tests. And no web, and no information at all. My parents, who were very cleaver, raised me up trying and trying. Theater, writing, movies, acting, painting, on and on. I Was diagnosed again in NY while attending Lee Strasberg Institute, still, no name for the "condition", finally, in 2007, a psi colleague in a screenwriter course, applied me the Baron-Cohen AQ test, through a series of Skype sessions, with my mother by me sometimes (she was still alive), I was officially diagnosed Asperger. In England. (!!!!???)

Telling you all that stuff because paper accepts everything. I'm an only child, not married, no children and both my parents died. I take antidepressants, anti anxiety, pain medicines and don't have a clue if my life is as it is because I'm an Aspie, or because...it is.

Trying to have an official diagnose in Italy. The English one is not accepted. I want my rights of free medicine, of social assistance, someone who call me sometimes to know if it's all well (I have friends, my mother's, but spent 3 days crawling on the floor, eating what my hand could reach, because of a back pain, without calling no one. My mother always thought me not to disturb)

Toke this test, it's a must for diagnose even in Italy. I'm getting worse. Asperger tests shouldn't have "mild" in the answers. Yes or No should be fine. Sometimes I find myself rocking front back front back, my memory worsen, and I'm still here because I have to doggies to feed.

So, my advise to you all is: take this test for what it is. Do not auto-diagnose, don't bother to know if the situation around you is "strange", if you're to struggling to go on with your lives. If you are in this situation, go after your rights, for better education, work, social care.

Bye

 

[Alienista]

Ah! this is my result (I'm a female):

 

[Crossbreed]

My scores are at The Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised (RAADS-R)