Are you on the autism spectrum...

[Not_a_Number]

... or somewhere adjacent to it? 🙂 

I've been curious about this one! I know there are quite a few people on here who at least self-identify as being on the autism spectrum. And I know that there were a LOT of people who didn't like making phone calls when I asked, which made me wonder 😂. (You obviously don't have to be autistic to dislike phone calls, but I do feel like it's extra common in the adjacent-to-autism population.) 

[Pawz4me]

DS22 is on the spectrum. I suspect that both DH and I would fit under the BAP.

[scbusf]

I voted that I'm adjacent to it. I haven't been diagnosed or evaluated for ASD. But it wouldn't shock me at all if I was diagnosed. ETA: I hate phone calls. I've always thought maybe it was due to maybe Auditory Processing Disorder (also undiagnosed) or a sensory thing.

Edited April 6, 2021 by scbusf

[Laura Corin]

My brother is diagnosed. I think I would put myself somewhere between your last two categories.

[Not_a_Number]

6 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

DS22 is on the spectrum. I suspect that both DH and I would fit under the BAP.

I think I'd fit under the broader phenotype but DH doesn't -- he has intense interests and focus, but doesn't fit any of the social criteria. I don't think either of my kids are even BAP, although DD8 may be -- I'm not sure yet. DD4 is not. 

I've always wondered whether we'd have a more serious risk of something more disabling in a boy, to be honest. I don't know if that's rational or not, but it's definitely in my head as I think about whether we want another one. Not that I wouldn't love a kid with more difficulties than the rest of us have, but it'd add complications to our lives. 

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, Indigo Blue said:

And I completely fail all online quizzes, so there’s that.

What online quizzes do you mean? 🙂 

[historically accurate]

I would probably fall within the umbrella if I were ever tested. In my case, I suspect it is a co-morbid condition with my family's probable Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (oldest DD will be tested soon). I and my brother, and my oldest two children all probably have EDS - we all have some traits of autism. Some of us have more sensory symptoms; some have social symptoms. None of us are diagnosed however. I didn't know how to vote, so I didn't.

 

[Lecka]

There is no category I think fits me.

I would definitely be diagnosed as a child now, if I were a child now.

But now I am not sure, and I’m not that interested in deciding on an answer for what I think.

I would say “probably,” which to me if very different from “yes I have self-diagnosed myself.”  

[Not_a_Number]

5 minutes ago, Indigo Blue said:

I think it is the AQ test? If you Google ASD test, many websites come up. It’s been awhile since I did a few, so I don’t remember which ones they were. I kept the results for awhile, but I no longer have them. It only takes a few minutes. 

I just checked...Psychology-tools.com AQ test is one of them. I don’t know if there is a better one. I can’t get my browser to copy/paste. Sorry.

Ah yeah, I've taken that one. I don't really know how indicative it is. I wind up borderline on it, like on most things, though. 

[Not_a_Number]

I feel like I need a new category for the poll, since some people don't know how to vote! Should I add a "not sure, but I suspect it"? Or what? 

[ktgrok]

I actually had not heard of BAP, but yes, I would definitely fall into that. As would my ASD child's late father - but with different elements. 

My father also would fit BAP. 

Sensory issues, social deficits, and perseveration would be my most obvious traits. 

[Katy]

18 minutes ago, Indigo Blue said:

..Psychology-tools.com AQ test is one of them. I don’t know if there is a better one. 

I just took it and got 6 out of a possible 50.  Little to no autism traits. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by Katy

[Not_a_Number]

7 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

I actually had not heard of BAP, but yes, I would definitely fall into that. As would my ASD child's late father - but with different elements. 

My father also would fit BAP. 

Sensory issues, social deficits, and perseveration would be my most obvious traits. 

I’ve always assumed quite a lot of people on here are in this category, since so many people have ASD kids! So I’m not surprised 🙂 .

[ktgrok]

27 on the AQ test just now  - now going to google more on BAP. 

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, ktgrok said:

27 on the AQ test just now  - now going to google more on BAP. 

That’s about where I land as well.

[historically accurate]

I got a 35 on the AQ test just now. 

[ktgrok]

7 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

I’ve always assumed quite a lot of people on here are in this category, since so many people have ASD kids! So I’m not surprised 🙂 .

Many of my friends would fit BAP as well - and yes, more autism diagnoses in their kids than average. 

[Carrie12345]

I got a 31on the AQ. Dh tells me I’m on the spectrum all the time (not in a derogatory way; eldest ds was dx’ed at age 4, and another ds is nearly diagnosable.) I don’t believe I’m pervasive and persistent enough to qualify. I’ve got other dx’ed issues that can make it seem that way though.

[Scarlett]

I scored 21 on that test.  I did not and do not think I am on the spectrum.  My son probably is closer to being on it than me.

[lmrich]

I scored a 9, but I treated it pre-pandemic. I think I will have anxiety about going to parties and meeting new people going forward for a bit. My son is somewhere on the spectrum and probably my dad is too. 

 

[Laura Corin]

I scored 29, which is Aspergers/some Autistic traits.

[73349]

.

Edited November 23, 2021 by Carolina Wren

[Scarlett]

5 minutes ago, Indigo Blue said:

I’ve learned that for girls and women, it can look different from boys and men. They think that’s why more males than females are diagnosed. Women seem to compensate more. I don’t think of myself as a hugely social person, but It’s confusing because I am able to socialize on a level that is passable. But it’s exhausting. It’s not that I am unhappy and antisocial, it’s just draining. I just want to go home and let my mind, emotions, and body just go back to “normal” for me. This just could simply be because I’m introverted. I don’t know. Eye contact feels like the other person can see inside me. It’s uncomfortable, but I can do it. I don’t think (from what I’ve read) that  you have to fit neatly into a certain box these days for a diagnosis. So if you don’t have enough social deficits or can make eye contact, you are necessarily excluded. Especially if you are female.

This is me, but I thought that was pretty much an introverted trait.  I enjoy socializing but I need alone time to recover.

[kbutton]

50 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

I feel like I need a new category for the poll, since some people don't know how to vote! Should I add a "not sure, but I suspect it"? Or what? 

Less common personality on the Meyers-Briggs? Those of us in that category are probably well-represented here. I have read articles that accuse certain personality types as being always autistic, which is nuts. But as an INTJ, I can see why people would think a stressed out INTJ might be on the spectrum.

 

[Laura Corin]

11 minutes ago, kbutton said:

Less common personality on the Meyers-Briggs? Those of us in that category are probably well-represented here. I have read articles that accuse certain personality types as being always autistic, which is nuts. But as an INTJ, I can see why people would think a stressed out INTJ might be on the spectrum.

 

This is actually my question.  I'm INTJ and I see a lot of overlap between my answers to the quiz questions and standard introvert traits, probably standard INTJ traits.  From previous polls, we know that there is an unusually high proportion of female INTJ on the WTM boards.

[purpleowl]

I suspect I am at least adjacent. My presentation is (and was when I was a child) different from my diagnosed son's presentation, but I would guess that's because I'm female. The more I learn about autism, the more I see traits of it in myself.

I have no reason to pursue a diagnosis though.

I'm ISTJ, for whatever that's worth.

 

ETA: I didn't vote in the poll because I am not sure which response most accurately represents me.

Edited April 6, 2021 by purpleowl

[kbutton]

11 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

This is actually my question.  I'm INTJ and I see a lot of overlap between my answers to the quiz questions and standard introvert traits, probably standard INTJ traits.  From previous polls, we know that there is an unusually high proportion of female INTJ on the WTM boards.

I was raised by very, very strongly-wired SJ parents who hold values similar to mine but who function very differently from me. This adds a layer of crazy I can't quite explain. It's like a never-ending layer of guilt that is not intended but strongly felt. I am different, and different is okay--my kids don't need to always dye Easter eggs or have a traditional Christmas tree every year, but if we don't do those things, I know very well that it's a disconnect with tradition in a world that is already changing fast. But I am just not equipped to be the stabilizer type, I guess. I tried because I loved those things when my parents did them. Add to that non-NT people in my house, a husband who works erratic hours (and doesn't plan ahead, but when he does, you can be sure he doesn't really include me), dietary needs that cause personal and social stress (and are also a killer of tradition in that food goes with so many traditions), a body that is not working with no good explanation, and social stress from my church revealing itself to value very different things than I do (politics and pandemic approach), and I look like a dandelion gone to seed in a windstorm rather than my weird, tall, stable sunflower self. 

ETA: I think INTJs tend to get their affirmation from pursuits at work, and not working is hard on me. I chose to not work because I felt like I would inevitably short my job or short my family, and I felt like the more meaningful task would be staying home. I was offered PT work many times, but it was more like FT for six months than truly PT, so I took on a job only once. When my older son was little, any work would've been absolutely impossible (he's my 2e ASD kiddo). Sigh. I am not the entrepreneur type, and I really don't think I could just step back into work without major stress now--I feel like I've lost my best parts. What has replaced them are good traits, but I wield them pretty clumsily. This is something I see in other SN parents--we are ON IT in the mama bear category and can't let go. I know one friend/SN parent who is an amazing advocate for the people she has to serve in her job, for instance, but that puts her at odds with people in her job who are just punching the clock. They resent her because she's right and she advocates for the people in her care. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by kbutton

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

1 hour ago, historically accurate said:

I would probably fall within the umbrella if I were ever tested. In my case, I suspect it is a co-morbid condition with my family's probable Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (oldest DD will be tested soon). I and my brother, and my oldest two children all probably have EDS - we all have some traits of autism. Some of us have more sensory symptoms; some have social symptoms. None of us are diagnosed however. I didn't know how to vote, so I didn't.

 

I kind of wonder about this. Out of my parent’s 8 children, 5 are diagnosed with some type of EDS. 2 of us are diagnosed with autism. My son is autistic.  My dad is likely autistic. My paternal grandmother had EDS traits, but beyond that there’s no EDS in the family anywhere.

Its all very interesting to me.

OP. I am officially diagnosed with level 1 autism. I also have vEDS.

[1234]

Dh and I both took the test. We were both a 28. Youngest is the only one officially diagnosed as autistic but I think all four of us are. Youngest was only diagnosed a few years ago (but I’ve thought they were since about age 2) and since then we’ve done so much research and we all see ourselves  somewhere in there. It’s also interesting because of research I’ve seen on a connection between autism and gender identity issues and both of my dc have that as well.

[Pawz4me]

2 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

I suspect that both DH and I would fit under the BAP.

Quoting myself to say that I scored 31 on the quiz, and I'm positive DH would score considerably higher than that. 

[Tanaqui]

Yeah, I'm autistic. Everybody in my family falls somewhere on the broader autistic spectrum, and I'm pretty certain that my maternal grandfather would've straight up qualified for a diagnosis.

And it's not just my family - most of my friends, my sister's friends, my mother's friends are also very spectrum-y. In my case I know I self-selected a bunch of autistic people as friends, and I suspect that this is what's going on with the rest of my family's friends as well, but less intentionally. It's more that we all pick friends we're comfortable with, and if you're autism-adjacent then your friends probably are too. I've said it before on this board and elsewhere that I think, in the end, that this is how my parents met, actually.

EDS and autism are well-known to have a statistically significant overlap.

[SKL]

I voted self-diagnosed.  It runs in my family, and I have most if not all of the symptoms for a female on the spectrum.

My childhood was before "Asperger's" was widely recognized, especially the girl version.  And I have no plans to go get tested.  I've managed to find enough coping mechanisms to get through life so far.

[SKL]

My aq was 43 LOL....

[purpleowl]

Ah, I just found the AQ test - I scored 37. 

[Not_a_Number]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

My aq was 43 LOL....

That’s definitely in the autism range, yeah! 

I’m like @ktgrok— I get around 27. It does depend on how I’m feeling that day, but it’s usually in the mid 20s.

[gardenmom5]

I'm self diagnosed - but I have three children formally diagnosed.

[Tanaqui]

Quote

That AQ seems to me it would over diagnose austisitc traits in people just based on them being an introvert or having certain preferences (like preferring libraries to parties doesn’t make someone autistic). I took it and scored 14, which is about what I would expect. I don’t feel close to the spectrum. 

And at 14, I'd say you're not. 14 is a very firmly average score.

[Farrar]

I had no doubt that I'm not on the spectrum, but was curious about the test and what it asked so I took it. It gave me a 6. So that's pretty strongly not.

The MBTI, which a couple of people have mentioned, has been shown to be utterly unscientific. But in a general sense, the way the AQ test phrased the introvert/extrovert questions was subtly different from the MBTI take on it. Like, I do consider myself to be an introvert. But I don't find chit chat particularly annoying or difficult. I'm not bad at it either. And I do enjoy social situations, just... not back to back or every day of the week.

[HS Mom in NC]

Female INTJ, not on the spectrum or adjacent.

[EKS]

I suspect that highly intelligent, introverted (especially INTJ) women are going to have traits that outwardly look like low level autism but if you look closer, you'll find that these folks lack the core social deficits.  

I got a 21 on the autism test.  There were a good number of items that I had trouble marking--things like "I enjoy socializing."  The actual answer is "It depends."  But that wasn't one of the choices, so in general, I went with the less antisocial choice which probably skewed my results low.  That said, I am certain that I don't have autism, though I do have a number of the traits--sensory sensitivity, introversion, tendency to hyperfocus, issues with eye contact, etc.

[Pawz4me]

21 minutes ago, EKS said:

I suspect that highly intelligent, introverted (especially INTJ) women are going to have traits that outwardly look like low level autism but if you look closer, you'll find that these folks lack the core social deficits.

I wonder how taking that quiz as middle aged adults (I'm assuming most of us are beyond the young adult years) affects the scoring. I'm decently good at making small talk now, but it's a skill that took me a very long time to learn so that I can pull it off at all, let alone w/o being very awkward. But it was very much a learned skill for me, as were many social skills. Not one bit of it came naturally. If I were being evaluated now I would present a LOT differently than I did in my early 20's.

Edited April 6, 2021 by Pawz4me

[prairiewindmomma]

I scored a 12, and those 12 points were all introversion questions...I am INTJ and am nowhere near the spectrum.

Dh’s side of the family has strong autism genetics.

[Ivey]

I'm not on the spectrum or adjacent.

I have two kids who've been diagnosed with ASD, but no one else in our family has autistic traits/characteristics. In spending time with other families of autistic kids, I've always been fascinated that the "broad autism phenotype" seems to be common in some families, whereas in others autism seems to have an "on/off" switch. 

Out of curiosity, I tried out the test and scored a 9. I suspect Dh and our neurotypical sons would score lower.

[Not_a_Number]

29 minutes ago, EKS said:

I suspect that highly intelligent, introverted (especially INTJ) women are going to have traits that outwardly look like low level autism but if you look closer, you'll find that these folks lack the core social deficits.  

I got a 21 on the autism test.  There were a good number of items that I had trouble marking--things like "I enjoy socializing."  The actual answer is "It depends."  But that wasn't one of the choices, so in general, I went with the less antisocial choice which probably skewed my results low.  That said, I am certain that I don't have autism, though I do have a number of the traits--sensory sensitivity, introversion, tendency to hyperfocus, issues with eye contact, etc.

If I skew towards “me on a good day, with people I like,” I get around 20, too. If I skew “me as a disaffected teen or on a bad day” then I get closer to 30.

I think if DH did this for me, he’d get closer to 20.

[SKL]

53 minutes ago, EKS said:

I suspect that highly intelligent, introverted (especially INTJ) women are going to have traits that outwardly look like low level autism but if you look closer, you'll find that these folks lack the core social deficits.  

I got a 21 on the autism test.  There were a good number of items that I had trouble marking--things like "I enjoy socializing."  The actual answer is "It depends."  But that wasn't one of the choices, so in general, I went with the less antisocial choice which probably skewed my results low.  That said, I am certain that I don't have autism, though I do have a number of the traits--sensory sensitivity, introversion, tendency to hyperfocus, issues with eye contact, etc.

I am a fairly intelligent, very introverted, INTJ woman, and I can see what you mean.  But in addition to those, I have always had a serious dread of interactions with anyone I don't know well.  Much of my professional and educational history has been a series of painfully awkward situations.

Generally, nobody will tell you as an adult if you are acting weird, but I had a friend (in my early 20s)  who pointed out things like my cluelessness about boring / annoying other people with my self-centered monologues and my resistance to socially normal conversation drift.  I had to ask better people what to say in response to certain common events.  Things like that.  I tend to be rigid about how things should be done and I am sensitive to certain noises / noise combinations / repetitions.  I don't really see people's faces and I have a hard time remembering who's who.  I even get soothed by things like rocking.  The fact that I have men in my family with clear cases of (sometimes severe) autism adds to my belief that I have it to some degree.

All that said, having been made aware of these things, I make an effort to work around them as much as possible.  Like, I completely avoid long explanations etc., since I can't sense when it's too much.  In group social situations, I employ basic etiquette and then go seek out the second least social person or someone young, who will appreciate being saved from their own awkwardness.  😛  I also don't attempt to pretend I'm normal or social.  😛  Now that I work at home, in an industry that is accepting of hard-to-employ individuals, I don't feel threatened that people know I'm weird.  I still have many strengths, and that's what people care about.

Edited April 6, 2021 by SKL

[ktgrok]

28 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

I wonder how taking that quiz as middle aged adults (I'm assuming most of us are beyond the young adult years) affects the scoring. I'm decently good at making small talk now, but it's a skill that took me a very long time to learn so that I can pull it off at all, let alone w/o being very awkward. But it was very much a learned skill for me, as were many social skills. Not one bit of it came naturally. If I were being evaluated now I would present a LOT differently than I did in my early 20's.

So true. 

If I hadn't had to move to a front desk position out of the kennels when I was working and pregnant (morning sickness plus dog poop wasn't working out well, lol) I'd be WAY less adept than I am now. It forced me to pick up a lot of stuff, and I learned to mimic well. 

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

2 hours ago, SKL said:

My aq was 43 LOL....

I got 38. Lol

[Katy]

4 hours ago, kbutton said:

Less common personality on the Meyers-Briggs? Those of us in that category are probably well-represented here. I have read articles that accuse certain personality types as being always autistic, which is nuts. But as an INTJ, I can see why people would think a stressed out INTJ might be on the spectrum.

 

 

4 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

This is actually my question.  I'm INTJ and I see a lot of overlap between my answers to the quiz questions and standard introvert traits, probably standard INTJ traits.  From previous polls, we know that there is an unusually high proportion of female INTJ on the WTM boards.

 

54 minutes ago, EKS said:

I suspect that highly intelligent, introverted (especially INTJ) women are going to have traits that outwardly look like low level autism but if you look closer, you'll find that these folks lack the core social deficits.  

I got a 21 on the autism test.  There were a good number of items that I had trouble marking--things like "I enjoy socializing."  The actual answer is "It depends."  But that wasn't one of the choices, so in general, I went with the less antisocial choice which probably skewed my results low.  That said, I am certain that I don't have autism, though I do have a number of the traits--sensory sensitivity, introversion, tendency to hyperfocus, issues with eye contact, etc.

 

30 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I scored a 12, and those 12 points were all introversion questions...I am INTJ and am nowhere near the spectrum.

Dh’s side of the family has strong autism genetics.

I’m INTJ, but I’m a friendly introvert. Maybe because I spent my childhood in the South, where it’s not really an acceptable option to be introverted. Social situations generally don’t stress me out but I don’t often enjoy them either. I’m happiest reading a book alone in nature.  I don’t generally have trouble making friends but I do have trouble finding people I want to be close friends with.  I’m surprised I scored a 6 because I’ve got autism on both sides of my family. My choices that were spectrum adjacent are all also likely intellectual rather than a social issue. I think this is all pretty interesting. 

[Lecka]

Ivey — there is something called “simplex and multiplex” and there is a theory that with one autism is more likely to run in a family, and with the other, it’s just one gene and could be more random.  
 

Something like this, anyway.

Anyway — it is a thing to think sometimes autism runs in families, and sometimes it doesn’t.  
 

But I think that includes two siblings having the same genetic thing, and other family members not having any autism traits running in the family.  

[Not_a_Number]

30 minutes ago, Lecka said:

Ivey — there is something called “simplex and multiplex” and there is a theory that with one autism is more likely to run in a family, and with the other, it’s just one gene and could be more random.  

I've heard that before, too, and it sounds right to me -- I think some types of autism are more "random mutation," and some types are genuinely combinations of disparate traits. 

In my family, DH would probably get like 10 on the AQ quiz, and I get in the 20s, but we're both intensely focused and yet emotionally astute people (and this is despite the fact that I'm considerably more awkward than DH.) And both of our children are intensely focused and also relatively astute, but actually, DD4 is more than a little astute -- she has sky-high EQ. Her preschool reports were that she was 

a) incredibly stubborn and determined to do what she wants (good luck getting her to go potty with everyone else, lol) 

and 

b) that the teachers started relying on her to tell them why other kids were crying, because she always knew what was upsetting them, and could always articulate it (she's also very precociously verbal.) 

So for us, it's obviously a complicated set of traits that are all expressing separately. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by Not_a_Number