Sunday, June 03, 2007

Very, very interesting

Genetics does the most surprising stuff... I noticed on my brother's blog that he'd taken an online "quiz" of a less usual sort:
Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen and his colleagues at Cambridge's Autism Research Centre have created the Autism-Spectrum Quotient, or AQ, as a measure of the extent of autistic traits in adults. In the first major trial using the test, the average score in the control group was 16.4. Eighty percent of those diagnosed with autism or a related disorder scored 32 or higher.
He scored 33. (His sole comment was "Hmmm...") The little reading I've done about Asperger's has interested me quite a bit, as I feel I have some of the characteristics described by people with Asperger's. I have to force myself to break out of my routines and go into new situations, even for simple things like stores I haven't been in; I can be quite oversensitive to sounds or smells that others don't even notice, let alone feel bothered by; I'm often oblivious to social clues. On the other hand, while I'm an introvert, I function. Still, this test intrigued me, and I clicked over to see how I did.

Brother 33, sister 33. Isn't that interesting?


Your Score: Maybe


Result: 33. Your score isn't an achievement, it just is.




Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen and his colleagues at Cambridge's Autism Research Centre have created the Autism-Spectrum Quotient, or AQ, as a measure of the extent of autistic traits in adults. In the first major trial using the test, the average score in the control group was 16.4. Eighty percent of those diagnosed with autism or a related disorder scored 32 or higher. The test is not a means for making a diagnosis, however, and many who score above 32 and even meet the diagnostic criteria for mild autism or Asperger's report no difficulty functioning in their everyday lives.

You scored 32 or above. Do with that what you will.


1 comment:

  1. hmmm is my reaction as well. Certainly I think as they discover more about brain function, learning styles, etc. more information will come to light, new categories created, etc. Some stuff is just personality and preference, I imagine, but some might also be related to these different conditions. I am curious now and want to take the test. Will look into that. jdj

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