Requesting a diagnosis when AQ-10 is negative

The research on the effectiveness of the AQ10 in predicting a diagnosis is mixed. There is a 2016 paper by Ashwood et al where they found a high number of false negatives when testing the AQ10 as a predictor for diagnosis (i.e. people who scored below the AQ10 cut-off then went on to receive a full ASD diagnosis).

There are limitations with self-report tools (I wonder how I'd "score" if I took the test on a different day or how my scores would vary depending on my mood) and I'd suggest the AQ10 couldn't be used in isolation - especially if you are experiencing other things common in autism. There's were a lot of things which made up part of my diagnosis which the AQ10 doesn't capture. My terrible inability of taking on board new information delivered verbally or how if a group of people are in animated conversation I can't engage emotionally because I have to concentrate to keep up or how I struggle to mentally put aside work for the next day regardless of how much progress I've made on it because it's "unfinished". 

Treat it for what it is - a borderline score which might well be different had you had done the test on another day. Your score on the AQ50 (there's similar research on this as well) suggests to me you shouldn't be put off by your score on the AQ10 - and there's your own experience to take into account.

Any decent clinician/assessor knows the limitations of these tests and would weigh up all the evidence not just make a decision based on a single score. 

The research on the effectiveness of the AQ10 in predicting a diagnosis is mixed. There is a 2016 paper by Ashwood et al where they found a high number of false negatives when testing the AQ10 as a predictor for diagnosis (i.e. people who scored below the AQ10 cut-off then went on to receive a full ASD diagnosis).

There are limitations with self-report tools (I wonder how I'd "score" if I took the test on a different day or how my scores would vary depending on my mood) and I'd suggest the AQ10 couldn't be used in isolation - especially if you are experiencing other things common in autism. There's were a lot of things which made up part of my diagnosis which the AQ10 doesn't capture. My terrible inability of taking on board new information delivered verbally or how if a group of people are in animated conversation I can't engage emotionally because I have to concentrate to keep up or how I struggle to mentally put aside work for the next day regardless of how much progress I've made on it because it's "unfinished". 

Treat it for what it is - a borderline score which might well be different had you had done the test on another day. Your score on the AQ50 (there's similar research on this as well) suggests to me you shouldn't be put off by your score on the AQ10 - and there's your own experience to take into account.

Any decent clinician/assessor knows the limitations of these tests and would weigh up all the evidence not just make a decision based on a single score. 

Thank you, this is very helpful. I'd looked at the original paper where Baron-Cohen et al introduced it, but it's helpful to have this further info.

I do find the self-report things tricky because I've learned so many skills to cope! I've tried to fill out the self-referral form (which thankfully does include more than just AQ-10) as best I can - it has a section where I can answer the question "why do I think I'm autistic" which means I can include the things aidie suggests above. Sometimes it's tricky because there are some things where I don't know if they're autistic traits or not - for example I tend to forget that other people don't know how I think/feel about them and that I need to actually tell them with words, not just when I'm so overcome with feeling I need to express it. I keep worrying that I will have left something really important off!