RAADS-R Diagnostic Scale

Thank you for sharing.

GuybrushThreepwood said:

makes me wonder if a GP would take me seriously in the first place as well

Yep.  The GP is the 1st of many (official) hurdles to be jumped to receive a diagnosis.

There are of course many private hurdles to be jumped on the autistic journey.

Some of those hurdles are too high and we just take a different course in life.

AuTriker said:

One of my own traits which I read is shared with many spectrum folks is that I really struggle with multiple choice questions when none of the answers fit very well.

I do too and in the surgery to get the referral I had 2 multiple choice tests and the GP with obviously no understanding of autism read them aloud rather than letting me read them

Autonomistic said:

65 seems a very low threshold for a diagnosis and does not suggest to me a 'high likelihood' of ASD

Yes.  I think that was a mistake.  As the letter came from a consultant psychiatrist that's not very good.

I agree.

I scored 209, when I did it previously before assessment for autism I did get 208.

Debbie said:

Any score of 65 or
above indicates a high likelihood of Autism Spectrum Disorder, provided the clinical presentation is
convergent with this diagnosis'

65 seems a very low threshold for a diagnosis and does not suggest to me a 'high likelihood' of ASD. I would have thought the realistic minimum for that would be around 130.

On the test website it actually says:

I scored 196.

I don't really get the way the questions seem to focus on how I was before or after the age of 16. Most of my answers were a or d. I am the same person as I was as a child. Autism is a lifelong condition and doesn't magically disappear at the age of 16.

I guess setting the questions in that way may rule out people whose traits were not present during their early years.

I just followed the link you provided and even just based on the 1st 3 questions I do not think much of this test! Whoever wrote it seems to me to have little understanding of how autistic people think. One of my own traits which I read is shared with many spectrum folks is that I really struggle with multiple choice questions when none of the answers fit very well. I prefer some kind of scale like never sometimes often always or better still marks out of ten on such a scale, although I do find even that very hard to quantify. But this with questions like I often x and the answers being either yes or no but for now and as a child! How am I supposed to answer yes or no when the answer is sometimes or somewhat, not all the time but not none of it and it depends on the situation?! I don't even want to try this test it is making me feel tense! And the very first question is about empathy - has whoever wrote it never heard of autistic empaths who are so empathic it is a problem?

Part of me is still curious to take the test and see what I score, but not right now as I am tired and I know it will annoy me. I did just follow a couple of the links to other threads about this test and they tend to agree with my initial reaction that this is a difficult test to answer.

I have an idea for a test with such annoying multiple choice answers that are impossible to do accurately, but with a space to write comments on each question. The score is irrelevant but if someone doesn't bother to write much they are probably NT and if they write something for most questions they are probably on the spectrum!

I seem OK without one, I feel like I would be taking a quicker diagnosis away from someone who is really struggling if I pursued it. Being married with a good job also makes me wonder if a GP would take me seriously in the first place as well

Interesting.  Thank you for sharing.

Are you wanting a diagnosis or OK without one?

I took it on that website a year or 2 ago and scored 138 which is just below suspected autistic males (I’m a suspected autistic and possibly also ADHD female)