What questions would you set for an online Autism test?

The best questions could be:

• Do you feel a strong connection to people who are misunderstood, different or otherwise neurodivergent?’
• Do you feel a strong connection with other autistic people?
• Is deep conversation more natural and pleasurable for you than small talk?
• Are you interests more meaningful to you than other people?
• Do you feel ‘lost’ or ‘lacking purpose’ if you don’t have a focused interest for a period of time?
• Do you wonder why other people cannot just say what they mean?
• Do you wonder why others don’t think as deeply/analyse everything in the way that you do?
• How would you naturally behave when alone? 
  
  
• Do you feel the world intensely?
• Do you hyper focus or get into flow? What does it feel like? Do you gain immense autistic joy from focusing for hours on end?
• Do you notice things others do not?
  Do you often wonder why other people behave the way they do?
• Do you question ‘societal norms?’
• Do you analyse items in terms of their sensory profile?
• What is your idea of a perfect day?
• Were you bored academically at school?
• Are you autodidactic?
• How much knowledge have you acquired on your interests? How does that make you feel?

 I could think of more but my list would endless!

I really like those questions, I'm excited to answer them. Rather than feeling confused by questions that either seem irrelevant, or that a devised in a way that makes you feel flawed for answering honestly.

Thanks. I am glad these questions make sense and are meaningful to you.

These are questions I have devised based on common autistic experiences and thought processes instead of unhelpful and pathologising observations of behaviour in ‘autism ‘ tests.

I hope by answering these questions it will help newly identified autistic people start the discovery journey with a positive perspective of being autistic.

 I am very interested to read your answers, I look forward to them!

It is. He's my third and it doesn't get easier. I am starting to understand why some people say they can't have another, which I never used to understand as being without one is horrible to me.

I'm sorry to hear that. I've never had pets (other than fish), so I can't say I know what it feels like, but it must be hard.

I didn't either prior to being asked by the receptionist to email them a photo of his vomit! Which I did find a little weird... But once I knew they would do emails it was so useful.

Thank you, but he probably won't, it's most likely stomach cancer, but we decided against the biopsy so can't say for sure. There is an outside chance it is inflammatory bowel disease. He is responding well to meds and has his appetite back today, which is nice, but he is still hiding a lot.

I didn't know it was an option to email in situations like that!

I hope your cat gets well soon!

Ausomely Autistic said:

So do I, written communication is better for me too as it allows me to have more processing time and reread if I think I have misinterpreted something. Spoken communication is so fast and fleeting

One of the useful things to have come out of my autistic discovery journey so far is my awareness of this. Previously I would just have accepted that spoken communication is how it is done. I mentioned in another thread that my cat is ill, when I was speaking with the vet I asked if she could email me the info so I was sure I had it right, and since then I have been emailing back and forth about his treatment. This has been so much better than the phone for so many reasons, not least of which is that I have the written record I can check on when my memory has been unreliable, or just for detail and nuance, like she said two meds need to be taken together, which I interpreted as it is imperative they are taken at the exact same time or he will suffer! When it actually just means it is a good idea if he is on both rather than stopping one.

I have also found it alarming how many holes my memory gets when I am stressed (possibly all the time for all I actually know!) I used to think I could hold a lot of detail in my head, and I do possibly more than NTs, but I have found that if I don't make a note several times a day of what he has eaten when, which pills at what time, when he threw up or used his tray, it all blurs together and I miss details. I think it is a combo of the stress/emotion and not getting enough sleep. I keep forgetting bits of Hebrew too as I am doing my homework, the kind of thing I usually recall easily.

I used to be able to recall a conversation word for word for around 3 weeks, now it's more like 1 week. Ask me happened at a particular point in the day, as long as I have a reference point, I wi look like I'm staring at the floor as I do video playback. This doesn't last as long though, maybe because of the amount of info.

Until last year I believed everyone thought in images, and converted text and spoken work into images. I really cannot imagine not having that.

I wish we could live in a stimmy world also, it would be so much more free.

You are very welcome, I hope you enjoy them!

Pikl said:

I prefer to read something rather than have it spoken to me. I find if it's spoken then I will think I understand, until I walk away and realise I didn't. Then need clarification.

So do I, written communication is better for me too as it allows me to have more processing time and reread if I think I have misinterpreted something. Spoken communication is so fast and fleeting that misunderstandings are very common when I speak to others, people can never say what they actually mean!

Pikl said:

I remember the words, I can replay a conversation without effort. I just don't seem to make sense of the words

I can definitely relate to this, it was a surprise to me when I learned that non autistic people do not try and remember every conversation they have! I understand what you mean about not making sense of words.

When I have conversations I may not be processing much in the moment (as I am focusing on keeping up with the pace and the changing topic) but hours or days later I realise I have retained and gained much more from the conversation than I thought I had.

Do you experience this too? I think it is because we are monotropic (focus intensely on one attention tunnel) whereas the majority of our interactions are with non autistic people who are polytropic.

https://monotropism.org/

Pikl said:

I love sounds as communication

So do I, very stimmy! Sounds can convey a lot of meaning that you cannot articulate with words. Sounds can convey so much more about our emotional state than the English language words can express!

Wouldn’t it be great if we lived in a world where sounds and stims were the main form of communication?!

I will listen to the song ‘Numb’ and tell you what I think of it.

I will look those up at the weekend, thank you!

I don't use echolalia, though I do use something slightly similar, unfortunately I don't remember the name. If something surprises me, for example a loud aeroplane flying overhead then I will say "aeroplane" out loud, and then repeat it a couple of times. 

I prefer to read something rather than have it spoken to me. I find if it's spoken then I will think I understand, until I walk away and realise I didn't. Then need clarification. I'm not sure why that happens. I remember the words, I can replay a conversation without effort. I just don't seem to make sense of the words. This is usually just with instructions or spoken plans.

If you ignore the lyrics to Linkin Park 'Numb' then the video is my teen years. I can get a bit fixated on it at times.

I love sounds as communication, sorry if I've said that before. I remember watching Star Wars and laughing when R2D2 said something rude haha.

I have just listened to ‘Irridescent’, I understand what you mean about being careful about your mood when you listen to these songs. It’s quite a sad song.

Pikl said:

My favourite makaton sign is 'very good',  which is a thumbs up on each hand. It's just a positive boost for children.

Very positive!

Pikl said:

If you have some areas of communication that I can explore, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks, it’s really cool that we share the same type of interest. I can’t think of any many areas that I would like to research more in terms of autistic communication, but you maybe in this Aucademy video - The Autistic Communication Hypothesis. It’s very interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/live/qxjTIqrSp-o?feature=share

This article below gives a brief description of the communication hypothesis along with other autistic derived theories about our autistic experience:

https://aucademy.co.uk/theories-about-autistic-experience/

It would be great to know what you think of it!

I know from experience in everyday interactions that I do process language at the word level instead of the sentence level because of my literalism.

I am also very interested in echolalia and gestalt language processing. I love the way our community uses echolalia, it’s quite clever. I enjoy using echolalia, it’s quite stimmy and fun!

I have just listened to ‘Irridescent’, I understand what you mean about being careful about your mood when you listen to these songs. It’s quite a sad song.

Pikl said:

My favourite makaton sign is 'very good',  which is a thumbs up on each hand. It's just a positive boost for children.

Very positive!

Pikl said:

If you have some areas of communication that I can explore, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks, it’s really cool that we share the same type of interest. I can’t think of any many areas that I would like to research more in terms of autistic communication, but you maybe in this Aucademy video - The Autistic Communication Hypothesis. It’s very interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/live/qxjTIqrSp-o?feature=share

This article below gives a brief description of the communication hypothesis along with other autistic derived theories about our autistic experience:

https://aucademy.co.uk/theories-about-autistic-experience/

It would be great to know what you think of it!

I know from experience in everyday interactions that I do process language at the word level instead of the sentence level because of my literalism.

I am also very interested in echolalia and gestalt language processing. I love the way our community uses echolalia, it’s quite clever. I enjoy using echolalia, it’s quite stimmy and fun!

It is. He's my third and it doesn't get easier. I am starting to understand why some people say they can't have another, which I never used to understand as being without one is horrible to me.

I'm sorry to hear that. I've never had pets (other than fish), so I can't say I know what it feels like, but it must be hard.

I didn't either prior to being asked by the receptionist to email them a photo of his vomit! Which I did find a little weird... But once I knew they would do emails it was so useful.

Thank you, but he probably won't, it's most likely stomach cancer, but we decided against the biopsy so can't say for sure. There is an outside chance it is inflammatory bowel disease. He is responding well to meds and has his appetite back today, which is nice, but he is still hiding a lot.

I didn't know it was an option to email in situations like that!

I hope your cat gets well soon!

Ausomely Autistic said:

So do I, written communication is better for me too as it allows me to have more processing time and reread if I think I have misinterpreted something. Spoken communication is so fast and fleeting

One of the useful things to have come out of my autistic discovery journey so far is my awareness of this. Previously I would just have accepted that spoken communication is how it is done. I mentioned in another thread that my cat is ill, when I was speaking with the vet I asked if she could email me the info so I was sure I had it right, and since then I have been emailing back and forth about his treatment. This has been so much better than the phone for so many reasons, not least of which is that I have the written record I can check on when my memory has been unreliable, or just for detail and nuance, like she said two meds need to be taken together, which I interpreted as it is imperative they are taken at the exact same time or he will suffer! When it actually just means it is a good idea if he is on both rather than stopping one.

I have also found it alarming how many holes my memory gets when I am stressed (possibly all the time for all I actually know!) I used to think I could hold a lot of detail in my head, and I do possibly more than NTs, but I have found that if I don't make a note several times a day of what he has eaten when, which pills at what time, when he threw up or used his tray, it all blurs together and I miss details. I think it is a combo of the stress/emotion and not getting enough sleep. I keep forgetting bits of Hebrew too as I am doing my homework, the kind of thing I usually recall easily.

I used to be able to recall a conversation word for word for around 3 weeks, now it's more like 1 week. Ask me happened at a particular point in the day, as long as I have a reference point, I wi look like I'm staring at the floor as I do video playback. This doesn't last as long though, maybe because of the amount of info.

Until last year I believed everyone thought in images, and converted text and spoken work into images. I really cannot imagine not having that.

I wish we could live in a stimmy world also, it would be so much more free.

You are very welcome, I hope you enjoy them!

Pikl said:

I prefer to read something rather than have it spoken to me. I find if it's spoken then I will think I understand, until I walk away and realise I didn't. Then need clarification.

So do I, written communication is better for me too as it allows me to have more processing time and reread if I think I have misinterpreted something. Spoken communication is so fast and fleeting that misunderstandings are very common when I speak to others, people can never say what they actually mean!

Pikl said:

I remember the words, I can replay a conversation without effort. I just don't seem to make sense of the words

I can definitely relate to this, it was a surprise to me when I learned that non autistic people do not try and remember every conversation they have! I understand what you mean about not making sense of words.

When I have conversations I may not be processing much in the moment (as I am focusing on keeping up with the pace and the changing topic) but hours or days later I realise I have retained and gained much more from the conversation than I thought I had.

Do you experience this too? I think it is because we are monotropic (focus intensely on one attention tunnel) whereas the majority of our interactions are with non autistic people who are polytropic.

https://monotropism.org/

Pikl said:

I love sounds as communication

So do I, very stimmy! Sounds can convey a lot of meaning that you cannot articulate with words. Sounds can convey so much more about our emotional state than the English language words can express!

Wouldn’t it be great if we lived in a world where sounds and stims were the main form of communication?!

I will listen to the song ‘Numb’ and tell you what I think of it.

I will look those up at the weekend, thank you!

I don't use echolalia, though I do use something slightly similar, unfortunately I don't remember the name. If something surprises me, for example a loud aeroplane flying overhead then I will say "aeroplane" out loud, and then repeat it a couple of times. 

I prefer to read something rather than have it spoken to me. I find if it's spoken then I will think I understand, until I walk away and realise I didn't. Then need clarification. I'm not sure why that happens. I remember the words, I can replay a conversation without effort. I just don't seem to make sense of the words. This is usually just with instructions or spoken plans.

If you ignore the lyrics to Linkin Park 'Numb' then the video is my teen years. I can get a bit fixated on it at times.

I love sounds as communication, sorry if I've said that before. I remember watching Star Wars and laughing when R2D2 said something rude haha.