Published on 12, July, 2020
When filling out the RAADS-R
embrace-autism.com/.../
The response options are
But I'm a bit unsure what I should put if something is sometimes true but sometimes isn't. Should I put option 1 because that is more accurate than option 4. But if it isn't true all the time then option 1 doesn't seem that accurate either.
I'm also confused what to put in response to questions like
"I have a hard time figuring out what some phrases mean, like 'you are the apple of my eye.'"
because I do know what it means because I've learnt what it means, but I can't work out why it means that. So how should I answer?
"I am considered a compassionate type of person" - this one, I think other people would consider me a compassionate person, but I thinks that's probably because of masking or something, so not sure what I should answer this one.
I think I am probably over thinking all this, but it's important I get this right, especially as I want to show my results to my GP if I ask about getting a disgnosis.
Thank you all for the replies so far. Very interesting.
It seems the consensus is that the questions aren't that great.
But still don't know how I should answer the unclear ones.
Does anyone have any direct advice please?
When I made this test, I simply asked myself which answer I feel is most accurate. If something is not always but sometimes or often true, then it’s for me more true, than never. So I put this answer. If something is not true / I have trouble recalling such a situation which would give me a reason to answer “true” then I chose “never true”. This is how I made it. But some of the questions I. These tests generally are unclear to me anyway or I could say not applicable at all.
I agree with others that this test is really bad, but nonetheless there is some use in it because NTs are not likely to score highly. The problem is that some autistic people might also not score highly through either masking or confusion. Getting a diagnosis relies on many more tools than just this test, if you see it more as a step to pass before progressing to the next stage than something you have to get absolutely accurate that might help (though that in itself is difficult for most of us as we have a deep need to be as accurate as possible!)
I am not suggesting you ask yourself "which answer are they expecting an autistic person to give" and putting that as a way to get assessed, but asking that question can help understand the purpose of the question and may help you reframe it in a way which applies better to you.
For the one about the apple of your eye, answer yes always (1) because you did have a hard time figuring it out even though you have now learnt it, also you struggle to work out similar things.
I'm not sure what to advise about the compassion one. If you mask a lot there is a test about that which you could also do and show your GP if your RAADS-R score is on the low side.
Try just doing it with your best guesses and see what you score. If it's easily within the autism range then you're good to go. But if it is a bit low and you don't feel that is right then do it again with different answers to the questions you weren't sure on and see what happens. If there are other specific questions you just can't figure out then post those for advice about what they mean.
I feel that the fact you are overthinking the answers and not understanding some of the questions shows you are likely one of us! So the details don't matter so much really. (It took me a while to come to that conclusion as of course details matter, right!)
The only direct advice is to give the answer that's closest to what you feel. This entire thread of replies here demonstrates the the questions are like "What is that value of PI? 1, 2, 3, or 4?" I suppose that you just have to answer 3, and hope that they are not put in charge of building suspension bridges.