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If someone told you they thought they might be autistic, what questions would you ask them?

Oran G. Utan

I had a recent conversation with my father, who speculated that because I was autistic, he could well be too. He doesn't feel the need to get tested as he was told by mental health workers that with his level of functionality and lifestyle, there would be no purpose in a diagnosis. It got me to wondering, what would be some simple questions one might ask to find signs of neurodivergency? If you had to boil it down to just a few that could fit into a normal conversation, that is.

For me, the only thing that comes to mind is "When you go to bed at night, do you find you usually settle in and nod off before long? Or do you find yourself lying awake, full of thoughts, left waiting for sleep to happen?"

Parents
  • Oran G. Utan said:
    That's why I wonder what would be conversational ways to find signs of neurodivergency in adults. Not to a "Yes you are/No you're not" result of course, because as you say, there's no way to be that certain. I know a  few people who think they might be neurodivergent, but would find taking tests challenging due to personal or environmental difficulties. My two best friends, one who thinks she might have ADD, and another who shows signs of autism, are generally very untrusting. And very American. Neither can really afford to get tested. Which is why I feel a diagnosed ND person like myself whom they do trust might at least be able to give them some peace of mind if I knew what to look for, in what short amount of patience I could squeeze out of them

    The best suggestion I can offer would also be for them to take some simple tests.

    Keeping in mind your further explanation above, including that you're considering helping them with this, perhaps it might be an idea (given the attention constraints you mentioned) to spread the tests out, over time, breaking them down into maybe just a couple of questions at a time. It doesn't all need to be done in one go.

    You could still ask these in a conversational way, working towards settling on an answer that you can then record against that particular question.

    There are both shorter and longer versions of the standard screening questionnaires for both autism and ADHD, so you could perhaps just start with the shorter ones.

    Autism: AQ-10 and AQ (10 and 50 questions respectively)

    ADHD: ASRS-5 and ASRS-v1.1 (6 and 18 questions respectively)  

    In respect of autism, you could also discuss some of the signs that are explained here:

    NAS - Signs that a child or adult may be autistic (specifically, signs related to the core characteristics)

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  • Oran G. Utan said:
    That's why I wonder what would be conversational ways to find signs of neurodivergency in adults. Not to a "Yes you are/No you're not" result of course, because as you say, there's no way to be that certain. I know a  few people who think they might be neurodivergent, but would find taking tests challenging due to personal or environmental difficulties. My two best friends, one who thinks she might have ADD, and another who shows signs of autism, are generally very untrusting. And very American. Neither can really afford to get tested. Which is why I feel a diagnosed ND person like myself whom they do trust might at least be able to give them some peace of mind if I knew what to look for, in what short amount of patience I could squeeze out of them

    The best suggestion I can offer would also be for them to take some simple tests.

    Keeping in mind your further explanation above, including that you're considering helping them with this, perhaps it might be an idea (given the attention constraints you mentioned) to spread the tests out, over time, breaking them down into maybe just a couple of questions at a time. It doesn't all need to be done in one go.

    You could still ask these in a conversational way, working towards settling on an answer that you can then record against that particular question.

    There are both shorter and longer versions of the standard screening questionnaires for both autism and ADHD, so you could perhaps just start with the shorter ones.

    Autism: AQ-10 and AQ (10 and 50 questions respectively)

    ADHD: ASRS-5 and ASRS-v1.1 (6 and 18 questions respectively)  

    In respect of autism, you could also discuss some of the signs that are explained here:

    NAS - Signs that a child or adult may be autistic (specifically, signs related to the core characteristics)

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