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Systemising Quotient

Telstar

I'd be interested for any views on the following regarding SQ (Systemising Quotient) tests.

For those who haven't seen my other posts, just to confirm that I am waiting for a Full Assessment, having had an initial one at my local MHU, which found several indicators of possible ASC.

Since discovering the possiblility of ASC in myself, I have done a few online tests (it was doing the AQ test and getting a score of 40 which alerted me to autism in the first place).  Recently, I undertook the SQ test, as I recall I hadn't done this one previously.  I was quite taken aback to find myself scoring 125 on the test, and I tried to answer conservatively too.  This puts me well above the average for adults with an ASC.  

I know that I have a logical outlook in the extreme, and always have done - for example, different saucers for different drinking mugs, always using certain coloured plastic clothes hangers for certain coloured shirts, all clothes subdivided into sections, etc., and never deviating from these.  I couldn't function without this certainty and order, but also, I can't understand how other people don't have these systems either - to me, it's entirely logical AND sensible to do this.  So many people out there seem to go through life in a disorganised way, and it baffles me!

I know these online tests are only a "guide" and shouldn't be taken as clinical evidence, however, 125 on the SQ test seems to be quite high to me.  I wondered if anyone else here has taken this test, and if so, did you find similar results?  I'm not unduly worried about the result, just a little surprised, although the systematic way in which I've organised my life since a child does seem to tie in with this result.  My EQ (Empathy Quotient) of 22 also might suggest why, combined with the SQ, that I feel I can look at a situation with considerable detachment.  I also recognise that I may sometimes appear to be a bit pedantic - again, perhaps the SQ results might just confirm this?

Parents

  • Personaly, I've avoided such tests. I place far more faith in the observations of a trained professional simply because the stories of people getting into a state through self-diagnosis are myriad. I have, for instance, taken Mensa tests in the past and scored highly enough to be invited to join, yet all I can think about those tests is that they're culture biased and middle class in perception and execution. If anyone asks, I'll tell them what I mean by 'middle class'.

    I'm a whole person, not a sum of parts. OK, so my brain can process a Mensa test. Great. All it tells me is that my brain can process a Mensa test, it tells me absolutely nothing about me, they're just a series of logical puzzles, and the answers are often so obvious that they don't even challenge me to think. I still take great exception to some of their 'correct' answers to language questions, but then again, I DO have a very different take on life anyway.

    I'm with you all the way on what you're trying to do. You're still in unknown territory as far as diagnosis is concerned, so in that sense you can do online tests untill you drop from exhaustion, and you still won't have a diagnosis untill you are properly assessed. I see the value for you in online tests, but I do generally take a dim view of self-diagnosis. The number of people who turn up at the Doctor's with stomach cancer, and it turns out to be excessive wind, if you get my drift? I just think it's a natural human tendency to 'fear the worst', and I think that proper diagnosis (by which I mean independant assessment by a properly trained professional) takes away a lot of fear.

    Like you, I believe that you are AS. It strikes me that the things you say are common experiences for us, and it's obvious to me that this revelation has struck you in the same way as it seems to for most of us - suddenly, someone switched the light on and we realise just how we've been struggling in the dark.

    I would be very interested in your opinion of this particular test as a diagnostic tool. Do you think it works, helps, or simply highlights and confirms something that, inside, you already knew or suspected? Most of all, has it helped you?

Reply

  • Personaly, I've avoided such tests. I place far more faith in the observations of a trained professional simply because the stories of people getting into a state through self-diagnosis are myriad. I have, for instance, taken Mensa tests in the past and scored highly enough to be invited to join, yet all I can think about those tests is that they're culture biased and middle class in perception and execution. If anyone asks, I'll tell them what I mean by 'middle class'.

    I'm a whole person, not a sum of parts. OK, so my brain can process a Mensa test. Great. All it tells me is that my brain can process a Mensa test, it tells me absolutely nothing about me, they're just a series of logical puzzles, and the answers are often so obvious that they don't even challenge me to think. I still take great exception to some of their 'correct' answers to language questions, but then again, I DO have a very different take on life anyway.

    I'm with you all the way on what you're trying to do. You're still in unknown territory as far as diagnosis is concerned, so in that sense you can do online tests untill you drop from exhaustion, and you still won't have a diagnosis untill you are properly assessed. I see the value for you in online tests, but I do generally take a dim view of self-diagnosis. The number of people who turn up at the Doctor's with stomach cancer, and it turns out to be excessive wind, if you get my drift? I just think it's a natural human tendency to 'fear the worst', and I think that proper diagnosis (by which I mean independant assessment by a properly trained professional) takes away a lot of fear.

    Like you, I believe that you are AS. It strikes me that the things you say are common experiences for us, and it's obvious to me that this revelation has struck you in the same way as it seems to for most of us - suddenly, someone switched the light on and we realise just how we've been struggling in the dark.

    I would be very interested in your opinion of this particular test as a diagnostic tool. Do you think it works, helps, or simply highlights and confirms something that, inside, you already knew or suspected? Most of all, has it helped you?

Children
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