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Accuracy of online screening tools?

NAS79263

Hi, I have 3 adopted children (not biologically related). My eldest is now 15. When she was a toddler, looking back, she had many signs of Autism but these were put down at the time to Attachment Disorder. She also has dyslexia, dysgraphia and hypermobile joint syndrome and Ehlers-Danlos. My middle daughter is 12. I previously thought she had ADHD. She has a diagnosis of dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia and other health problems. When we went for the ADHD assessment the assessor told me the two questionnaires from school indicated possible Autism. That was 18 months ago roughly. The more i have since researched the more I realise she does tick the boxes in many ways - for example I didn't realise stimming wasn't just the stereotypical hand flapping. I am waiting to see if she has been accepted for a formal assessment.

Both girls have done an online screener with me - the Adult AQ and, for the younger one, a parental one for children. Both of them score into the 30s on the AQ and my 12 year old also scored over the threshold for the other one too. My eldest is interested in a formal assessment when I can afford it - waiting lists for NDAS are insanely long and I'd imagine she would be finished school before we got anything there so I will likely save for the private assessment. 

So - if you've read this far :) thank you. 

My question is how reliable have others found in the online official AQ for indicating autistic traits which later did get confirmed by a formal assessment? I do feel it is reflective of my children and was actually surprised myself at some of the things I learned about my oldest in terms of what she finds hard and how she sees the world. I regret not pushing more when she was younger but just assuming it was all attachment/adoption related difficulties. Should I accept the results at face value or do you caution their accuracy?

Thanks

  • I've added a few of my favourite links to help! I find these authors better express how we perceive, experience and reason with in the world. Then you can help her explore these 'traits' like building ones character should you recognise them in her.

    The tests are merely a point of departure. They contain this gradience as if one can slip into the spectrum and then off of it. But Autism is a way of using the brain entirely different and as a consequence, we have different motivators, we intake and disseminate information differently. 

    While we can all have the same emotions, such as with frustration, what we're frustrated by can be incredibly different. And while we all desire acceptance, the threshold of what cost that acceptance requires can be different. From what we understand, NeuroNormative society is sort of wired to dismiss an irritating noise if the whole tribe is in agreement - there's suggestion a Typical individual can dull their senses for the sake of inclusion. But an autistic individual might rather opt for exclusion than be included and subjected to something they don't have the wiring or brain mechanics to 'dull'.

    Hopefully, some of these links can help decode this different processing and help you better recognise how we might operate, thereby possibly being able to recognise it beyond these tests.

    https://autcollab.org/2020/04/30/autism-the-cultural-immune-system-of-human-societies/?fbclid=IwAR37xumHkRga0hADICA80wxaWycn7_Kr9Oc6uZhcs2zJ0QzamXOI4qwU2bQ 

    https://neuroclastic.com/autism/what-is-autism/ 

    Monotropism https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-32/august-2019/me-and-monotropism-unified-theory-autism 

  • in reply to NAS79263

    It does sound like she might well be on the spectrum. The AQ10 is available online, but the only one I found did not automatically tot up the score, you had to add up the score manually.

  • in reply to Catlover

    Thanks for the reply. It's impossible to know if their are autistic traits or family members with Autism as she is adopted and we do not have that info on the birth family. I hadn't heard of the AQ-10 version so will see if it can be found. School have agreed to a meeting and then hopefully an NDAS referral in a couple of months. 

  • in reply to Martin

    Thanks for that, I did the RAADs-R with her a couple of days ago, funnily enough and she scored 112 on that. 36 on the AQ-50. Do you know if the AQ-10 is available online also? 

  • All the questionnaire type tests have problems: ambiguous questions, questions based on outdated stereotypes, questions weighted towards male and away from female traits. However, they remain useful pointers. The AQ10 and AQ50 tests tend to be the most used clinically in this country, but the RAADS-R test claims a more definitive cut off threshold between autistic and non-autistic scores. I was told that I would be diagnosed as autistic within 15 minutes of the start of my assessment - for comparison my scores were: 9 on AQ10, 37 on AQ50, 167 on RAADS-R (in the development of the RAADS-R test a score of 65 or over identified 97% of diagnosed autistics, and 100% of non-autistics scored below 65). 

  • The AQ gives a good indicator. Depending on the score, you can then decide whether to get assessed or not. That’s why GPs use the 10 question version when deciding whether someone should be put forward for assessment, combined with what the patient has told them.

    lt also might be prudent for me to say that family members may also have autistic traits, but not actually have Autism. 
    You know your children best, so go with your gut instinct. That’s what I did.

    By the way, I scored 46 when I performed the test during my assessment, and had one question I could not answer.