Three Adult Autism Tests for Those Considering a Diagnosis

It's Autism Awareness Month, and that means it's time for everyone who dislikes parties to speculate on whether they have a neurodevelopmental disorder.

In all seriousness, there are some people who - due to the time of their birth, financial circumstances, family intransigence, or some combination therein - never received a diagnosis that could well have helped them. They may have struggled in school, had difficulty maintaining employment or a relationship, or experienced emotional distress. And now, as adults, they'd like to answer a question that should have been asked decades ago. Hard to blame them for that.

Unfortunately, autism spectrum disorder is not an easy diagnosis even in the best of times, and adulthood is about the worst time. Most diagnostic instruments are made with small children in mind, and there really isn't an agreed upon framework for diagnosing anyone much past puberty. This path can be a particularly long one for some.

Fortunately, there are some tools that can put you on the right track - but make sure that you understand what these are first.

To be clear: There is no self-report test that can be used to diagnose autism or ASD by itself. What we're going to look at are more like screening tests, meant as guides to future action. If these assessments suggest that you are on the autism spectrum, then you may wish to pursue further help if you feel that a formal diagnosis would help you.

Three Simple Screening Tests for Adult Autism

Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ)

In many ways, this is the gold standard when it comes to screening for autism in post-pubescents. If you've met someone who has or is considering seeking an ASD diagnosis as an adult, there's a good chance that their path started with an AQ test. While there are versions of AQ that are designed for children and teenagers, the original assessment was specifically meant for adults.

The AQ contains fifty questions with four possible responses each. It is probably the most straightforward of these tests and the questions require little interpretation. The threshold score is 26, or selecting more than half of the autistic traits presented.

The Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised (RAADS-R)

RAADS-R is a more recent assessment that, as with AQ, was designed specifically to test for autistic traits in adults. It should be noted that there is more than one version of this test - the above is the longer version, but an abridged version (RAADS-14) also exists.

The RAADS-R is eighty questions long, split into four subcategories. Each questions allows the user to select true, false, or true only for a specific period of life - before or after age 16. It may benefit you to take the RAADS-R with a parent or someone else who knew you as a child, in case you honestly aren't sure about some of the questions. The threshold for possible ASD is a score of 65 out of a possible 240.

Adult Autism Subthreshold Spectrum (AdAS Spectrum)

As the name suggests, AdAS Spectrum is a test designed to screen for people with autistic traits that still fall below the threshold for the classical definition for autism. As such, it is more granular than the above instruments, but also potentially more ambiguous.

With 160 questions split into seven subcategories, the AdAS spectrum is the longest assessment on this list. Each question is a simple binary, yes-or-no response. Unlike the first two tests, there is no given threshold for AdAS, but subsequent research on the assessment suggests that there are two thresholds, with 40-45 as a maximum for people who do not have autism and 70-75 for people who do. Scores between those are in the subthreshold range and are subject to interpretation.

Andrew Johnston is a teacher and writer, originally from small-town Kansas and currently based out of China. He is currently working on a free serialized novel that follows the life and times of an autistic youth, which you can read at empathynovel.substack.com.