Do I have High-Functioning Autism?

High-Functioning Autism: Self-Test

Many adults with High-Functioning Autism (HFA) have received an incorrect diagnosis (e.g., schizophrenia, depression, a personality disorder, etc.). With no (or few) features from the list below, one does not have the disorder.

Even with a high score, a diagnosis cannot be accurately made on this basis, but requires a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation. Answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the questions below (if you answer ‘yes’ to 10 or more, an evaluation by a professional is warranted).

Have you experienced any of the following:

1. Abnormal speech rhythm?
2. Attachment to animals or things other than humans?
3. Bitten by dogs?
4. Capable of sustained rigorous hard work?
5. Clumsy or exaggerated gestures when talking?
6. Depression or on anti-depressant?
7. Diagnosed with any Personality Disorder?
8. Diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?
9. Diagnosed with Schizophrenia?
10. Drug addiction or alcoholism?
11. Eating disorder (e.g., anorexia)?
12. Educated below ability level?
13. Employed below ability level?
14. Fetishism?
15. Flat or monotonous voice?
16. Highly sensitive to criticism?
17. Homelessness?
18. Lack "common sense"?
19. Lack sensitivity to nonverbal cues and social codes?
20. Little eye contact?
21. Little or no facial expression?
22. Longing for death or suicidal thoughts?
23. Low "social skills"?
24. Motor clumsiness?
25. Neurotic habits or tics?
26. Never had a steady job?
27. Never had a long-lasting romantic relationship?
28. Never married?
29. Not emotional?
30. Not taken seriously or misunderstood in face-to-face situations?
31. Not well able to read another's facial expression?
32. Use tranquillizers?
33. One-sided eating habits?
34. Oversensitive to particular sounds?
35. Peculiar or (for males) too high-pitched voice?
36. Perfectionism?
37. Poor work record?
38. Read full manual before taking equipment into use?
39. Read reference works from A to Z?
40. Rigid day or week schedule (i.e.,repetitive patterns)?
41. Savant-like traits?
42. Was severely bullied at school?
43. Shy?
44. Sleeping problems?
45. Social isolation?
46. Still a virgin?
47. Stilted and overformal in social interaction?
48. Strong interest in mysterious subject matter (e.g, scientific, occult)?
49. Talk too little?
50. Talk too much?
51. Teased by children in adulthood?
52. Was unjustly punished at school?
53. Very honest?
54. Write complaint letters to authorities, professionals, companies, etc.?
55. Have always felt "odd"?

==> Living With Aspergers: Help for Couples

==> Skype Counseling for Struggling Individuals & Couples Affected by Asperger's

Adults with Aspergers and High-Functioning Autism

Adults with Aspergers talk about some of their unique challenges...

==> Online Group Therapy for Couples and Individuals Affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder

==> Living With Aspergers: Help for Couples

==> One-on-One Counseling for Struggling Individuals & Couples Affected by Asperger's and High-Functioning Autism

COMMENTS: 

==> I am 43 now i have a male adult child with aspergers and a teenage male child with it as well , we are carbon copies pretty much, when I started to try to learn more I started putting the pieces together, it has been a challenge for years for me and i have gone through melt down after melt down when I was working in the career i chose. I have been trying for over a year to get diagnosed and its been one road block after another, i think I have appeared more normal because my wife has done so many things for me over the last 17 years it appears like I am able to function on my own, but I have so many challenges it is overwhelming. Hopefully i will get my answer soon. 

 

 

==> Though being on the spectrum has been challenging for me it has also literally saved my life. I'm gay and came of age in the mid 70's, years before anyone had known of AIDS. I am very socially inhibited. But if I were more socially normal in meeting guys and doing the things sexually that many of the guys were at that time I would have certainly contracted AIDS just as many of them did. So, there is always another, more positive way to consider what being on the spectrum has brought to my life.