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AutismTest in the AppStore now.

I

inbrissy

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 12, 2007
57
0
Brisbane
Have you ever wondered if you, your child, or someone you know is on the Autism spectrum?

Now you can. This test was developed by S. Baron-Cohen, S. Wheelwright, R. Skinner, J. Martin and E. Clubley, (2001) at Cambridge University and is used in many places for online tests.

Although not a diagnostic tool, it is very accurate and can certainly be used as a guide line. Contacting a professional for further information is highly recommended however.

Paws4Roel is all about Autism as both myself and my son are Autistic. We would like to make the iPhone community more aware about Autism. Being Autistic is very special. Neurotypical (NT) people think and live along the linear, Autistics think and live in the quantum.

AutismTest can collect all scores and locations as a test is done. These statistics will be shown in the up and coming update. It will show users the numbers. As one in 150 people is somewhere on the Autism spectrum, it will be interesting to see what the numbers are in the iPhone community.

Please remember that this is in no way a diagnosis. Its purely a guide line and if you score high and want to find out more information, we strongly suggest you contact a professional for more information.
 
Not showing the score during the test is very good feedback. I've sorted that out and it will no long show during the test in the up and coming update.

Thanks again for the feedback
 
Interesting app. I checked it out, scored 16. Will be interesting to see the data that can be gathered with this even though by no means is it a diagnosis of anything which you thankfully clearly state.
 
Thanks for your feedback. No its in no way a diagnosis, but the test is used by many to give an indication. Looking at some of the case studies that were done, it is pretty accurate.

I think it was somewhere around 80% of autistic people who were part of the case study did score over 32.

So there is certainly a good guide line.
But always consult a professional to get more information.
 
If anyone has any other suggestions on how to make AutismTest better, we would love to hear about about it before we send out the update
 
I did the test, and I am partially associatated with Asperger's Syndrome, and here was my result:

5610_127848454852_545744852_3093199_4407620_n.jpg


Unfortunately, I wasn't able to read beyond perhaps....
 
Thanks for that feedback also. I'll make sure it's fixed in the update. Assuming you are over 16, you should be able to do the adult test to get a more accurate score. The child one is more intended for parents with young children
 
Although the update isn't out yet, we have enabled the scripting to show the statistics so far. Currently it stands at 329 out of 1519 scores submitted that have scored in the "Autistic Traits" mark.

will be interesting to keep looking at those statistics.
 
inbrissy said:
Thanks for that feedback also. I'll make sure it's fixed in the update. Assuming you are over 16, you should be able to do the adult test to get a more accurate score. The child one is more intended for parents with young children
Click to expand...

Yes, I have taken the adult one, as well, and will upload the result.
 
Pretty interesting statistics.. Assuming there will probably be several duplicates on there but still 330ish out of 1700ish..
 
colmaclean said:
Not the creator of Ali G, Borat and Bruno, surely?
Click to expand...
That was my first thought as well, but he's more a case of multiple personalities :D

Very interresting App. I think I'll wait at least for the next update since I'm really curious about my result. The updating score would definitely distract, I'm glad MadGoat pointed that out already. After all I don't want to test the app, I want it to test me ;)
 
Neat app but... I'm the father of an Autistic 6 year old, and if you are answering any of these questions for your child and you don't already know they are autistic than there is something big time wrong. Maybe you can gear it more to earlier signs, maybe s/s to look for when the child is 18 months or younger. I know you have said over and over it is in no way a diagnosis but the questions you ask are geared towards older children 3 to 4+ which is WAY to late. To be taken seriously as a tool to help people spot s/s of autism the questions need to be changed when testing for a child. As it is now (not trying to be a jerk) it's a cool toy app to "test" your friends and such. I do applaud you for at least putting it out, anything that helps bring knowledge to people related to Autism and Autism awareness is ok by me. Not trying to hijack but if you have any question about autism please educate yourself by going to http://www.autismspeaks.org/ tons of info there.

My little part to bring knowledge... Tat on R calf, gonna get the autism ribbon on the left soon.
 
army91c said:
Neat app but... I'm the father of an Autistic 6 year old, and if you are answering any of these questions for your child and you don't already know they are autistic than there is something big time wrong. Maybe you can gear it more to earlier signs, maybe s/s to look for when the child is 18 months or younger. I know you have said over and over it is in no way a diagnosis but the questions you ask are geared towards older children 3 to 4+ which is WAY to late. To be taken seriously as a tool to help people spot s/s of autism the questions need to be changed when testing for a child. As it is now (not trying to be a jerk) it's a cool toy app to "test" your friends and such. I do applaud you for at least putting it out, anything that helps bring knowledge to people related to Autism and Autism awareness is ok by me. Not trying to hijack but if you have any question about autism please educate yourself by going to http://www.autismspeaks.org/ tons of info there.

My little part to bring knowledge... Tat on R calf, gonna get the autism ribbon on the left soon.
Click to expand...

I appreciate your feedback.. Specially as a dad of an 8 year old autistic son. You are correct there should be more specialised questionnaires for early intervention. However, the most up to date and most credible one out there is the one that I've used. I've done quite a bit of homework and have had help from professionals in the field. There currently are no official or more credible questionnaires that are used world wide then the once I have used.

But don't mistake my effort with AutismTest with my lack of knowledge. I am Autistic myself and have been in this field for quite a long time. There are many many arguments over which is the right test and which are the questions to ask. But until there are more concrete agreements over which is the way to go, I'm going with the ones that most of the Autism world agrees are tried and tested. Both tests I've included in AutismTest are that. Nor do I say anywhere in the application that the child test is for early intervention. As the tests done at the age you are talking about are for a large part diagnosis based on individual interviews with Parents and the diagnosis by a professional, AutismTest cannot and should not put questionnaires up trying to do just that. It would cause more issues for parents with children that could fall under many different disorders.

I would not want AutismTest to be used for that. That is why I've targeted the older children and Adults who haven't been diagnosed.

But I'm updating the application as I find out more information and better questionnaires. When some better test is agreed on by the Autism World as accurate and has had case studies done, I'll be more then happy to add additional tests in there.

Nice tattoo.. I have one of a globe done in the jigsaw puzzle
 
I have to agree, this is not for getting your littluns diagnosed, it is more for older kids, in fact adults really. In the UK at least if you went to see a consultant and told them you had diagnosed your child with an iPhone app they would not be happy, they think all parents are paranoid anyway! Its a lot easier to get a diagnosis on a younger child, as they already have the support and interaction of health visitors and people are looking out for the signs. I know its not easy, and many are missed, but the older you get the harder it is to get a diagnosis, and all sorts of other labels are applied instead.

I am speaking from experience, I have 2 autistic children, 17 and 6, both severely autistic, the younger one non-communicative. I also work with autistic children part time, and the rest of my time I work with the parents and carers of autistic children. The biggest issue is those children reaching school leaving age, not yet diagnosed, or with an incorrect diagnosis, destined for a life of complications. I am working with many adults too, trying to get them a diagnosis so they can get some help and support to allow them to live a better quality of life.

This test isn't one made up by the developer, its a defined test to help with diagnosis, to create your own from scratch would be very difficult and it would have little to no credibility. I do agree with you army91c, it would be good to have a test for littluns, but its better if a parent thinks their child has an ASD they get proper medical help in the diagnosis. This isn't to take anything away from the developers app, its a brilliant application and I admire the effort thats gone into it, and the developer has said who its aimed at.

Sadly you need more than an app to get an accurate diagnosis of a younger non-communicative child, which is obviously why there is such a problem getting a consultant to diagnose in the first place, if an app would do it it would already exist.

I look forward to nay future developments the developer can introduce :)
 
Thanks for the great feedback. Just the fact that AutismTest is being discussed shows that my goal is working. :) Autism is being talked about.

If there is a credible and tested questionnaire for the really little ones, I'd more then happy to put it into AutismTest.

And i'm certainly open to any suggestions on things I can add in AutismTest.
It was always designed as an awareness tool. Even though its useful, its not necessarily all about making money. All funds that I make from any of my apps so far all goes to an organisation that trains Autism Assistance Dogs
Thats the awareness I'm trying to raise.

So please, if you have good suggestions on additions to AutismTest, post them here. I'll do what I can to add them if they suit the application.

Thanks again for all your feedback.. I know there are a couple of bugs, but the next update should fix those..

Any positive reviews would be much appreciated also ;)
 
nice app :)

What do I do if my friends want to do the test? Does it just keep uploading to the x/y autistic stat at the top of the app when it starts up? what if someone just spams the test and it just gets loaded with useless, false stats?

i got 12 btw
 
MokSiFu said:
nice app :)

What do I do if my friends want to do the test? Does it just keep uploading to the x/y autistic stat at the top of the app when it starts up? what if someone just spams the test and it just gets loaded with useless, false stats?

i got 12 btw
Click to expand...

Yes it will upload the stats again. there isn't really a way to stop that unless I only allow one upload per device.

I hope people won't spam it.. I do run a maintenance script over the database once a week to pull obvious duplicates out.

You got 12 on the adult test? Thats very low. And according to the case studies that would most certainly rule out any Autistic Traits.
 
I just read the book by John Elder over my holidays. I felt slight connections to many of his symptoms.

Came back to work and took your test and scored a 36 and I'm looking for more info what that really means. For the most part I function as a normal 30-somethings adult but definitely feel out of place in some situations.

I've also volunteered in the past with severely autistic kids before and found it a very difficult experience.

thanks for the app.
 
vwDavid said:
I just read the book by John Elder over my holidays. I felt a slight connections to many of his symptoms.

Came back to work and took your test and scored a 36 and I'm looking for more info what that really means. For the most part I function as a normal 30-somethings adult but definitely feel out of place in some situations.

I've also volunteered in the past with severely autistic kids before and found it a very difficult experience.

thanks for the app.
Click to expand...

Thanks vwDavid, I think many people will connect with stories out there without ever having thought anything about it. In many cases, adults specifically, won't even take any steps to see where they would see themselves on the spectrum. So good for you.

It was similar connections that had me get a diagnosis and its certainly opened up a whole new world to me.

There are so many websites out there that can give you more information, but if you are really wanting to know more, I can certainly recommend you get a proper diagnosis.

The spectrum is very wide and where you are on the spectrum give a variety of answers to many things.

The process of getting a diagnosis is very simple. The tests, besides this one, are mostly just questions you give your honest answer to. Some are tests like identifying facial expressions. So its certainly nothing invasive at all.

If you like to read up on a totally different point of view with some humor on how Autistic people view Neurotypical people, have a read of this website.
http://isnt.autistics.org/

Thanks again for your feedback. I'm really glad so many people are posting here about AutismTest. I never thought it would be received this well. I know the iPhone/iPod community can be and is very critical on applications and always expected some criticism so its nice to hear positive experiences too.
 
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