AQ Test, anyone?

[Meph]

Agree: 2,5,12,16,23,41,43,46: 1 point
Disagree: 1,15,17,25,29,30,34,47: 1 point
Score: 16

In the first major trial using the test, the average score in the control group was 16.4.

yay, Im average?

[Boyiee]

13 weeeeeee

[Kaylia]

I'd like to think that anyone who has a child with autism would've taken at least a moment in their lives to look in the mirror though.

I would expect anyone who has a child with autism to be worn out, and probably unpleasant in overall. Maybe that's why he is "disconected" from the rest of them.

It might be different, but it's not uncommon for people who lost their wife/husband, or a kid, to be completely out of it for the rest of their life. Having an unhealthy kid probably cause similar trauma.

[Max™]

i thought we already decided you were the second coming of conan with your far superior intelligence, max?

You did? Well shucks, thanks guys, really though I hate being told I'm smart. hated it when I was 6 too.

I don't want praise, I want understanding, I want to know why you don't seem to work the same way I do, and I want to try to bridge that if I can.


It's not a club where I fit in btw, I've never completely identified with another human being before.

Just an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVNfpm7woB8

Put on headphones, and turn it up loud enough to block everything else out.

In my head, it feels like there are shiny little crystalline shapes dancing around in the first part of the song, right in the back of my skull, behind my jaw.

The synth notes that start up are little slivery bundles of spikes that stab down above my ears and dance around with the changes.

Then new shards swim past with the instrument tracks as the "muh muh muh mah" part enters.

When the bass starts, it's large alternating left and right splashes of big shards of crystal shattering. Left ones starting on the right side of the center of my head, and vice versa. The one with the cymbals accompanying it is especially intense. The big splashes are about as big around as a coffee cup, and the shapes coming from them reach the side of my head.

This all builds and recedes, with the little flourish bits dancing around, and the voice track sitting somewhere up above it all.

When the chorus comes in about at 1:00~, it fills my head with silvery light, and it's so intense I feel like crying.

Pot intensifies it even further, to the point where I can't do anything else but sit and enjoy it. Right now I can type while it's on, though it's difficult.


Does everyone experience this intense semi-synesthetic rush when they listen to music?

Almost all music does this to me to some extent, but certain songs are so intense I just sit and listen to them over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over... I've been going back and restarting the first part of the song to try to accurately describe what it feels like through just the first minute.

I've listened to it all the way through like 6 times now, plus 5 or 6 restarts.



If I told this to an Aspy, they would most likely use slight different metaphors for the specific mental experiences, but they would immediately understand what I meant. Reading their own versions of these types of sensations, and sharing my own with them surprised me.

They understood me completely, and I them.

[Kaylia]

double post

[Kaylia]

Does everyone experience this intense semi-synesthetic rush when they listen to music?

And I doubt you do, or at least, not unless you make an effort to imagine weird shape when you listen to music.


When is the last time you talked about that kind of thing with someone in real life? Something tell me you're deluding yourself into thinking you're an autist, because it's virtually impossible to disprove statement like the one you are making on the net.

Go see a specialist, and tell him the same thing you're telling us if you can.

[scrockstar]

For what little it's worth, I'm in a 5 year grad program in a field related to this topic.

I'd like to point out that Dr. Baron-Cohen is very well known in his field so the assessment posted is not "just some internet test". From what I looked up on psychinfo there is a very high correlation between a high score and a diagnosis several types of autism. However, this assessment should be viewed as a "if you score over 32, it might be in your best interest to see a mental heal professional" and not as a diagnosis.

Also Max: From what you described about the lady gaga song, it might be in your best interest to get check out for both Asperger's and Synesthesia.

You can see a psychologist for about $120-$150 and while I know that money can be tight, think about this: How much money do people spend on their psychical health and appearance? While I know that $120-$150 is a lot of money, the investment in your overall wellbeing is well worth it.

Also chew on this: there have been several recent studies that have shown a surprisingly high correlation between people on internet forums who post a lot and get into "internet fights" with other posters and all types of Autism.

[Cantih]

Also chew on this: there have been several recent studies that have shown a surprisingly high correlation between people on internet forums who post a lot and get into "internet fights" with other posters and all types of Autism.

http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/membe...rt=posts&pp=30

HMMMMMMMMMMM

[Ratatapa]

Agree: 2,4,5,12,16,18,20,21,22,26,33,35,39,43,45,46: 1 point
Disagree: 1,3,8,11,14,15,25,27,28,29,30,32,36,38,44,47,48: 1 point
Score: 33

That good?

[Kaisha]

Agree: 2,4,5,6,7,12,13,16,19,22,23,26,41,43,45,46: 1 point
Disagree: 1,11,15,29,40,50: 1 point
Score: 22

No autist here, although I am an aspie.


Rata, read the top of the article, 32+ typically goes for mild autism.

[Shiroikage]

Quit listening to Lady Gaga.

[Cyn]

Quit listening to Lady Gaga.

Yeah, I think we just found your cure.

[Max™]

lol

I knew that was coming.

I don't care what the music is, just certain songs really get into my head.

Tool: Lateralus, 46&2, H, Eulogy, Schism, Aenima, Parabol, Parabola, I mean... all of it really, but some songs are particularly enjoyable due to the synesthetic effects.
Nin: Metal, Capital G, Only, again all of it to some extent or another, but certain songs stand out as... brighter?
Led Zepplin: No Quarter, Stairway to Heaven (it looks like pistons pumping in a car engine during the "and as we wind on down the road" section, neat!), Battle of Evermore, Pilgrim Song, all to some extent.
Pink Floyd: Pick a song, I suspect they have an intentional effort to produce these sorts of effects while under the effects of various drugs, but I see it normally. Money made me cry the first time I heard it.
Tori Amos: RASPBERRY SWIRL, whoosh-Whoosh-WHOOSH-WHOOSH, DOOM-DOOM-DOOM... fuck, yes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V9pfaCqChY

God that song is fun.

Etc, etc, all sorts of stuff, just listing some of my favorites.



It's sound + sensation + impression of shapes, I know the shapes correspond to the notes, as I can apparently drum intuitively by hitting the ones I see in my head, but I can't distinguish between finer types of notes so well. The higher the pitch, the sharper the shape, and the less percussive instruments tend to fizz, or pop, or stab and dart around. The percussion instruments leave an afterimage cause they kinda break apart after they show up.

It's quite enjoyable, and I'd never imagine taking medication to hinder it, as I said, I specifically enjoyed pot so much because it makes the shapes sharper, larger, brighter.

I'm not making an effort to imagine anything, Kaylia, it's just what music in headphones has always done to me.


Part of why I haven't gone to get an official diagnosis yet, is because I only learned what Asperger's actually was... this summer maybe?

My mother, girlfriend, girlfriends parents, old friends I've known for years in real life, all have pointed out things I don't even notice to mention which are fairly significant tells.


Last night Courtney pointed at the chair I game/read/study in, "That right there, get a picture of that."

I guess arranging folded towels, old flat pillows, and old shirts under the cushion to conform it to my legs properly, setting up more towels behind a large round chair seat cushion for my back support, and t-shirts on the arms of the chair because the fabric irritates me when I rub my elbows on it... that is a little odd... apparently.

[Demosthenes11]

visual images is what enables us to understand and contextualize reality
it's not at all unique to you lol

go read some cog sci

[Max™]

You see the shapes produced by music, feel their weight, depth, their structure, every time you listen to music with good surround sound, or through headphones?

I'm extremely literal, if I didn't say that I just meant visual imagery, particularly willfull types, why would you think that is what I meant?

[Antithesis]

24 for me.

[Blabj]

So what are you going to do with your new found disability? Claim allowance and leech off the system?

I got 19, I think that it's because I'm naturally quite introverted. Pointless test is pointless.

[Max™]

Incidentally, the scores are as interesting as I suspected they would be.

That's really all they are, interesting information, a peek into your head.


Not a matter of going "whew, I don't have autism". It's a pretty odd case to avoid being diagnosed, had I not been such a smartass in school, it may have been noticed there. I was my moms first kid, and only boy, we both knew I was kinda odd, but either it didn't strike her to have me checked, or maybe her own MS scared her about what she might find if I was checked out.

Dunno, either way, just kinda wandered around like a cat all my life, feels natural to me... I honestly felt like there was something in the water making everyone else act crazy til I talked with a diagnosed Aspy.


Didn't even occur to me to claim it as a disability/seek an allowance, though I wonder if I could use it for a pity scholarship or something... hmmm... thanks for the idea!

[Darus Grey]

Just that you're wrong, I'm right, and that having autism doesn't enable greater propagation of one's DNA via offspring. I don't know why you would speculate that having a disorder that very specifically disables social skills would help you have children at a rate higher than people without this disorder.

I think that's all you missed.

There you go again, flapping your gums about shit you don't have a clue about.

Did I say it was a selected trait? No, I didn't. You however did say it wasn't...an assertion.

I'll change my mind, it IS a selected trait. Since you don't have to prove it, neither do I, I simply declare myself correct like you do. Awesome, I like how this works, why didn't I think of it before?

That makes YOU wrong...I win! Seriously you have an attitude that deserves to be made fun of.

I know you don't have a damn clue about whether you are right or wrong, well I agree it seems plausible to think that way, you are actually the one who doesn't understand.
Autism correlates to average intelligence, intelligence to education, and education to money, and bitches love money...it's the great equalizer in procreation.

Am I asserting that is how it is exactly? No, cause I'm not a dumbfuck like you and am fully willing to believe I'm wrong.

Cause selection and genetics is fucked up anyways, you'd think that HOMOSEXUALITY wasn't a selected trait, but plenty of people have a convincing argument otherwise...

tl;dr get out of your ivory tower.

[Eaglestrike]

36