Autism Self-Diagnosis Tools

Autistic individuals are turning to self-diagnosis to explain their autism features, sometimes based on better awareness, sometimes based on what they see on social media. But how accurate are these autism diagnostic tools? They range anywhere from tik-tok videos all the way to a tool called the RAADS-R which has been described as a valid diagnostic measure. Unfortunately, as discussed by scientist Alexandra Sturm who looked closely at what this tool measures, it’s probably not a true diagnostic measure. However, diagnosis for adults is hard to obtain, Dr. Sturm provides suggestions on what to do if you are curious about an autism diagnosis and don’t know where to turn.

The RAADS can be found here: https://embrace-autism.com/raads-r/

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09515089.2024.2327823

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38305196/

Can you say strengths and deficits at the same time?

People tend to go towards a “strengths only” or “weaknesses only” approach to describing autism. But even if you think about a single aspect of autistic challenges – social communication – autistics can show both. How can you measure this, and even more importantly, document it to play to someones strengths while addressing their impairments at the same time? Special guests Dr. Matthew Lerner and Jacquelyn Gates from Stony Brook University explain how this can be done by clinicians.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36573397/