Am I Autistic? And How Do I Know?
The quiz on this page is not diagnostic in nature and is intended for introspective use only. Language note: We honor both identity-first language (e.g., โautistic personโ) and person-first language (e.g., โperson with autismโ). Please use what fits you.
Greetings #
A quick Google search reveals that โAutistic Test Freeโ is a top hit. Here at Balanced Life Solutions, we love tests; so weโre going to give you a free, one-of-a-kind test to help you reflectively prepare for a meaningful autism evaluation! Itโs time for 20 Questions, yโall! ๐
1 You are the expert on your life: #
Why do you think you may be autistic? ๐ฑ๐ผโ
2 Autism is often genetic: #
Do you suspect or know that a relative is autistic, and if so, who? ๐คจ๐งฉ๐งฌ
3 Autism may heighten social and sensory perceptions simultaneously: #
Which aspects of sociosensorial life feel daunting, and how do you deal? ๐คฏ๐
โฐ E.G., You may notice everything, unable to filter out irrelevant details. ๐
- You may become overtaxed by verbal or communicational demands. ๐๐ซ๐ด
- Your cranial computer may crash due to a surplus of open tabs. ๐ปโน ๐ฆ #BSOD! #HaveYouTriedUnpluggingItAndPluggingItBackInAgain?
4 Autists may coin neologisms for lack of better words or due to dysnomia: #
What are some nonvocabulary words that you have invented to convey your point? ๐ก
โฐ E.G., โKerfluffleโ ๐พโ๏ธ๐พ
What nouns do you frequently struggle to locate when speaking? โ ร20
โฐ E.G., โThe, the-theโฆโ ๐ญ๐โฆ ๐ฟโฆ ๐โฆ ๐ฅฆโฆ ๐คทโฆ ๐ณ โTree!โ
5 Social communication with allistics can be challenging: #
What aspects of socioemotional reciprocity are difficult for you? ๐ค๐๐ค
โฐ E.G., you may struggle to make and keep friends, preferring to be a loner. ๐ข๐๏ธ
- Group conversations may go too fast, or others may ask you too many questions. โณ๐ซ
- You may avoid initiating interactions at all costs. ๐๐
- You might stare blankly, ๐ leaving folks wondering what youโre thinking. ๐ค
6 Autists are often monotropic: #
How do you feel when there are competing demands or interruptions? โ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐
Do you become engrossed in a single task, losing touch with reality? (Hyperfocus) โ๏ธ๐
7 Autists may have hypersensitivities, hyposensitivities, or both: #
Which stimuli are so intense that they break your brain and make you recoil? ๐๐ฑ๐
Which stimuli feel underwhelming, ๐ and which feel entertaining or soothing? ๐งถ๐๏ธ๐ฑ๏ธ
Which stimuli could pound at your door all night without you ever noticing? ๐๐ช๐ซ
- We best be hoping that the latter is not a cat burglarโฆ ๐๐ฆน๐
8 Autists may repeat phrases or versions thereof (echolalia, scripting): #
What phrases or quotes do you say on a regular basis, and how do you say them? ๐๐ฆ๐ฌ
Do these feel satisfying, or even compulsory, to say? ๐ฃ๏ธ๐๐ฅ๐
Do they help you to communicate when you donโt know what to say? ๐๐ฆ๐
- โMeow!โ ๐บ
9 Repetitive behaviors are common for autists: #
What sorts of behaviors do you engage in over and over again? ๐
Can you pinpoint why? (x, y) How does this help or hurt you? ๐โ โฎ
โฐ E.G., You may eat the same food or rewatch an episode for comfort and familiarity. ๐๐บ
- You may gnaw on your bloody cuticles to smoothen them or calm your nerves. ๐ ๐ ฐ๐
- You may shake your leg rapidly when concentrating or rhythmically to mental music. ๐ฃ๐ฆต๐
- You may rock back and forth when feeling happy or to manage fatigue and stress. โ๏ธ
10 Autists often have highly specific and fixed interests: #
What are your favorite things to do or think about? ๐คฉ๐
How much time, money, or energy do you spend on these activities? โฑ๏ธ๐ธ๐
How does this tendency work to your advantage or your detriment? โ๐ฐ โ โ๐ฝ
โฐ E.G., You may curiously research endless questions, thus missing out on sleep. ๐๐งช๐๐ซ
- You may hoard a growing collection of hundreds of Build-A-Bears. ๐งธ๐ผ๐ป
- You may have organized your entire life around your interest, doing it as a vocation. ๐ธ๐ต
11 Autism can impact speech and communication: #
How do you communicate? What strategies do you use to communicate? ๐ฌโ๏ธ๐ฎ
โฐ E.G., You may experience stuttering or selective mutism under social pressure. ๐ค๐๐ถ
- You may be pedantically verbose about your special interests. โฉ ๐ค
- You may speak in a disorganized or tangential manner. โช ๐ตโ๐ซ
- You may often pause for a long time when trying to communicate in a loud room. ๐ข โธ๏ธ ๐ฅถ
- You may use alternative communications such as writing, pictures, or signs. ๐๐๏ธ๐ฑ๐ท๐
12 Autists often experience social anxiety: #
How do you perceive yourself socially?
How have bullying or exclusion impacted you? ๐ข๐ ๐
How does your social anxiety manifest, and in which contexts? ๐ฐ
โฐ E.G., You may fear judgment, embarrassment, rejection, or appearing anxious. ๐ณ
- You may painstakingly rehearse how to interject or interrupt. โ๏ธโ๏ธ๐
- You may guess at hidden rules for social survival and sense-making. ๐โ๏ธ
13 It is common to have multiple conditions when you already have one: #
Do you have other conditions besides suspected or self-diagnosed autism? +
How do these resemble, exacerbate, complement, differ from, or interact with each other? ๐ฅ๐ฅฃ
โฐ E.G., Conditions that commonly concur with autism include, but are not limited to:
- Ehlers Danlos Syndrome; Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome;
- Mast Cell Activation Syndrome; ADHD; OCD; anxiety; depression; complex trauma;
- Epilepsy; intellectual disability; learning disability; giftedness; congenital blindness.
14 Autists often express and experience emotions in different ways: #
Would you describe yourself as a thinker or a feeler? โฏ
Do you overintellectualize your feelings, ๐ or are they overwhelmingly intense? ๐
Do you struggle to explain or understand your feelings? (Alexithymia) ๐ฆ
Do you gather exhaustive data to decide how someone is feeling? (Analytical empathizer) ๐ฉ
Do you absorb othersโ emotions just by entering the room? (Dysregulated empath) ๐งฝ
15 Meltdowns and shutdowns are common reactions to overstimulation: #
Do you have meltdowns or shutdowns? What feelings and situations trigger them? ๐๏ธ๐๏ธ๐ก๏ธ
Do you cry, yell, growl, panic, flail, or outburst? ๐ฅ
Do you go quiet, block out light and noise, rock back and forth, and feel burned out? ๐ง ๐ซ๏ธ
Do you wait until you get home to let it happen, or are you unable to delay the process? ๐ฉ
16 Executive dysfunction often impacts autists: #
How do you handle changes in plans and expectations? ๐ฒ
How do you react to surprise visitors? ๐๐ฆน How long do you take to readjust? ๐โก
Do you struggle to think ahead, ๐ญ or are you constantly preparing for whatโs next? ๐
Are you a neat freak ๐งผ or a hot mess? ๐
Do you know what the date is today? ๐ Are you chronically late or compulsively early? ๐
Do you remember every detail vividly, ๐ง or do you lose and forget many things? ๐ฆ
Do you get distracted or tune others out when they try to show you something? ๐ฟ๏ธ๐
Are you still paying attention? ๐คฃ
17 Autists may experience tone, inflection, and underlying meaning differently: #
Do you communicate animatedly ๐ถ or in a steady tone, ๐ or does it depend? %
Are you concisely factual ๐ or extensively elaborate? ๐
Are you sensitive to criticism and offending others, ๐ญ or are you blunt and direct? ๐
Do you feel like folks expect you to read their minds, or like they can already read yours? ๐ฎ
18 Affect, gestures, and eye contact differ in autists: #
Do you make emphatic or rigid gestures, or none at all? ๐๐๐๐คญ๐ โโ๏ธ
Do you make intense eye contact, or does your soul avoid being stared into? ๐
Do you need to face away from someone when speaking or listening? ๐/๐
Do you make cartoon faces, show strong emotions, or stay neutral? ๐คช๐๐๐
19 Masking and compensation can be sneaky: #
How do you suppress, internalize, or camouflage your neurodivergent traits? ๐ฆ๐
Does social sense-making regularly demand your deliberate cognitive effort? ๐ง ๐๐ฅ
How do you manage in a society that is structured neurotypically? ๐ญ๐๏ธ๐๏ธ
How do you accommodate and honor your unique needs? ๐ ๐ง ๐ป โฟ ๐ง๐ฟโ๐ฆฏ
20 The classic counseling question! ๐ฅ #
So, when did you start feeling this way? ๐ง๐ฝโโ๏ธ๐๏ธ
How would you describe your ways of thinking and feeling differently than others? ๐ต๏ธโ
How do your challenges impact your functioning? โฐ๐ฟ๐ซ๐โ๏ธ๐๐ธ
How would you feel if you found out that youโre autistic? ๐ง ๐โพ๏ธ๐ฎ๐ฅณ
Or, how would you feel if your hunch was close, but something else? ๐ฌ๐ญ๐โจ๐
SCORING: ๐ผ #
If you lost count of everything that resonated with you, โ๏ธ then congratulations! ๐ฏ You sure could use a formal assessment. ๐ Good thing we offer that here at BLS! ๐ ๐ผ