Am I autistic, or am I just bad at social chitchat and a bit obsessive?
Is my husband autistic, or does he just like documentaries about modifying cars?
Surely I can’t be the only one who’s pondered questions like these.

The good news is that there’s an actually an easy, free, instant way to find out. Or at least to give you a good indication that you could need to explore the possibility.

There is a proper, validated questionnaire. It was devised by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, leading autism researcher, and his team at Cambridge University. (Yes, he is the cousin of Ali G, aka Sacha Baron Cohen).

It’s called the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ). AQ, a bit like IQ, but for autistic-type traits. The standard version has 50 questions and gives you a score at the end.

I’ve just taken it myself and discovered that I really am just socially awkward and a little obsessive. Ok, quite obsessive.

👉 Take the test here

That version is known as the AQ-50, but there’s also a shorter screening test, the AQ-10, often used by clinicians.

There are also versions for younger people:

Child AQ (4–11 years) – 50 questions, to be filled out by parents.
A brief 10 question version is also available.

Adolescent AQ (12–15 years) – 50 questions, completed by parents.

Just a short one this week, as I’m putting all my energy into trying to figure out how to film interviews and put them on here.
But I thought this was terrifically useful.
Next time you, or your patients, feel some concern over whether they or someone they know is autistic, this is a really handy starting point.

Thanks for reading, hope this is useful in your practice