Do The BAP.

Since the day it was suggested to us at Harri's assessment that he has Autism my husband and I have been engaged in an ongoing banter about which of the two of us is the more ASD like. At social gatherings he is the laid back, diplomatic type, whereas I tend to be more the ' tell like it is and worry later if I offended someone' kind. My hubby loves a chat on the phone whereas I dread phone calls because I find it hard to tell when it's my turn to speak, preferring to communicate by text. We both have auditory sensory integration issues too. My other half would happily live miles from nowhere on a secluded property and not miss the stimulation or company of others. Yet I would terribly. We are both a mish mash of differing characteristics that could be seen as ASD like traits.  So to settle it a while back we did the online Autism Quotient test as some of you may recall. Both he and I scored high, meaning close to the cut off for NT and moving into ASD.

Neither of us are in any way disabled by our traits and would not meet the full criteria for an ASD diagnosis (I think) though our quirks have got us into minor bother from time to time, especially mine with my forthright and frank communication style. But I think we quickly came to a place where despite our parents on both sides struggling to accept the diagnosis, we could clearly see how the two of us would make a baby like Harri.

Then not long after undertaking the AQ test I was introduced to the concept of the Broad Autism Phenotype or BAP. A quick and simple online test can be taken here. http://www.okcupid.com/tests/the-broad-autism-phenotype-test

Well wasn't that revealing? Essentially what it does is put you into one of eight possible categories with a brief explanation as to what each means. Obviously this is not a formal diagnositic tool so is not to be taken too seriously yet it probably does yield some food for thought and I have to admit the outcome for myself and my dear hubby was very accurate. So me? I have a Rigid Personality, which means I am likely on the BAP. My other half, he scored as about as high as you can go which means certainly BAP and possibly Autistic. So yes he wins hands down. Of course knowing these results means little except to provide a bit more insight into how our personalities shape the way we interact with people and the world around us and most importantly each other within our little family.

Anyway it's there for you all to have a go. Only takes a couple of minutes. I hope you'll share your results.
And if you can find another minute can you pop over to visit http://autismandoughtisms.wordpress.com/  and leave your results there too. Consider it part of a collaborative research project. Thanks.