Are you on the autism spectrum?
The Adult Autism Test implements the validated 14-item RAADS-14 Screen — published by Eriksson, Andersen & Bejerot in Molecular Autism (2013) under Creative Commons Attribution. Three subscales, four severity bands, and an honest archetype profile — in about three minutes.
Answer honestly.
Each item updates your score in real time. Nothing is submitted, stored, or sent — the calculation runs entirely in your browser. Your answers stay between you and your device.
It is difficult for me to understand how other people are feeling when we are talking.
It is difficult to figure out what other people expect of me.
When talking to someone, I have a hard time telling when it is my turn to talk or to listen.
It can be very hard to read someone’s face, hand, and body movements when we are talking.
I focus on details rather than the overall idea.
I take things too literally, so I often miss what people are trying to say.
I get extremely upset when the way I like to do things is suddenly changed.
It is very difficult for me to work and function in groups.
I often don’t know how to act in social situations.
I can chat and make small talk with people.
How to make friends and socialize is a mystery to me.
Some ordinary textures that do not bother others feel very offensive when they touch my skin.
When I feel overwhelmed by my senses, I have to isolate myself to shut them down.
Sometimes I have to cover my ears to block out painful noises (like vacuum cleaners or people talking too much or too loudly).
Your RAADS-14 profile.
This is the shape of your responses across three sub-dimensional factors from the validated 14-item RAADS-14 Screen. The result is a screening signal — not a diagnosis.
Minimal
Your responses suggest few autism-spectrum traits, with a total well below the published cutoff of 14. The published mean for non-psychiatric controls in Eriksson et al. (2013) was approximately 4.
The Profile
Your archetype description will appear here.
Where your signal sits.
What else often travels with autism.
Per Lai et al. (2019, Lancet Psychiatry) systematic review of psychiatric comorbidity in autism: a single screen rarely captures the full picture. These four conditions overlap most.
Social anxiety, generalized anxiety, and OCD are the most common co-occurring anxiety conditions in adults with autism. RAADS-14 items 5 and 6 in particular don't reliably distinguish autism from social anxiety disorder.
Take Anxiety Test →Co-occurring autism and ADHD ("AuDHD") is increasingly recognized in adult diagnosis. The RAADS-14 has lower specificity (46%) against ADHD than against other psychiatric conditions, reflecting genuine symptom overlap.
Take ADHD Test →Lifetime depression prevalence in adult autism is roughly twice the general population rate, particularly elevated in late-diagnosed adults navigating identity reframing alongside long-standing minority stress.
Take Depression Test →Sleep problems — insomnia, delayed sleep phase, fragmented sleep — affect a majority of autistic adults. Sleep architecture and sensory hyper-reactivity are bidirectionally related; treating one often improves the other.
Sleep Optimizer →The science behind the Adult Autism Test.
This tool implements the RAADS-14 Screen, published by Eriksson, Andersen & Bejerot in Molecular Autism (2013) under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0. The 14-item instrument was derived from the 80-item RAADS-R (Ritvo et al., 2011) and validated in a Swedish adult psychiatric outpatient sample with high internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.92) and an AUC of 0.91 against other psychiatric disorders.
The full methodology — including item lineage, scoring details, severity-band derivation, archetype thresholds, validation evidence, population norms, and limitations — is documented on the tool methodology page.
What is the RAADS-14?
The RAADS-14 is a 14-item self-report screening instrument designed for use in adult psychiatric settings where the full 80-item RAADS-R is impractical. It is not a diagnostic instrument — a positive screen indicates a person who may benefit from comprehensive evaluation, not someone who has autism. Clinical diagnosis requires structured interviews (typically the ADOS-2 and ADI-R), developmental history, and assessment of functional impairment, none of which a self-report screen can capture.
Each item is rated on a 4-point Likert scale measuring whether the trait is currently present, was present in childhood, or never described the respondent. Item 6 is reverse-scored — it is the only item worded in the neurotypical direction. Total scores range from 0 to 42, with a published cutoff of 14 for a positive screen.
“The RAADS-14 had high internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.92), high sensitivity (97%), and supports a three-factor structure: Mentalizing Deficits, Social Anxiety, and Sensory Reactivity.”
Adapted from Eriksson, Andersen & Bejerot, 2013 — Molecular AutismThe three subscales and their items.
Factor analysis in Eriksson 2013 identified three replicable factors. The verbatim items below are reproduced from the published instrument under CC BY 2.0; original numbering is preserved.
Mentalizing deficits cover theory-of-mind processing — understanding what others feel, expect, or mean — and the social-cognitive features of autism that most strongly differentiate it from typical-development populations. Detail-focused processing and rigidity in routines are also captured here.
Social anxiety covers difficulty initiating, sustaining, and navigating social interaction — the most clinically visible feature of adult autism in casual observation. Eriksson 2013 noted items 5 and 6 do not reliably distinguish autism from social anxiety disorder, contributing to the instrument's lower specificity in psychiatric populations.
Sensory reactivity captures atypical sensory processing — hyper-reactivity to ordinary textures and sounds, and the sensory overwhelm that drives a need for isolation. This factor is one of the more distinctively autistic dimensions; sensory atypicality is a DSM-5 criterion not shared with most other psychiatric conditions.
How your score is computed.
Step 1 — item scoring: Each of 13 items is scored 0–3 (Never true → True now and when young). Item 6 is reverse-scored: the same response that would yield 0 on another item yields 3 on item 6, and vice versa. This is handled automatically by the tool.
Step 2 — subscale scoring: Sum the items in each subscale to produce three sub-dimensional scores (Mentalizing 0–21, Social Anxiety 0–12, Sensory 0–9). Sub-dimensional scoring was derived from the factor structure reported in Eriksson 2013.
Step 3 — total and band: Sum all 14 item scores for a total of 0–42. The published cutoff of 14 distinguishes screen-positive from screen-negative. Four severity bands (Minimal, Mild, Moderate, Significant) are an author's-choice extrapolation documented on the methodology page; the 14 cutoff is published, the 26 boundary is roughly the ASD validation-sample mean.
Step 4 — archetype assignment: Five archetypes (Neurotypical Range / Mentalizing-Focused / Sensory-Driven / Social-Anxious / Composite) are assigned by a first-match-wins decision tree over your sub-dimensional profile. Full thresholds and rationale are on the methodology page.
Citing the Adult Autism Test in academic or professional work
If you reference this tool in a paper, presentation, or clinical setting, please use one of the standard citation formats below. The tool's methodology is fully transparent and the underlying instrument is peer-reviewed; see the references section for primary literature including the CC BY 2.0 instrument source.
The peer-reviewed evidence base.
Every claim on this page is grounded in peer-reviewed research. The RAADS-14 instrument is reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 with full citation to Eriksson et al. (2013).
Primary instrument
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RAADS-14 Screen: validity of a screening tool for autism spectrum disorder in an adult psychiatric population.Molecular Autism, 4(1), 49. doi.org/10.1186/2040-2392-4-49 · CC BY 2.0
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The Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised (RAADS-R): a scale to assist the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in adults.Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 41(8), 1076–1089. doi.org/10.1007/s10803-010-1133-5
Comorbidity
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Prevalence of co-occurring mental health diagnoses in the autism population: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The Lancet Psychiatry, 6(10), 819–829. doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(19)30289-5
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Suicidal ideation and suicide plans or attempts in adults with Asperger's syndrome attending a specialist diagnostic clinic: a clinical cohort study.The Lancet Psychiatry, 1(2), 142–147. doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(14)70248-2
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Do women with eating disorders who have social and flexibility difficulties really have autism? A case series.Molecular Autism, 6, 6. doi.org/10.1186/2040-2392-6-6
Sex differences and underdiagnosis
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Sex/gender differences and autism: setting the scene for future research.Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 54(1), 11–24. doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2014.10.003
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Development and validation of the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q).Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(3), 819–833. doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3792-6
Alternative instruments
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Toward brief “red flags” for autism screening: the Short Autism Spectrum Quotient and the Short Quantitative Checklist in 1,000 cases and 3,000 controls.Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 51(2), 202–212. doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2011.11.003
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The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ): evidence from Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism, males and females, scientists and mathematicians.Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31(1), 5–17. doi.org/10.1023/A:1005653411471
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Validation of a brief quantitative measure of autistic traits: comparison of the social responsiveness scale with the autism diagnostic interview-revised.Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 33(4), 427–433. doi.org/10.1023/A:1025014929212
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Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2).Western Psychological Services. Diagnostic gold standard reference instrument.
Epidemiology and outcomes
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Prevalence and characteristics of autism spectrum disorder among children aged 8 years — Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 sites, United States, 2020.MMWR Surveillance Summaries, 72(2), 1–14. doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss7202a1
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The health status of adults on the autism spectrum.Autism, 19(7), 814–823. doi.org/10.1177/1362361315577517
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The combined impact of social support and perceived stress on quality of life in adults with autism spectrum disorder and without intellectual disability.Autism, 22(6), 703–711. doi.org/10.1177/1362361317703090
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Evidence-based support for autistic people across the lifespan: maximising potential, minimising barriers, and optimising the person-environment fit.The Lancet Neurology, 19(5), 434–451. doi.org/10.1016/S1474-4422(20)30034-X
About the Adult Autism Test.
Is the RAADS-14 a diagnosis of autism?
No. The RAADS-14 is a screening instrument designed to identify adults who may benefit from a comprehensive autism evaluation. A score at or above 14 indicates a positive screen — it does not establish a diagnosis. Only a qualified clinician using a structured diagnostic process (typically including the ADOS-2, ADI-R, or equivalent) can diagnose autism spectrum disorder.
What does a score of 14 or above mean?
A total score at or above 14 is the published cutoff from Eriksson, Andersen & Bejerot (2013). At this cutoff, the RAADS-14 has 97% sensitivity (very few autistic adults score below it) but variable specificity depending on the comparison group: 46% in adults with ADHD, 64% in adults with other psychiatric conditions, and 95% in non-psychiatric controls. A positive screen means a clinical evaluation is reasonable; it does not mean autism is confirmed.
Why does the RAADS-14 use only 14 items when the full RAADS-R has 80?
Eriksson and colleagues designed the RAADS-14 specifically for use in adult psychiatric outpatient settings where a full 80-item assessment is impractical. The 14 items were selected from the RAADS-R using factor analysis to retain high sensitivity at a much shorter administration time. The trade-off is reduced specificity in some populations (notably adults with ADHD) and inability to distinguish autism from social anxiety in some cases.
What are the three subscales?
Factor analysis in Eriksson 2013 identified three factors. Mentalizing Deficits (7 items, max score 21) covers theory-of-mind and social-cognitive processing. Social Anxiety (4 items, max score 12, with item 6 reverse-scored) covers difficulty with social interaction and small talk. Sensory Reactivity (3 items, max score 9) covers atypical sensory processing including hyper-reactivity to textures, sounds, and overwhelm. Your sub-dimensional profile across these three factors determines your archetype classification.
Is my data saved or sent anywhere?
No. The Adult Autism Test runs entirely in your browser. Your responses are not transmitted to any server, are not stored in cookies or local storage, and are erased the moment you close or refresh the page. There are no accounts, no logins, and no tracking of your individual answers. The only analytics data captured is anonymous, aggregate page-view information via Google Analytics 4 with IP anonymization enabled.
Can the RAADS-14 detect autism in women or gender-diverse adults?
The RAADS-14 was validated on a sample that included both men and women, and Eriksson 2013 reported similar performance across sexes within the validation sample. However, autism is systematically underdiagnosed in women, gender-diverse adults, and racially minoritized populations, in part because of camouflaging — the conscious masking of autistic traits to fit neurotypical expectations. The Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (Hull 2019) is a complementary instrument for adults whose presentation may not be captured by symptom-focused screens. A negative RAADS-14 in a person who suspects autism, especially a woman or gender-diverse person, does not rule out autism.
Why is item 6 different from the other items?
Item 6 — “I can chat and make small talk with people” — is the only reverse-scored item in the RAADS-14. The other 13 items are worded so that endorsement is consistent with autism. Item 6 is worded so that endorsement is consistent with neurotypical social fluency, which is the opposite direction. The tool handles the reversal automatically: choosing “Never true” on item 6 contributes 3 points to the total (the highest possible item score) rather than 0.
What if I screen positive — what should I do next?
A positive screen (score ≥14) is a reasonable basis for discussing autism evaluation with a qualified clinician — typically a psychologist, psychiatrist, or neurodevelopmental specialist with adult ASD experience. Bring your screening result, your reflections on the items, and any developmental history available. The Lai 2019 systematic review found high comorbidity rates between autism and other psychiatric conditions in adults; if a clinical evaluation does not result in an autism diagnosis, the underlying experiences that prompted the screen are still worth understanding through whichever lens fits best.
Tool identifier: LBL-RAADS · v1.0
Last reviewed: May 2026