Do IQ Tests Wrongly Label Some with Autism as Intellectually Disabled?

Agreed here.
To me, those IQ tests are merely simple, ordinary tests. They are very much as fallible as a typical classroom test. Only I feel the IQ test is geared toward certain ways of learning, and doesn't encompass ALL ways in which others learn. That is just simply asking for criticism, and failure on their part.

I've met some adults that have some major issues with communication, as well.

As far as communicating in an NA fashion we all have problems. Some just more servere

Perhaps AutSpks could spend some of their funds and develop a proper IQ test for all ND`s

I found this while I was perusing the Education Week site, the link is: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/speced/2012/04/do_iq_tests_incorrectly_label.html

By Nirvi Shah on April 13, 2012 2:30 PM

If a child has autism and doesn't respond to verbal cues, how can an IQ test in which they are asked questions be a real measure of their intelligence?

At the Council for Exceptional Children's annual convention, a pair of researchers from universities in Florida today shared those and other concerns about using some types of IQ tests with children with autism, tests that may wrongly find these children have intellectual disabilities.

"Are we saying there aren't a lot of kids that have autism that don't have [intellectual disabilities]?" said Douglas Carothers, of Florida Gulf Coast University. "We're saying there's no good way to tell."

He noted that many children with autism don't respond to verbal stimuli and may speak little themselves, but some psychologists expect them to respond to questions on an IQ test out loud. If asked to create a sequence from a series of pictures in order to test their social skills, "they may be more interested in the pieces than the whole," Carothers continued.

In fact, the examiner's manual of one IQ test, the WISC-IV, cautions that "it is important not to attribute low performance on a cognitive test to low intellectual ability when, in fact, it may be attributable to physical, language, or sensory difficulties."

Fellow researcher Ronald Taylor, of Florida Atlantic University, said that by some measures, 70 percent of children with autism have also been labeled as intellectually disabled.

"We're wondering, first of all, why does the IQ have to be tested," Taylor said. If schools already know a child has autism, they can determine what supports and resources they need in the classroom based on that assessment.

IQ tests given to children with autism who don't know the person testing them can also pose a challenge.

"Think about the characteristics of the child," Carothers said. "It's really important that the child be really comfortable with the examiner. That's a real tough one to get around."

Some school psychologists in the room said they often note on evaluations of children that test results may underestimate IQ. But they said they are also under pressure from schools to assess students in certain ways: The results may play a large role in deciding what kinds of state tests the student takes, tests that end up being used as measures of schools and teachers.

Carothers and Taylor, who have a forthcoming paper on this issue, said the additional label of a student with autism as intellectually disabled can be stigmatizing, and there are other measures that can work much better, such as a portfolio of their work that demonstrates students' capabilities.

"Do what you have to do to satisfy your districts," Carothers said, "and then do with the kids what serves them best."

d_olson27 Wrote:

I've met some adults that have some major issues with communication, as well.

As far as communicating in an NA fashion we all have problems. Some just more servere

Perhaps AutSpks could spend some of their funds and develop a proper IQ test for all ND`s

You are the first person I've ever seen use NA.  I like it.

I think Michelle Dawson's research, on individuals with Aspergers and Autism showed the value, in testing individuals with autism disorder, that had scored low on the Weschler standard IQ tests, that include verbal, performance, and Full scale Intelligent quotients; with Raven Matrices indices measure of intelligence to test for fluid intelligence to over come the communication barrier..

However, as has been reported here in this thread, the standard test provides information on individuals, as far as their level of verbal IQ as opposed to performance IQ.

It's important to determine potential disparities in verbal IQ and performance, in school age children, to find their strengths and weaknesses; when verbal IQ and performance IQ both are low, it's worthwhile testing with raven matrices to get past the communication barrier, per Dawson's research

If I remember correctly so far at least 2 have reported disparaities in this measure, here in this thread that favor performance IQ over verbal IQ.  That's interesting as it is more indicative of Autism Disorder as opposed to Asperger's in Dawson's research.

Symptoms of Non-verbal learning disorder, are often concurrent with Aspergers Syndrome.  A disparity of a high verbal IQ as opposed to a low performance IQ, can be a clue for non-verbal learning disorder, that may lead to uncover other issues associated with non-verbal learning disorder, including lesions on the right hemisphere of the brain, through an MRI.

Because of these issues, I'm sure that standard Weschler tests of intelligence will continue to be used, with the potential addition of non-verbal measures like the Raven matrices measure of intelligence to overcome the communication barrier, when a barrier is determined to exist.