Looking for an Asperger’s test as an adult?

Why nobody offers an official Asperger’s test anymore

For about twenty years, "Asperger syndrome" was a separate diagnosis, usually given to people with fluent language and no intellectual disability who had social differences and intense interests. In 2013, the DSM-5 replaced it, along with a few related labels, with one diagnosis: autism spectrum disorder. The World Health Organization’s ICD-11, which lists autism spectrum disorder under code 6A02, took the same single-spectrum approach.

So any tool sold today as an "Asperger’s test" is either an older questionnaire with the word in its name, or an autism screener using a familiar label to be found in search. Neither can give you an Asperger’s diagnosis, because clinicians no longer make one.

What people usually mean when they search for an Asperger test

Most adults typing "Asperger test for adults" are not looking for a historical label. They are trying to name a familiar set of experiences:

• Doing well at school or work on paper, while finding small talk, office politics or dating confusing and tiring.
• Having one or two subjects you could talk about for hours, from train timetables to tax law to a particular video game.
• Being told you are blunt, too literal, or "a lot" when you were just being accurate.
• Needing routines, and feeling thrown when plans change at short notice.
• Finding certain sounds, fabrics or lights much harder to tolerate than other people seem to.

These are traits commonly reported by autistic adults, and they are what a modern autism assessment looks at. The label changed, the experiences did not. If you grew up hearing "Asperger’s" used about someone like you, it makes sense that the word is where your search starts.

A short history of the term

The term was brought into English-language autism research in the 1980s by the British psychiatrist Lorna Wing, who also helped develop the idea of autism as a spectrum. She named it after Hans Asperger, an Austrian pediatrician who had described a group of children in the 1940s.

Why some people still say "I have Asperger’s"

Plenty of adults diagnosed before 2013 still describe themselves this way, and that is their call to make. For some, it was the first word that explained their life. For others, it is shorthand people around them understand. Some have moved to "autistic" because of the history above or because it connects them with a wider community.

• Asperger's syndrome: what it meant and where the term wentWhat Asperger's syndrome meant, the traits it described in adults, why it was folded into autism in 2013, the Hans Asperger history, and who still uses it.
• Asperger's vs Autism: What ChangedAsperger syndrome was folded into autism spectrum disorder in DSM-5 (2013) and ICD-11. The history, Hans Asperger's record, and why some keep the term.

What older "Asperger" questionnaires actually are

Two well known adult questionnaires come from the era when the term was in use. The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), published in 2001, was developed partly with adults diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. The Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised (RAADS-R) carries the word in its name. Both were designed for research or to support clinicians, and both have known limits as stand-alone tools.

Free copies of these circulate widely online, often without the scoring context or the licensing their authors set. We describe them in detail, including what their scores can and cannot tell you, on our explainer pages, and we do not reproduce their items.

• The AQ test (Autism Spectrum Quotient), explainedThe AQ test explained: the 50-item Autism Spectrum Quotient from Baron-Cohen and colleagues at Cambridge, what it measures and its known limits.
• The RAADS-R test, explainedWhat the RAADS-R test is: the 80-item Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised, who made it, how long it takes and where the official version is.

If you were diagnosed with Asperger’s years ago

Your diagnosis still counts. Health services generally treat an earlier Asperger’s diagnosis as an autism diagnosis, and you do not usually need to be assessed again just because the name changed. If a workplace, college or benefits office asks for evidence, your original report plus a short note from your doctor is often enough. Rules differ by country and service, so check the specific requirements.

How to use a modern autism self-assessment instead

The SpectrumFox assessment uses 56 original statements across seven areas: social communication and connection, sensory processing, predictability and routines, focused interests, camouflaging and masking effort, emotional awareness, and energy and recovery. You can skip any statement. Your overall result, free with no email, says whether your answers show many, some or few traits commonly reported by autistic adults.

It is an educational tool and it is not validated against clinical diagnoses. It will not label you, and it does not use the word Asperger’s in any result. If your answers point toward many traits and those traits affect your life, the next step is a conversation with a qualified professional about an autism assessment. The optional paid Spectrum Profile report includes a one-page summary designed for that appointment.