RAADS-R and AQ score meaning: what your results indicate
Updated September 2026. No clinician has reviewed this page.
You have completed one of our free autism screenings. This guide explains how to interpret your scores and what they mean in the context of clinical autism criteria.
Reminder: these screenings are not a diagnosis. They identify traits that align with the autism spectrum. A formal diagnosis requires a comprehensive clinical evaluation.
Understanding your scores by test
Each screening uses a different validated scoring methodology. Find the test you took below for a detailed explanation.
AQ-10 (10 questions)
Each question is scored 0 or 1 based on whether your response aligns with the autistic trait direction. Your total score ranges from 0 to 10.
AQ-10 score range, 0 to 10, our threshold at 6. Allison, Auyeung & Baron-Cohen (2012)
| Band | Range |
|---|---|
| Below threshold | 0 to 6 |
| Meets threshold | 6 to 10 |
| Meets threshold | 6 |
A score of 6 or above means your answers meet the same referral threshold recommended in the AQ-10's original 2012 paper by Allison, Auyeung, and Baron-Cohen, and adopted into NICE guidance for adult autism referral in the UK. The next step at that point is usually not a diagnosis, it is a decision about whether to go deeper: taking the longer AQ-50 or RAADS-R, or booking an appointment with a professional who can walk you through what a formal evaluation would involve. A score below 6 means your answers did not reach that threshold on this occasion. That does not rule autism out, particularly if you have spent years masking your traits; if the descriptions on our AQ-10 page still resonate despite a low score, the honest next step is the same longer screening, not abandoning the question.
AQ-50 (50 questions)
Same 0/1 scoring per question, giving a total between 0 and 50. Evaluates five domains: Social Skills, Attention Switching, Attention to Detail, Communication, and Imagination.
AQ-50 score range, 0 to 50, with our threshold at 26 and the original study's threshold at 32. Baron-Cohen et al. (2001)
| Band | Range |
|---|---|
| Below threshold | 0 to 26 |
| Above our threshold | 26 to 32 |
| Above the 2001 study's threshold | 32 to 50 |
| Our threshold | 26 |
| 2001 study threshold | 32 |
These two numbers, 26 and 32, are worth explaining plainly because they come from different places. The original 2001 AQ-50 paper by Baron-Cohen and colleagues used a score of 32 or above as its single threshold for clinically significant traits. Our tool sets its own earlier flag at 26 or above, a lower bar than the published research uses, so that people whose scores fall in that middle range are told their results are worth a closer look rather than being sorted into a strict pass or fail against the original study's number. If you want to compare your result directly against the published research, 32 is the figure to use; if you want to know when our tool starts flagging a result as worth attention, that is 26. A score of 32 or above means both our threshold and the original study's threshold agree, and the next step is the same as for the AQ-10: consider the domain breakdown you received, the longer RAADS-R, or a conversation with a professional. A score below 26 means neither threshold was met on this occasion.
RAADS-R (80 questions)
Uses a lifetime pattern scale: "True now and when I was young" (3 points), "True only now" (2), "True only when younger than 16" (1), "Never true" (0). Some items are reverse-scored. Evaluates four domains: Social Relatedness, Sensory/Motor, Circumscribed Interests, and Language.
RAADS-R score range, 0 to 240, threshold at 65. Ritvo et al. (2011)
| Band | Range |
|---|---|
| Below threshold | 0 to 65 |
| Meets threshold | 65 to 130 |
| Well above threshold | 130 to 240 |
| Meets threshold | 65 |
What a high score in each RAADS-R domain suggests
Social relatedness
A high score here suggests that reading and navigating relationships, including body language, unwritten social rules, and group dynamics, takes conscious effort rather than coming automatically. This is the largest RAADS-R domain, and a high score often accompanies exhaustion after social situations that others seem to find restful.
Sensory/Motor
A high score here suggests sensory input, sound, light, texture, or smell, is experienced more intensely than it appears to be for people around you, along with possible differences in coordination or repetitive movement.
Circumscribed interests
A high score here suggests intense, narrowly focused interests that can dominate your attention, along with a strong need for things to be organized, predictable, or done in a particular order, and real distress when that order is disrupted.
Language
A high score here suggests pragmatic language, the social use of language rather than its grammar or vocabulary, feels effortful. That can include taking idioms and sarcasm literally, or missing the underlying point of a story despite understanding every individual word.
A total of 65 or above matches the threshold used in the original 2011 RAADS-R paper by Ritvo and colleagues, so our implementation and the published research agree on this instrument. We additionally describe scores of 130 or above with stronger language in your results, but that second line is our own way of flagging a score well above threshold; it is not a distinction the original paper itself draws. At 65 or above, the next step is usually the same regardless of which side of 130 you land on: read through which of the four domains stood out most for you, revisit masking if it resonates with your experience, and consider a conversation with a professional if you want a formal evaluation. Below 65, your answers did not describe a lifetime pattern strong enough to meet the threshold on this occasion, which is worth weighing against how confident you felt answering the "true when I was young" items in particular, since those rely on memory that is not always easy to access clearly.
AQ score meaning
AQ-10: a score of 6 or above meets our threshold, matching the referral threshold used in the AQ-10's original 2012 paper. It means your answers land in the range the study associated with autistic traits, worth taking further, not a verdict on their own. A score below 6 means your answers did not reach that range on this occasion, which does not rule autism out, particularly for people who mask well.
AQ-50: a score of 26 or above meets our own, earlier-set threshold, and a score of 32 or above additionally meets the original 2001 study's threshold. Either result means your answers describe a level of traits worth exploring further. A score below 26 did not reach either threshold on this occasion, which is worth weighing against how confident you felt answering, and against whether any single domain score stood out even while your overall total stayed low.
M-CHAT-R (20 questions, parent-report)
A screening for toddlers aged 16 to 30 months. Each yes/no question is scored based on whether the response indicates developmental risk.
M-CHAT-R/F score range, 0 to 20, follow-up categories as implemented. Robins et al. (2014)
| Band | Range |
|---|---|
| Low risk | 0 to 3 |
| Medium risk | 3 to 8 |
| High risk | 8 to 20 |
| Follow-up recommended | 3 |
| Refer for evaluation | 8 |
This tool is meant for parents and caregivers of toddlers between 16 and 30 months, not for adults reflecting on their own childhood. A Low Risk result (0-2) means continuing the routine developmental monitoring most pediatricians already build into checkups, with a rescreen if the child was screened early. A Medium Risk result (3-7) calls for a follow-up interview and possible referral, not immediate alarm; some children in this range are found not to need further support once the follow-up questions are asked. A High Risk result (8-20) calls for referral for a full diagnostic evaluation as soon as it can be arranged, since earlier intervention tends to have more time to make a difference the earlier it starts. Whatever the score, a pediatrician or developmental specialist, not this page, is the right next contact for a child's results.
What your score does and does not tell you
Scoring above a clinical threshold means your self-reported traits are consistent with the patterns typically seen in autistic individuals. It does not mean you are autistic; only a comprehensive clinical evaluation can determine that. None of the four screenings on this site were built to function as a diagnosis, and none of the bands described above should be read as one, no matter how far above threshold a total score lands.
Conversely, scoring below a threshold does not rule out autism, particularly for people who are highly skilled at masking their traits. A below-threshold result describes how you answered a specific set of questions on a specific day, not a permanent verdict. Mood, context, how literally you interpreted a given item, and how much insight you currently have into your own patterns can all shift a score without your underlying experience having changed at all.
It is also worth saying plainly that our team is not a clinical review board. Jack Squire built this site and is not a clinician, and no clinician has reviewed the scoring, the wording, or the results pages on this site. Every threshold described above is either taken directly from the cited published research or clearly marked as our own addition, and you can see the full breakdown of both on our method page.
What a low score does and does not mean
A low score, on any of the four screenings on this site, means your answers to that specific set of questions, on that specific day, did not land in the range the underlying research associated with autistic traits. It does not mean you imagined your experiences, and it does not settle the question if the descriptions elsewhere on this site still feel familiar. Self-report tools depend on being able to observe and describe your own patterns accurately, which is exactly what years of masking can make harder, so a low score in that situation is a known limitation of the format, not proof the pattern isn't there. What a low score reliably does mean is that a longer instrument, or a conversation with a professional who can look past a single number, is the more informative next step if the question still matters to you.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good RAADS-R score?
There is no 'good' score in the sense of passing or failing. A lower total simply means fewer of your answers matched the lifetime pattern the RAADS-R screens for on this occasion. Our tool marks 65 or above as meeting the threshold used in the original 2011 paper, and describes 130 or above with stronger language as our own way of flagging a result well above that threshold.
Is a high score a diagnosis?
No. Even a very high score on any screening on this site is a signal that a fuller evaluation may be worth pursuing, not a diagnosis in itself. A diagnosis requires a comprehensive clinical assessment, typically including a developmental history, structured interview, and standardized observation, conducted by a qualified professional.
Does a low score rule out autism?
No. A below-threshold result describes how you answered a specific set of questions on a specific day. It does not rule autism out, particularly for people who mask their traits well, who may answer in a way that reflects how they present to others rather than their internal experience.
Why are there different RAADS-R cutoffs discussed online?
Different sources sometimes discuss the RAADS-R's cutoff differently because screening thresholds are studied across different populations and can be revisited as more research accumulates. We use 65 or above, the threshold set in the original 2011 validation study, and we do not adopt alternate cutoffs we have not directly verified against a published, citable source.
What does the AQ-50's 26 vs 32 distinction mean?
The original 2001 study set 32 or above as its threshold for clinically significant traits. Our tool additionally flags 26 or above as its own earlier band, so that people in the middle range are told their results are worth a closer look rather than being sorted into a strict pass or fail against the published number.
Can I trust an online score at all?
You can trust it as a description of how you answered a specific set of questions, using the same scoring formulas published in the original research. What it cannot do is replace a clinician's judgment, which weighs developmental history, direct observation, and context that no self-report questionnaire can capture on its own.
Should I retake a screening if my score surprised me?
Yes, if you want to. Self-report scores can shift with mood, context, and how much insight you have into your own patterns on a given day. Retaking a screening after reading more about a domain that felt uncertain is a reasonable way to sanity-check a surprising result, though it will not resolve genuine uncertainty the way a fuller evaluation can.
What should I do after reading my results?
Whatever your scores, treat them as a starting point. If you want to go deeper, read the domain explanations on this page again against your own experience, try a longer instrument if you only took a short one, or bring your scores into a conversation with a professional if you want a formal evaluation.
References
- Allison, C., Auyeung, B., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2012). "Toward brief 'Red Flags' for autism screening." Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 51(2), 202-212. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2011.11.003
- Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Skinner, R., Martin, J., & Clubley, E. (2001). "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: 10.1023/A:1005653411471
- Ritvo, R.A., et al. (2011). "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: 10.1007/s10803-010-1133-5
- Robins, D.L., Casagrande, K., Barton, M., Chen, C.A., Dumont-Mathieu, T., & Fein, D. (2014). "Validation of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, Revised with Follow-up (M-CHAT-R/F)." Pediatrics, 133(1), 37-45. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2013-1813
Next steps
- Reflection: Consider how long these traits have been present. Autism is neurodevelopmental, meaning these patterns usually exist from childhood, even if they were masked.
- Try another screening: If you took the AQ-10, consider the more comprehensive AQ-50 or the RAADS-R (specifically designed for adults).
- Research: Explore topics like masking and sensory processing to see if they resonate with your lived experience.
- Professional evaluation: If you seek formal accommodations or medical support, use these results as a starting point for a conversation with a psychologist or psychiatrist specializing in adult or child autism.
- Read our method: If you want to see exactly how every threshold on this page was chosen, including where our numbers match the published research and where we added our own bands, see our method page in full.