Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that affects communication and behavior.

People with ASD have:

• Difficulty with communication and interaction with other people
• Restricted interests and repetitive behaviors
• Symptoms that hurt the person’s ability to function properly in school, work, and other areas of life

The adult AQ (Autism Quotient) was developed because of a lack of a quick and quantitative self-report instrument for assessing how many autistic traits any adult has. The AQ has been found to be strongly predictive of who receives a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder.