Editorial policy
This page explains who writes the content on Free Autism Test, what sources we allow ourselves to draw on, how we handle mistakes, and where we stand today on sponsorships and affiliate relationships. We would rather state our limitations plainly here than have a reader discover them by accident elsewhere on the site.
Who Writes This
Free Autism Test is built and written by Jack Squire, the site's founder. Jack is not a clinician, a psychologist, or a medical professional of any kind, and no clinician reviews the content before it is published. Every page that discusses autism, screening instruments, or scoring is written by comparing published research directly against what our own screening tools actually implement in code, and stating both plainly, including where the two differ. See About for more on who runs this site, and our method for the full detail on how every screening is scored.
Sources We Allow
We limit ourselves to a specific, narrower set of sources rather than drawing on anything that turns up in a general search:
- Peer-reviewed journals. The original papers behind each instrument we offer, such as the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders and the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, are our primary sources for how each screening was built and validated.
- NICE guidance. Where UK clinical guidance references a specific instrument, such as the AQ-10 for adult referral, we cite that guidance directly rather than paraphrasing it secondhand.
- CDC and NIMH. For general background on autism as a developmental condition, we draw on public health and research agency material rather than blogs, forums, or unreviewed summaries.
- Our own code. When we describe how a score is calculated on this site, that description is checked directly against the scoring logic that runs in the browser, not written from memory or assumption.
We do not use statistics, percentages, or figures, including accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, prevalence, or cost figures, unless we can trace them to one of the sources above and cite it directly. Where a figure is not available from a source we trust, we describe the pattern qualitatively instead of inventing or approximating a number.
Corrections
If something on this site is factually wrong, whether it is a misstated threshold, an outdated diagnostic term, or a citation that does not say what we claim it says, we want to know. Corrections can be sent through the contact details on our About page. When we correct a factual error, we update the page directly rather than issuing a separate notice, and for pages carrying a "last updated" date, we update that date to reflect the correction. We do not silently rewrite claims that readers have relied on without being willing to say plainly that a correction was made if asked.
Sponsorships
We do not currently accept sponsorships of any kind. No page on this site has been paid for by a clinic, a testing company, a pharmaceutical company, or any other organization with a stake in autism screening or treatment. If that ever changes, this page will be updated first, and any sponsored content will be clearly labeled as such at the top of the page it appears on, not buried in a footer.
Affiliate Disclosure
We do not currently run any affiliate links or earn commission on recommendations made anywhere on this site. This clause exists to reserve the disclosure we would add if that changes: any future affiliate relationship would be disclosed clearly on the page where the link appears, not only on this policy page, and would only ever point to resources we would recommend regardless of compensation.
No Medical Advice
Nothing on this site is medical advice. The screenings we offer are self-report tools based on published research, not diagnostic instruments, and the surrounding content is written to help you understand those tools, not to replace a conversation with a qualified professional. If you are looking for a diagnosis, treatment recommendations, or guidance specific to your situation, a licensed clinician is the right person to ask, not this website.
Questions About This Policy
If you have a question about how a specific page was written, which source a specific claim comes from, or why a particular figure does or does not appear on this site, reach out through the contact details on our About page. We would rather explain our reasoning than leave it ambiguous.