How can I deal with being misdiagnosed by my psychologist?

[Gymnastxo96]

Back in August of 2025 I did phycological testing at a phycologist that I go to and they said my full IQ was 76 which I don’t understand because I type just fine and have good grammar and could type full sentences. Many people say you sure your IQ is 76 because I type just fine and have good grammer and can communicate well. And my adaptive behavior score was 57 which is pretty low. Why would they misinterpret that too? Why would they misinterpret the results and think I don’t understand medical decisions and they recommend medical guardianship. Why would they misinterpret my results? Now people think I am mentally challenged because of this. Are they wrong for misinterpreting the results to make me worse then I seem? Keep in mind I do have high functioning autism so do you think my autism played a role in how I did in the IQ test or you think I was completely misdiagnosed and it could be something else?

Thats true if its done by a professional plus not everyone knows they have processing difficulties. It took me to have a child who was diagnosed with autism and adhd to realise my I had processing delays. I just assumed it was normal to need extra time to understand what someone was saying but often others had answered questions before I even processed the question. I genuinely dont rates these tests because our IQs are only a slight indicator of the overall picture.

My son has autism and had IQ tests as part of a full psychology analysis to help us work out why he wasn't thriving in school.

One of the first things the Education Psychologist said was that the idea of a single number for IQ is totally discredited by professionals these days so tbh either the person who analysed you is not a professional to be trusted, or you haven't fully understood what you were told.

The analysis we had included 5 different measures of different kinds of intelligence:

Verbal Comprehension Intelligence (VCI)
Visual Spatial Intelligence (VSI)

Fluid Reasoning Intelligence (FRI)
Working Memory Intelligence (WMI)
Processing Speed Intelligence (PSI)

You don't get an absolute "score" like 75 or 120 - you get a "centile" number ie 50th centile would mean that among the general population you are exactly in the middle with 50% of people scoring higher than you and 50% scoring lower than you. 90th centile would mean that 10% of people score higher than you and 90% score lower than you

It is quite usual for people with neurodiversity issues to have big differences of where they sit on these 5 scales. My son is 99.9th centile for some scores and lower than 50th centile for others. He is exceptionally bright in some ways and needs a lot of support in others - this is the nub of understanding neurodiversity.

I am concerned that the person you saw gave you an old-fashioned IQ score and agree that you should seek a second opinion. We had to pay £2000 for the full analysis our son needed and we were able to check out the professional credentials and reputation of the psychologist in advance - was the person who you saw fully professionally qualified?

@NameChangeForSENrelated am wondering whether OP may actually need an independent person to sit down with her and explain the current report. It may be that it says 75th percentile rather than IQ=75? But also, there is usually so much data in the assessment reports it is hard for even a bright NT person to unravel it all.

She wont have had 'one score', she is telling us about 'one score'

I dont know, and havent known in the last 25 years of seeing countless IQ reports, of any assessor who doesnt have the various measures on it and breaks each measure down and describes the interplay between them to explain the persons capacities and abilities and areas needing support

Yeah but I am an adult who can consent to sex. Why are you calling them a creep when I am literally an adult? This mean I will be single for life since you think any guy I date will be a creep? I want to find a boyfriend.

But you said you already have a boyfriend.
This is why you appear to be vulnerable.

You're not making sense.

It sounds like you're keen to have a baby now, and your mom is anxious about this.

Your mom is the one who will end up looking after your baby if you have one.

You're not ready to have one yourself.

You need to live on your own, find a boyfriend before considering pregnancy. Why would you remove iud?

Yeah but I am able to consent to sex. I like being with typical men and I haven’t had any complaints that they were taking advantage of me. I don’t want to find a guy that’s the same as me to be happy. I am an adult who can make my own choices and some people are worse then me and some people on here think that I’m not that bad and they have seen worse. What are your thoughts on this?

You are right! I am an adult who can make decisions and my IQ has nothing to do with my writing style. And I am not getting any money from the government and I want to find a nice decent guy. Some people think of if I were to be with a typical guy they are “creeps”. Are they wrong for saying that?

I looked at this website and it seems like the guys there are worse than me. I wouldn’t want to be with a guy like that. Why do I have to be with a guy as the same mental age as me? It’s not mandatory?

You're the one saying that you act younger and that the guy you were seeing couldn't accept that, so I'm not inventing the issue here - there are people who are adults on paper who have a significantly younger developmental age. A previous poster has mentioned the kinds of relationships that can be appropriate in that situation, but a mature guy who wants to date a young teen in an adult's body isn't likely to make a good boyfriend, or a safe person to have a child with.

I don't know you so it's impossible to say if that's your situation or whether you're actually a fully functioning adult whose been unfairly mis-diagnosed and disempowered by her mother with something to gain that we're not aware of. On the face of it, it seems like she and this guy and the doctor didn't deem you to be a mature adult with full capacity to be responsible for themselves. If you feel otherwise, then go the legal route and present your case for your independence.

Where are you getting your money to live on from? Do you work? Do you get it from your mother? That's a really huge difference.

I understand you can consent to sex. I think what people are trying to say is that not every man has good intentions. There are many out there who will use you and play the part while it suits them, leaving you very hurt at the end of it. As the mother of a SEN young woman who has limited ability to read this kind of behaviour, I can honestly say it scares the crap out of me. Now, if my DD found someone honest and kind and genuine who would not take advantage of her vulnerabilities, I'll welcome him with open arms and be very happy for her.

What do you want people to say? We can only go by what you say and how you say it.

If you were being taken advantage of, you yourself wouldn’t be aware of it. I agree with PP that there is something creepy about a man who wants a girlfriend who acts half her real age.

You aren’t demonstrating that your results were wrong and you need to shelve the idea of partners and babies, certainly for the time being. If you did have a baby and it was taken away as you couldnt look after it, how would you feel?

PS. Don't get too hung up on the IQ thing. What are your capacities to do things like support yourself (and a child) without relying on a man to do this for you? Can you independently run a household? Seek help when needed? Use transportation independently? Advocate for your child if they need medical help or support with school issues? Those are the things that matter most.

I was asking if your mother was getting money from the government on behalf of you
i.e. A carers allowance that would disappear if you moved out

This reaction shows that you have a problem, of course you should have told them. Are you upset because you thought you were cleverer than you actually are? Most people with autism score quite high.

The fact that you don’t understand why it is s problem kind of demonstrates why it is a problem.

She's in America. Do they even have that? In any case, they usually aren't worth much and don't cover the costs of actual caring. Go a little way to covering some lost income.

I don't get a cent to care for my DD. Instead I'm always paying out from the household income.

Because of your medical diagnosis and way of communicating. And your refusal to answer questions about your employment status and how you will house, feed and look after a baby.

I understand you don't want your mum making decisions for you, but if at this stage you're not capable of adequately caring for yourself then you shouldn't be thinking of having a child yet.

You posted asking for advice and we have only had your posts to go on. The majority of the posters on here have said that you are clearly vulnerable, emotionally much younger than you are and not necessarily able to look after a baby but you deny it.

Im not sure what you want from this thread as you don’t seem to have an answer for questions about whether you could live independently - ifs clear that your mother doesn’t think so and that experts have assessed you and decided similar.

If you accept this and any support, your life may well improve

America is behind us in somethings.
Maybe this is one of those things

Have you looked up this psychologist and looked up reviews of them or the clinics reviews. Do they have reviews saying they score low

Hi op,

I have to say reading your posts and replies to this thread, I suspect that the iq testing is probably broadly accurate. You don't seem to comprehend what people are saying to you and this shows when you ask questions which are obvious to others via interpretation and comprehension. I'm sure you're a lovely person who has lots of positives but I suspect you don't full comprehend the situation you are in. The fact you live with your parent who is applying for special guardianship of you means that those who love you and professionals around you all agree that while you have many independent areas of your life, you can't operate or make decisions alone. I say this with kindness.

And my adaptive behavior score was 57 which is pretty low. Why would they misinterpret that too?

An Adaptive Behavior Scale score cannot be “misinterpreted.” The test is based on answers about how you live your life; it’s not timed, and there’s no “leeway” for it to be scored in different ways, ie one tester thinks not being able to feed yourself three times a day is -5 while another thinks it’s -2. No. It will always be -5. Your score, 56, is pretty low, considering that “low” is 70 and below.

The best answer here is to talk to your mother. See why she doesn’t want you to take your IID out. You agree you’re not ready to be a parent, and that seems to be why she doesn’t want you to take it out, so you don’t disagree.

As for why it’s creepy if a man dates someone with a much younger mental age… my 10-year-old niece understands that if she ever sees one of her friends or classmates interacting in an “adult” way with an adult man, she needs to go get a teacher or a parent immediately. Your mental age sounds about 10-13 to me, so… do you think it’s okay for a 13-year-old girl to date a 30-year-old man? If your mental age is 13, even if your body is 30, then it’s not good to be dating a man who is 30 and has a mental age of 30. And almost all the healthy men I know who are 30 would not want to date someone who is intellectually 10-13 years old. They would feel very wrong.

If you think the IQ test is wrong why don’t you take some online tests and see what the outcome is

I'm in the UK and not aware of how things work over in the US but i have a mid-teen daughter and if she was writing like this and "if it happens it happens" while not having a serious long term relationship and still living under my roof i would do all i can to stop that IUD being taken out too.

Like it or not you are vulnerable OP, to men that could easily manipulate you simply because of your immaturity- which is NOT a criticism of you at all, its an understand of your mums point of view.

I believe there is someone out there for everyone and once you find that someone, who loves you, and you love, and helps you be the best that you can be, and makes you feel safe and you know you can rely on when life gets really tough, which it does to all of us, and you are living with him independently of your Mum, well then think about removing the IUD.

Keep working hard, find ways to meet people in safe environments, and it will happen.