# 'His mother had him tested.' **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 10, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-mother-had-him-tested/563658 "2010-12-10T14:06:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![StrangeBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e480ec/32.png) [@StrangeBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrangeBird)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-mother-had-him-tested/563658/21 "2010-12-10T23:03:37Z")
> [@scifisam2009](#): > > I think the phrase specifically means tests, and Asperger’s Syndrome is diagnosed by more than just tests. How are you defining ‘tests’ in this context? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-mother-had-him-tested/563658/22 "2010-12-10T23:58:24Z")
It could be 1 or 2 or 4. You do as much testing as necessary to get the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-mother-had-him-tested/563658/23 "2010-12-11T00:11:47Z")
I picked 3, because that’s what came into my head straight away. But 4 would also work. But the really important thing here is … what on earth happened to the OP?? ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-mother-had-him-tested/563658/24 "2010-12-11T00:25:06Z")
I’m not voting, because the entire debate is so poorly construed. The phrase “my mother had me tested” is meaningless, particularly w/r/t Asperger’s Syndrome. Depending on what Mom knew about testing and what sort of professional or non-professional did the testing, a meaningful battery of tests, observations and so forth might have been done properly, so as to yield as definitive a conclusion as possible. The same battery might have been administered improperly, so as to yield no reliable result. There might have been a superficial assessment by a pediatrician, an utterly meaningless “test” she read on the internet involving sticky tape and food coloring, a spurious home blood test, or a self-concocted test where you drizzle cerebrospinal fluid on a home pregnancy test stick. ANY of these might be implied by “my mother had me tested,” and I don’t think that the dramatic significance of the line is addressed by any of them, to wit: “I categorically deny that I have Asperger’s Syndrome because I am placing absolute confidence in the ‘objective result’ of what is inherently a highly subjective assessment.” Just like an Aspy. ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-mother-had-him-tested/563658/25 "2010-12-11T01:30:51Z")
Oh, tested for what? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-mother-had-him-tested/563658/26 "2010-12-11T02:23:29Z")
There’s **nothing** in the phrase to indicate how many tests were given. In order to be definitively a single test you’d need an article: “His mother had him given a/the test.” Likewise, to know for sure there were multiple tests, the word would need to be pluralized. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-mother-had-him-tested/563658/27 "2010-12-11T07:38:52Z")
Erm, wtf happened to **sam**? A search on her most recent postings reveals this thread and the one that spawned it, both of which have her behaving perfectly rationally and not-at-all bannable. Hoping it’s just an administrative hiccup, I’ll soldier on… > [@scifisam2009](#): > > No, I don’t; you’ve misread me. I think the phrase specifically means tests, and Asperger’s Syndrome is diagnosed by more than just tests. Being tested in this context means evaluated. There is no diagnostic component that falls outside the rubric of testing as implied by the phrase “had me tested.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-mother-had-him-tested/563658/28 "2010-12-11T08:13:46Z")
I’d think you were talking about me. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-mother-had-him-tested/563658/29 "2010-12-11T11:25:46Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > For context in the thread, the question is whether a character on a show has Asperger’s. The character on the show actually said he’s not because “his mother had him tested.” To nitpick and/or clarify, the character of Sheldon has never stated one way or the other about being tested for or diagnosed as having Asperger’s. The line about being tested refers to his being crazy. ETA: He’s not, btw. His mother had him tested. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-mother-had-him-tested/563658/30 "2010-12-11T13:41:56Z")
I voted before reading the thread…I must be a bad person, because I voted for the “You missed” category, because my FIRST thought was, “What, no dad?” I’m blaming the head cold. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/his-mother-had-him-tested/563658.md?page=1)