The Diagnostic Process

[HollowFingers]

I am curious as to what goes on when you go to get diagnosed? Could anyone who has been diagnosed with AS tell me about it? I am hoping it is nothing like seeing my GP, as i did not enjoy that at all

 

Thanks

[RainbowsButterflies]

I only had my assessment in mid-February, but I'm already a little hazy on exactly what happened *blushes*.

 

I ended up going privately - we have no adult autism services in our area so I am still waiting for the PCT to decide whether they are going to fund an assessment or not *sighs*. I have had a lot of problems at university due to my AS and I really needed a definitive diagnosis so I could get the support I needed - I saw the psychologist recommended by the NAS that I had requested that the NHS refer me to, so the only difference in that respect was the waiting list.

 

As Asperger's is a life-long condition, in an ideal world, you need to take someone to the assessment who has known you since early childhood. Some diagnosticians ask family members to complete a questionnaire before the assessment. Mine didn't, because she feels that the questions tend to lead the answers (What am I supposed to write here? etc)

 

My mum died a few years ago, so I took my husband who I have known since we were 11, my primary school reports (termly since 4 years 2 months) and a letter from my best friend and primary school who I am still in touch with detailing my 'quirks' (I told her I was going for an assessment, but not what for as I wanted her to be honest and unbiased).

 

I've lost track of all the things she asked now to be honest. She asked both myself and S lots of questions about daily life, our relationship. How things made me feel. She commented on my seeming lack of emotional response to a few things he said, and on my body language (or subtlety of). She made me 'read' a picture book which was a nightmare . Basically she went through the adult ADOS, although she jumped around a bit according to how the conversation was going, she kept referring back to check she had covered what she needed to.

 

The assessment took around 2 hours and she confirmed the diagnosis there and then. Within a week, she sent me a brief 'To Whom It May Concern' covering letter with the diagnosis so I could send off for DSA etc, and it took about 6/7 weeks for the full report and the letter for my GP.

[Lyndalou]

It sounds like the private route is relatively straight-forward and painless? The private Autism Assessor I will be seeing next month will interview me, probably my parents and husband and I will be giving him permission to speak to a therapist I had who I told a great deal of past experiences to. I've got school work from Primary School with written work in it too which he says will be helpful. I'm waiting for the call back from the Learning Disabilities Team the GP referred me to. I am certain I will be told that as I don't have a learning disability per se that they can't help me! The Autism Assessor (who takes NHS referrals) tells me that this referral is entirely unsuitable...

If you don't mind me asking K, what difficulties are you experiencing at University? I only had a small percentage of written work to do at Art College but I developed my own shorthand (and a sore hand) because I wrote absolutey everything down that the lecturer said and then read it out loud to myself later in order to remember it! At PostGrad level I had no idea how to study and although I spent a long time researching and literally days writing my essays I still ended up bottom of the class while everyone else went out and got hammered and researched and wrote their essays very quickly. I've always just told myself that I am obviously not as bright as I thought I was and a failure on top.