Parent/Sibling required at initial diagnosis

[DRN]

Hi all,

 

It's taken nearly a year, but I got a letter today saying that I have an initial diagnosis appointment at the end of June However, the letter suggests that it would be useful if a parent or older sibling comes along to this (although it is not required).

 

I have never been able to bring up that I suspect I am on the spectrum to my family, and I think it would be weird having them at the meeting. I'm not sure I want to share what's inside my head with my family.

 

Has anyone here had a diagnosis meeting without bringing family/partner with them, or if they were there did they actually contribute much? I have read a few posts suggesting that the person receiving the diagnosis didn't think the family's inputs counted for much.

 

Thanks for any views on this.

 

D

 

 

[trekster]

Do you have someone else who has known you and your behaviour as a child? They are checking your development for any signs of autism.

[nippy sweetie]

For an adult assesment its important to have information about how someone has been across their whole lifespan. Often thats a person`s Mum but siblings, too, are ones who have known a person since their earliest years. Of course, sometimes people dont want to involve their families and this can be OK if there is other information available (eg from child health records, if any, or even GP records). This is to be sure that the "autistic type" behaviours and reported experiences are lifelong and havent come on after eg a head injury or an acute illness or some other trauma. Diagnosis in adulthood can be a lot of detective work collecting the relevant infomation and applying it to diagnostic criteria (in itself not straightforward!!). I prefer to have several appointments with people re potential diagnosis. Its worth taking time and getting things right. Also, of course ,people may be extremely anxious at a first appointment and its well worth really trying to see people when they are feeling comfortable with you. Thats just one diagnostician`s opinion but its after many years exerience.

[Shnoing]

I did ask the doc not to mention what the interview was about when she asked my mum about what I did when little. She seemed to have done that already several times, so I guess you can just ask your doc to do the same.