What to expect at an adult assessment for ASD

Hi all,

I'm completely new to this community and was wondering if you could help me?

I am a 23 year old female who has been finally referred for an assessment for diagnosis. 

I'm sure you're all aware of how difficult this can be, being a girl and every single medical professional never taking you or your parents seriously and so on because you outwardly appear 'normal' whatever that is. 

I was diagnosed with an unspecified developmental disorder as a child because they didn't have enough evidence to say I had ASD (or perhaps because I lied a lot to avoid a diagnosis because I didn't want any more bullying or people to think I was weird) it's tough being a teenager!

since my referral I've been browsing this online community and other sites and I can resonate with a lot of the things people are posting and talking about. I too often find myself overwhelmed by sounds and lights as if the world is a living, spinning kaleidoscope. I love animals, they're all I want to talk about and I have loved collecting facts about them for as long as I can remember  

anyway my question is...

What should I expect at an adult assessment for ASD?

what questions do they ask/how long does it take/is it really awkward/frightening

i am really nervous even thinking about it, thank  you

Parents
  • If I may, I did not understand during the diagnostic process how vital it is to convey the impact your impairments have on your life, I was just under the impression that I would be diagnosed as either ASD or not ASD. It was explained to me at the end when I received my diagnosis that the decision was borderline, not borderline autistic, as I am indeed Aspergers, but borderline diagnosis because of the support I have from my partner and the efforts I have made in lessening the impact of my impairments. In short, had I been slightly better at lessening the impact of my impairments I would not have a diagnosis, yet still be Aspergers (undiagnosed).

    The following is directly taken from my diagnosis and sets out what they are looking for, I have highlighted in bold the sentence pertaining to how autism impacts your life:

    "Our diagnostic assessments focus specifically on Autism Spectrum Disorders. We are looking to see whether a person has persistent difficulties in social communication and social interaction and also has narrow and repetitive interests and routines. We look to see if the difficulties are serious enough to cause significant impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of current functioning. It is important for us to find out if these difficulties have been present, in one form or another, since infancy and whether or not there are any alternative reasons that could explain how the difficulties developed. It is only when all of these factors are present that we make a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder."

    In brief, it is important to be able to understand and convey how autism seriously impacts on your life.

    I hope this is helpful.

    Just to add: I found the diagnosis process to be fairly traumatic, we were there for six hours (including two one hour breaks), my partner was permitted to be with me throughout. As someone has already commented upon, many of the things I was asked caused me great confusion and I felt I was constantly giving poor answers, but in hindsight that is what the questions seemed designed to do.

Reply
  • If I may, I did not understand during the diagnostic process how vital it is to convey the impact your impairments have on your life, I was just under the impression that I would be diagnosed as either ASD or not ASD. It was explained to me at the end when I received my diagnosis that the decision was borderline, not borderline autistic, as I am indeed Aspergers, but borderline diagnosis because of the support I have from my partner and the efforts I have made in lessening the impact of my impairments. In short, had I been slightly better at lessening the impact of my impairments I would not have a diagnosis, yet still be Aspergers (undiagnosed).

    The following is directly taken from my diagnosis and sets out what they are looking for, I have highlighted in bold the sentence pertaining to how autism impacts your life:

    "Our diagnostic assessments focus specifically on Autism Spectrum Disorders. We are looking to see whether a person has persistent difficulties in social communication and social interaction and also has narrow and repetitive interests and routines. We look to see if the difficulties are serious enough to cause significant impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of current functioning. It is important for us to find out if these difficulties have been present, in one form or another, since infancy and whether or not there are any alternative reasons that could explain how the difficulties developed. It is only when all of these factors are present that we make a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder."

    In brief, it is important to be able to understand and convey how autism seriously impacts on your life.

    I hope this is helpful.

    Just to add: I found the diagnosis process to be fairly traumatic, we were there for six hours (including two one hour breaks), my partner was permitted to be with me throughout. As someone has already commented upon, many of the things I was asked caused me great confusion and I felt I was constantly giving poor answers, but in hindsight that is what the questions seemed designed to do.

Children
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