Question for adult diagnosees

Hi all,

I'm an adult in England and I had my through-the-NHS assessment a few weeks ago where the psychologist confirmed to me I was autistic.

Since then though I haven't heard or received anything in the post about it either from the assessor or my Doctors so I was wondering how long this usually takes? From what I have read I am meant to be sent a report?

Thank you in advance for any answers

Parents
  • Hi,

    I can't tell whereabout in England you live, so I'm not sure how your area handles ASD assessments. I live in North Manchester, where assessments are currently sub-contracted out to a private company based in the South, but who offer services in a few different regional centres.

    Whilst I was verbally given my positive diagnosis in early April last year, I didn't receive the formal written report until many months later, sometime in August I think (over a year after the original referral request by my Doctor). I did query why it took so long to compile a written report & was just told they were very busy!

    When my report finally arrived though, it was a lot less formal than I had expected & seemed to take the form of a long letter written to my Doctor detailing how the diagnosis was made, & which contained many very personal details. This is probably due to the way sub-contracted referrals for ASD assessments are made though, since technically my Doctor was their client rather than myself.

    If you were expecting the report to have some sort of 'Summary Page' just confirming the diagnosis & which could be shown to organisations that you did not necessarily want to know about highly sensitive personal details, then you might need to request this in advance.

    If you are much luckier than I was then you might receive your report quite soon, but I wouldn't hold your breath. All joking aside though, I hope it doesn't take too long.

  • My letter/report took about three months to arrive. I think a fair amount of the delay was just being typed up by the admin staff at the mental health team. It was about three pages of personal history that I'd given them (so a bit incomplete), plus an ADOS-2 score and a recommendation that my current depression be looked at (a good recommendation to have, but ultimately didn't help get any support). I think I chased the MHT and/or the GP once or twice.

    The idea of a 'summary page' is good. I'd agree anyone wanting to see it shouldn't need to know the personal details. It probably is worth asking.

  • Just re-read my report & whilst it briefly mentions ADOS & ADOS-2, there were no formal scores. My assessment was done over two separate sixty minute interviews about three months apart & with different consultants.

    The references to ADOS in the report are slightly contradictory in that at one point it mentions a formal ADOS assessment would be beneficial in determining which of my mental health problems relate to ASD, whilst in the next paragraph it talked about ADOS & ADOS-2 results as if they had already taken place.

    When at my first interview I joked about whether they were going to make me look at children's picture books, they said I wasn't supposed to have researched the test in advance, but  that they used an adapted version of ADOS for adult assessments anyway.

    Whilst I found both of the consultants involved in my assessments very friendly, sympathetic & easy to talk to, I did find the whole process quite vague. I suppose that might be because no-one can really know objectively how they appear to other people & I wasn't sure exactly what they were looking for in my current behaviour, as opposed to anecdotal evidence from my childhood.

    Aside from eye-contact which I have always found uncomfortable & far too personal (apart from with romantic partners), I had thought that my mannerisms were otherwise relatively  'normal'. The report references that I repeatedly missed various cues in conversation, used language in an odd way & did not exhibit the normal range of facial expressions.

    Rather than being based on any scoring mechanism based on formal tests, my report seems to have been based on direct observation of how I behaved in 1-2-1 conversations, plus anecdotal evidence from both my childhood & adult life.

    It was strange, I had always known I was different to almost everyone else & needed to make an effort to appear 'normal', but somehow the assessment both clarified & made me accept just how different!

Reply
  • Just re-read my report & whilst it briefly mentions ADOS & ADOS-2, there were no formal scores. My assessment was done over two separate sixty minute interviews about three months apart & with different consultants.

    The references to ADOS in the report are slightly contradictory in that at one point it mentions a formal ADOS assessment would be beneficial in determining which of my mental health problems relate to ASD, whilst in the next paragraph it talked about ADOS & ADOS-2 results as if they had already taken place.

    When at my first interview I joked about whether they were going to make me look at children's picture books, they said I wasn't supposed to have researched the test in advance, but  that they used an adapted version of ADOS for adult assessments anyway.

    Whilst I found both of the consultants involved in my assessments very friendly, sympathetic & easy to talk to, I did find the whole process quite vague. I suppose that might be because no-one can really know objectively how they appear to other people & I wasn't sure exactly what they were looking for in my current behaviour, as opposed to anecdotal evidence from my childhood.

    Aside from eye-contact which I have always found uncomfortable & far too personal (apart from with romantic partners), I had thought that my mannerisms were otherwise relatively  'normal'. The report references that I repeatedly missed various cues in conversation, used language in an odd way & did not exhibit the normal range of facial expressions.

    Rather than being based on any scoring mechanism based on formal tests, my report seems to have been based on direct observation of how I behaved in 1-2-1 conversations, plus anecdotal evidence from both my childhood & adult life.

    It was strange, I had always known I was different to almost everyone else & needed to make an effort to appear 'normal', but somehow the assessment both clarified & made me accept just how different!

Children
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