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Awaiting Assessment. No family input.

ashrichou

Hi,

I've just recently completed the AQ 50 questionnaire and I'm waiting to hear back. I scored pretty high (44) and I'm pretty certain I'm Autistic. Unfortunately, I didn't know anything about autism until my own daughter was diagnosed. I've been diagnosed with various different mental health disorders over my lifetime instead, none of which felt completely right or could explain all of my difficulties, until now.

I wasn't sure what was involved in the adult assessment but I've since read that they will likely ask for my parent's views on my childhood. Without this, would it hinder my chances of a diagnosis?

I had a bad childhood, I haven't seen my parents in over 12 years, and I do not wish to do so again. My parents were verbally abusive and neglectful, so probably wouldn't know a lot about my life at school. But they did tell me some things about my early development, talking late, and things like that. Is this enough? Can I use what I know about my early childhood?

I know from another family member that my father has a young son (who I haven't met) who is autistic, and my own daughter is autistic too. 

Has anyone had a diagnosis without parental input? Or refused one due to it?

Thanks

Ash

  • Thank you all. 

    I have my husband who could come along, he often nudges me in social situations when I'm being a little off without realising it. And is quite aware of when I'm getting overwhelmed. Hopefully, that will help!

    I've started writing down my day to day difficulties and will now start to work on my childhood. Going through my day to day, I have a lot of traits also associated with inattentive ADHD but there seems to be quite an overlap between ASD and ADHD. Anyway, I hope to get some answers :) 

    Thank you all for your replies, very helpful. 

  • in reply to Trainspotter

    I was wondering the same thing, I will be in my own if I go for assessment, my siblings I haven’t seen in years, I have no one who would be pro active on my behalf. 

    Gives me much hope, I shall write as much as I can down plus all the many online tests I have done which point to me being very high on the spectrum. Thank you,

  • I didn't take anyone in with me.  My mother was 88 at the time and living a good way from me.

    But I had written a history of my life, from earliest memories and interspersed with things I had been told by my mother about my infancy.  This combined with my memories was sufficient.

    I would suggest you get together a history of your life particularly your formative years.  Take your time over it, include any information when you did something that wasn't considered 'normal' or where you misunderstood certain things, how you reacted to change, how you were treated by your peers. You may be able to send a copy of this out before your assessment. This can all help in getting your diagnosis.

    The things I think they would be particularly looking at are social misunderstandings, sensory and information overload, not liking change etc, so try to think of some examples of these.  And good luck!

  • in reply to ashrichou

    Just been referred.. I won’t be taking family as estranged nor my partner as he doesn’t “get it” either. Flying solo as well but I’m ok with that.

  • in reply to tintal

    Thank you, I feel much better about it now since I started the thread :) 

  • Hi Ash

    I'm sorry you had a tough childhood. I can only echo the other replies; I self-reported on my childhood during my diagnosis, and this was accepted by the psychologist. It is only one part of the assessment. 

    Good luck!

  • in reply to Bagpuss7

    Thanks for replying, it's good to hear that it's not needed.

  • I declined to give details of my parents for my recent diagnosis and it wasn't a problem at all. My psychologist asked me questions about my childhood; some of which I could answer and some I couldn't. It didn't affect me getting diagnosed.