Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone,
I've been undergoing autism assessment by a team of Clinical Psychologists for the last few weeks. I hear the outcome later today.
I am a woman in my late 50s and the component parts of my ASD assessment are as follows:
I first emailed the service provider requesting information on 10 August.
The Formulation Meeting will be held sometime next week (mid November). This is where everyone in the team gets together to consider all the evidence and reach conclusions about likely causes of difficulties, and potentially helpful recommendations.
I will get feedback from a psychologist at a meeting next Friday 16 November.
Although I am paying for this assessment privately, the provider re-invests any profit into providing services for autistic people.
I looked up 'formulation' and it seems this is a psycho-social group decision-making process, combining narrative accounts with evidence derived from the application of ASD diagnostic criteria. This approach aims to reduce the risk of individual bias by promoting creative thinking and collaborative problem solving.
Needless to say I am looking forward to finding out what diagnostic decision has been reached. It will be fascinating to see if the professionals agree with the conclusions I reached by reading, reflecting, and talking to people in this community!
There are varied formats for assessment so it would be interesting to know what other people's experiences have been.
Some folk are a lot easier to diagnose than others., it is just that their autistic traits are easier for the psychologist to recognise in some people.
I had my diagnosis nearly two years ago, I went private because my GP was not really interested (he said that since I had lived my life 'without problem' (although I had sought medical attention for associated problems such as severe anxiety and deptression over the past forty yearsI frequently misunderstood others, I had great problems in getting a job, and I had frequent minor accidents due to clumsiness and loss of balance, but of course they were not 'problems'! ) and he refused to refer me for an NHS assessment, saying that even if he did there would be a waiting list in excess of two years.
My psychologist told me about an hour into my assessment that he had rarely found someone so easy to diagnose as autistic, from my mannerisms to what I had said. This didn't stop the session and it carried on for another two hours so he could get a full picture to write his report.
My feelings at the time were very mixed at the time. At last I felt I knew why I was the way I was, and could get some help, rather than be criticised for my 'behaviour'. But at the same time, I felt that the 'missed opportunities' of my life would have been addressed if I had known forty years previously. To some extent this feeling recurs at frequent intervals. But that far off land called the past no longer exists and the transport there only exists in the realms of fiction, so such feelings are not really helpful.
I got a short report outlining adjustments which work should make for me within three weeks of the diagnosis (and that included the Christmas period, and knowing at the assessment was really useful, it stopped three weeks of anxious hell waiting. The full detailed report explaining why the conclusions had been reached took a little longer.
Apart from the fee the actual diagnosis was not very stressful. I had to wait only six weeks and this was mainly due to me not being able to make a much earlier date. My mother wasn't involved except from my recollection and the answers to some questions I had asked her, not saying that I wanted to know because I thought it might help me with an autism diagnosis. My mother still does not know I have been diagnosed, when I mentioned to her that I thought I was autistic she got confused with tourettes and said t;hat I wasn't! But her recollections of my childhood certainly helped even though they were only offered through me.
Could you tell me the cost of a private diagnosis here?
I've seen various prices quoted for a private adult ASD assessment ranging from £800 - £1750 - a lot depends on how many clinicians are involved and how long it takes. In most cases you can have an initial appointment at relatively low cost, to make sure ASD assessment is appropriate. It will be interesting to see what other people say about the cost.
I think my assessment is good value for money (£1250) as it includes several components and 3 different assessors. I particularly like the idea of having a whole hour to discuss conclusions and recommendations.
It is difficult asking questions about people's experience. I used my initial appointment (£150) to make sure I had confidence in the process and the people. I liked the fact they all work 'not for profit',
I was also keen for my assessment to be seen as robust by the NHS and other institutions I might need services from in the future.
It remains to be seen what the outcome is, but the process has been very thorough. They aren't just trying to diagnose me they are trying to understand me.