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.
I can't seem to edit my original message so I'm adding an update in the thread. The feedback was that I do meet the DSM-5 criteria and I have got a diagnosis of ASD.
We had a useful discussion about things I can do now to reduce anxiety levels, ways of working on relationship issues, and what to consider in relation to work.
I am going to get an email summarising today's discussion with the action points we discussed. I also asked for a brief letter confirming my diagnosis I can show to my GP and employer. The full report will follow in a couple of weeks.
My husband came into the meeting after the first few minutes. I thought it was easier for him to hear things straight from the psychologist rather than me relaying the information to him afterwards.
I came away from the feedback meeting feeling much more positive. A big part of the strategy is to help me recognise building blocks of anxiety, reduce miscommunication and plan activities to minimise the risk of going into meltdown or burnout.
Thank you everyone for being so supportive while I have been going through the assessment process.
Not sure if congratulations is quite right, given what an exhausting thing it was to do all that, but...congratulations! It's great that you are coming away feeling so positive.
That's great news, Sunflower, especially to hear that it's lifted your spirits and you've had some feedback that can be put to use in coping strategies. Congatulations!
Good to hear you got the answer to the questions you were asking yourself. This will probably get you asking more, but just my take, don't ask yourself too many. You are now diagnosed autistic, just remember, more importantly you are still yourself first. Not being preachy, but from posts here, and from personal experience, there can be a little bit of a fallout. Hope it all is a positive experience!
Congratulations Sunflower xxx
It must be a tremendous relief for you. I know it was for me when I had my diagnosis.
Best wishes for the future! And hope it helps your understanding of yourself, as well as helping everyone else understand you.
Yay what a relief for you! Hope things improve as a result! (())
Well done you.
Lol.. ()
Sounds like it did you good.
Don't know whether to congratulate you or the opposite :-)
But it seems to help you so that's positive!
My strategy plan sounds just like yours by the way :-)
I don't think any of us doubted it for a minute ..... but isn't it a good feeling to know for sure. Today truly is the first day of the rest of your life, and armed with your new knowledge, hopefully an easier one :-)
One of us...one of us.....one of us....
excellent! OFFICIALLY, welcome to the club!