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.
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!
Thank you. That is good advice. I am glad to have had a few weeks to come to terms with the idea of being autistic. Although I always had a feeling I might be (and indeed wanted to be diagnosed) it throws up issues.
Something I do need to consider is this. Knowing what I now know do I continue with my existing employment in the hope that adjustments can be made, or do I put my energy into finding a benign working environment?
I think I will start a separate thread about this, as others here seem to be in a similar position. Yesterday's feedback made me realise that the way I see things is different to most people. Perhaps a working environment where I can be myself safely is an impossible dream.
In the past I have always resisted taking prescribed medication for anxiety, which was a bit ironic given that I used alcohol to relax or enable me to be more social.
I finally gave in after my diagnosis and started taking Propanalol. It doesn't replace the other strategies - pacing myself, trying to keep stress levels below meltdown point - but it makes it easier for me to stay calm and relaxed.
In spite of all this effort I'm still having flash points and times when everything feels like ****! Generally though life seems less chaotic and my head feels clearer.
Sensory stuff is still heightened so even though Propanalol switches off some of the signals I am still affected by anxiety. I am trying to address the underlying causes of angst as well as masking the symptoms.
Prior to my diagnosis I'd assumed everyone struggles with this kind of stuff. Now that I know some things really are harder for me, it actually makes things better!
Glad to hear you had a good time!
Sunflower said:Makes a lot of difference being self aware and conscious of the need to manage stress and energy levels.
That's something I'm struggling with at the moment. I've got anxiety, and for about 20 years I was basically drunk or high to manage life. I'm sober now, but it's a bit of double whammy. I know the things that stress me or overload me, but I've also lost my "toolkit", so to say. Sometimes I get a bit too vigilant. I'll get there but, ***, it's hard at times!
Thank you! We had a lowly time. I took some quirky objects in my handbag for my grand daughter to look at. That was a good distraction for both of us. I sat in the corner where there was extra space. It was very noisy but I popped out to the campervan a couple of times to fetch things which gave me a break. Sat quietly when we got back as it was a very long day - six hours in the campervan there and back. First social occasion since my diagnosis. Makes a lot of difference being self aware and conscious of the need to manage stress and energy levels.
Yeah, it's best to just see how thigs pan out, and not let autism affect every aspect of how you approach your thoughts and actions. Just try and still be the same old you if it is time. Sounds like you picked a nice activity to put things out of your mind for a while. It will be hard comimg to terms with things but after so long coping with it, I think you know what it affects, best not to let it bleed over into things that it never did, imo anyway.
Hope you had a great day out!