Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi all,
I've recently joined the community and I'm seeking some advice, I'm 26 years old and have always been fairly certain (along with my family and my GP) that I'm autistic. I finally decided to seek a diagnosis as I want to try to find out why I am the way I am and hopefully come to some form of acceptance and find some coping mechanisms. After a year long battle, I finally have my autism assessment at the beginning of January and I'm really nervous.
My mum is coming with me in order to tell the assessor what I was like as a child and any other bits I'll probably be too nervous to remember at the time!
I just wanted to know, has anyone else had a diagnosis as an adult? What is the initial appointment like? Will I have to go back a few times? And just generally what to expect.
Anything you can tell me would definitely help to calm my nerves so thank you in advance!
Ah that's what I do too. I rattle on and on and afterwards regret what I've said. In everyday contact I do the same thing... I just talk in an associative manner. Like mind flow ️
It's terrible.
ASD people want details and clarity
As soon as the assessment starts everything feels a lot better :-)
I am having my assessment on 7th Dec and am also feeling increasingly more anxious about it as time goes by. The replies on this are sort of helping!
Don't worry, I do that too. They are going at bringing you back onto track if they need to in the assessment.
The problem is when I get anxious, I over express and don't shut up and go off on random tangents!
I have already written down some notes I was planning on taking so I'm glad they should find them useful. I'll definitely forget something if I don't write it down!
That's good then! They sent me a leaflet and said that the whole process will be low sensory so I'm happy about that. Low lighting is a must in already tense situations!
Good advice, thank you!
I'd never thought of that actually, I think I will!
Mine was a single 4hr appt, verbal diagnosis at the end. A few questionnaires sent in the post beforehand. I hate talking about myself, but was surprised how well it went, she made it really "easy" I guess as she was clearly well trained in dealing with inexpressive people!
I had my assessment and got my diagnosis last week and I was so nervous about going. I think most people probably are to one degree or another. The psychologists were really nice and tried to make me feel as comfortable as possible. Mine lasted about 3 hours, I was asked loads of questions and had to do some table top tasks aswell, while someone else spoke to my parents.
As a few other people have said, the assessment process is different in different areas etc so it could be worth contacting them and asking them what to expect.
I jotted down quite a few notes before I had mine as I was worrying my mind would go blank on the day. Luckily my mind didn't go quite as blank as I expected but the psychologist took my notes at the end of the day anyway and read them when I had left. When I went to the feedback meeting she said they had been really useful.
I agree with Blank you could just send an email asking for some more information about the process. I have just been assessed myself and diagnosed with ASD, which I am really pleased about.
The only thing I would do differently if I were to be assessed again is to ask a few more questions. If I had done so I would have spent much less time worrying unnecessarily.
Good luck with your assessment!
You have made my day Robert124that is a brilliant way of describing autism asssessment meetings!
Nothing to worry about.
An autism assessment is almost the opposite of assessments and interviews you face in other aspects of your life.
Here they expect and are prepared for you to make social mistakes and air your dirty laundry in public.
Why don't you call them or send them an email and ask?
From what I've read here from other members of the community the assessment procedure varies a lot.
Hopefully mine will be a similar experience to yours but from what I can see, it seems like every centre might do things slightly differently. Thank you for sharing your experience with me :)
Thank you for being honest about your experience. My appointment is at a specific assessment centre for autism in adults so who knows what their process will be like!
I was diagnosed at 44. I had counselling before that because the wait was long and they wanted to give me some sort of guidance.
My assessment was as follows:
- my aunt and uncle filled out an extensive questionnaire about my childhood. And added an enormous letter.
- I had two 2 hour interview sessions with a clinical psychologist.
- Then another two hour session with my husband and me.
- Then a waiting period while they were doing the report although the psychologist had already said 'Read about Temple Grandin' and I thought 'Huh, she's a serious case - that can't be me'.
- Then an hour of feedback with the clinical psychologist and a second senior psychologist and husband and kid present and I crashed.
- Then another hour feedback session about the summary.
Turns out I have kept under the radar for my entire life (had burn outs every three years), and am a classic example of classic autism :-D
I am not going to lie. The entire period causes a lot of tension. But I am glad I did it. Dealing with the after-effect is quite tough too.