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!
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.
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!