variety in assessment procedure

I did get the diagnosis at the end and then was sent a written report a few weeks later...

I referred myself and was asked to do the AQ/EQ questionnaires and then had an initial screening interview with a clinical psychologist lasting 1.5 hrs. That was followed by another appointment with the same psychologist to complete my social/developmental history. Then my parents/siblings completed and submitted questionnaires and my husband sent in information via email.

I went back and did the ADOS with two different psychologists I had not met before. All the information gathered was then discussed at a multi-disciplinary team meeting. The final meeting was when I attended a 1.5 hr feedback session at which I was told my diagnosis by the first psychologist I saw. My husband was present for the last part of this.

I got an email after the feedback session confirming my diagnosis, summarising our discussion and making initial recommendations. A letter confirming my diagnosis arrived  after a few days. The draft report was emailed several weeks later and I was given the opportunity to comment on it and make corrections before it was finalised.

I chose to be assessed by psychologists who had particular expertise in working with autistic girls/women. The process took from mid-August 2018 (self referral) until mid-November 2018 (diagnosis) with the full report completed by mid-January 2019. There was a lot of therapeutic/counselling type intervention included In the assessment. The appointments were quite emotionally exacting so I was glad that they were spaced out and did not all happen on the same day

Hope this is helpful. 

Both mine and my son's roughly followed the same process - AQ and EQ questionnaires, an initial screening interview, another 1:1 observational interview (ADOS 4) and a 2 1/2 hour questionnaire-based interview with a parent.  However, I had a very long wait on the NHS, both to get to the initial appointment and then between appointments, so the whole process took around 20 months.  Our son went to the Tuke Centre and, for their NHS work the wait was reckoned to be around 14 months.  We therefore went private with them and it was all done within a couple of months with a full report at the end of it (I'd got a brief letter just to tell me that I met the diagnostic criteria).

I really wish this was all standardised.  

private, 1 single 4hr appt with clinical psychologist, verbal diagnosis given at the end, full written report emailed about a month later

I went privately, paid for by my company's health insurance.

The whole thing took an hour or so with one of the top people in the field.

He said at the end that I was clearly Asperger's and the report a few day later outlined all his evidence.  I think I'm very obviously AS - and he agreed.  I just said thanks and off I went.

My lack of emotional response to all this new information sort of confirms it all - I accept it as just data to be processed.

Did you get diagnosed during your appointment?

I had an appointment which was just with one person - it lasted about three hours I think. They had asked if I could bring a family member who would know about my early years, but I wasn't able to bring my mother as she isn't comfortable talking about emotions and analysing behaviour. So, it was quite exhausting but nowhere near as scary as I imagined before I went. 

Hi, I was assessed and diagnosed with Aspergers at the South London and Maudsley hospital. I had 2 appointments on the same day. The first was to do the ADOS with a psychologist and her colleague the second was for a psychiatric assessment with an ASD psychiatrist, she told me at the beginning of the psychiatric appointment that she thought I was autistic so it was ‘done and dusted’ quite quickly for me.