Assessment tomorrow!!

About half way through my two and a half hour assessment the assessor started saying things along the lines of "so, lets assume you are as it looks to me that you are", and by the end he was talking to me as though he had made a conclusion. At the end following telling me it was a definite yes, he said because he has done so many assessments he could pick up on things quickly. I had my doubts and must have asked him about 5 times whether he was sure and how he could be so sure. He explained things really well and explained how I was ticking all the boxes, and how there are some clear differences between those with ASD and those with something else. If they understand it well, and are well experienced, I guess they get good at it.

And a thumbs up on the username... 8)

Just for you I Am Who I Am! I am a Father Ted fan but didn't think about spider baby. Can't believe I missed that - this is why I'm terrible at picking forum user names!

Yes a grey area is definitely the most frustrating result. I'm glad you got a clear diagnosis in the end. 

That's interesting ENG. Now I've had more time to reflect on it I think I agree that that's maybe the case. It is the result I want but I was expecting them to cover a bit more ground than they did - I was all ready to tell them my life story!! 

I have a bit of a fear about them getting it wrong and I was very worried that I might mislead them somehow. Every time I mentioned an autistic trait I have I felt the need to say 'but lots of people feel like that and it's very normal!', as if I was expecting the psychologist to not know that much about human behaviour .

I hope that your assessment went ok and wasn't too stressful? Well yeah! Maybe I should have just gone with it rather than trying to 'manage' it!

I'm guessing judging off my own experience that they may already have enough evidence to diagnose you? I may be wrong as I'm no professional.

I only had one 4 hour session and that was enough to say I have an Autism Spectrum Condition. 

Either way, at least you will get an answer soon, and if they say they have a conclusion after the first assessment it suggests there are no grey areas, and it should be either a positive yes or no, which is better than a maybe type answer. I would say good luck or something, but then I guess it depends on what you expect from the answer and how you deal with it. I spent two and half years trying to get the answer and all the NHS managed was you might have, but its not obvious enough for us to spend our time on you. Went private, two weeks later got my answer, a no doubts yes. It has been a massive relief as I now know why all my issues are issues and the anxiety over having the issues in the first place have now been lifted.

I will simply wish you all the best for the future and tell you to stay positive whatever.

Oh, and if your username is pure chance, you should at least change it from BabySpider to SpiderBaby, which will then bring a smile to those fans of Father Ted... 8)

Yes thank god it's really soon, so there's a limited amount of time I had to try to second-guess what the results going to be! I just don't see how they can have enough information either way to make a decision from the information I gave them. Oh well, I will report back next week when I know more. 

It seems to me that the 'experts' like a) not tell you a thing that's going on and b) act like there is some big magical mystery behind it all that the likes of us could never understand in a million years. I suppose they have reasons for being like this. 

At least you have a timeframe for the next step. Relax for a bit now!

Thanks Murmu. Hope all goes well with your assessment when it comes around. 

It all was very very different to how I expected. They didn't interview my parent separately, we all just sat in a room together and I was asked a lot of questions and then at the end they said they would bring me back in in a month for a more in-depth interview and to do tasks etc. Then they went out of the room for a bit and when they came back they said that they felt they had enough information from today and asked me to come back next week for the results. Which to me sounds like they've already made a decision. I resisted the urge to shout 'just tell me whether I am or not!!!!'  . 

I have massive anxieties about my impending assessment. Hope yours goes ok anyway! 

Thank you qwerty. That's a very logical way of thinking about it and that does really help. 

Thanks. I would've panicked at that too! Apparently part of the assessment involves 'fun tasks' which instantly had me worrying as my idea of fun often doesn't match up with other people's ideas of fun! 

I can understand the feeling, and I've felt the same way before. I guess what finally worked was that I decided that it was more important to find out the answer than what my feelings where. It didn't completely take away the feeling but gave me more courage to go forward with the assessment. 

Good luck

Good luck with your assesment hopefully you will get the answers you are looking for.

I remember being nervous waiting around just looking at the pictures on the wall etc and then my assessor came over and said "I won't be long I'm just setting up the room" I panicked then and said to my wife what do they mean setting up the room? Wife giggled she knows what I'm like, I hate the unexpected. Long story short the assessor just wanted to make sure the room was tidy.

Try and relax, from my experience the lady was really nice which helped settle my nerves and I just answered as many questions as I could.

Good luck.

I don't think anyone goes to an assessment without having fully considered the matter.  You should be treated with respect as anyone requesting medical assistance deserves. Hope it is worth it for you.

An hour wait is a long time! I know we'll have breaks tomorrow but I'm hoping not for that long! Although a full scale meltdown mid-assessment would be a very clear indicator of asd!!

Oh I see. I'm not surprised you felt like that. My biggest worry is that they will think I'm a faker or making a big fuss out of nothing.

Hi There, Good luck for your assessment tomorrow!

I think it's probably quite normal to worry that you are nor really autistic and are just imagining it right before the assessment, I know I did. I think it's probably just part of the pre-assessment nerves. As long as you answer honestly then I'm sure you'll be fine.

I don't very often get nervous about things but I was really anxious prior to and during my assessment. I had two assessments on the same day, ADOS first then an appointment with the Psychiatrist to go through my previous medical and life history. I just about got through the ADOS ok but then had nearly an hour wait in between the two appointments. I just about managed to stave off having a full scale meltdown in the waiting room by doing breathing exercises and trying to distract myself by playing word crossy on my phone, I still ended up in floods of tears when I was in with the Psychiatrist though! My best advice would be to try to distract yourself between now and the assessment, if you are able to do so.

The whole thing eh. What a day you will have! 

I didn't have a good experience with my assessor. I don't have enough experience to know if it was the process or the person that I couldn't get on with. I think I was being weeded out as a faker or hypochondriac, someone who could not possibly be ASD. It was demoralizing. 

SpiderBaby said:

Waiting seems to be the hardest bit imo

Definitely. And it's the fact you're waiting for an unknown period of time. My wait will be 6-9 months overall, I've waited nearly 2 months so far (on top of the time to even get to a referral). I'll feel better once I know the date. It's constantly on my mind adding to my list of worries...

All the best for tomorrow (I should have mentioned that before!!). Do let us know how you get on!