Published on 12, July, 2020
I've posted before under a NAS username and told myself I wouldnt post on here again until I chose a new username, then I couldn't decide what to call myself so I just didn't post. Sorry. I promise I'll contribute more now rather than just asking for support from you all all the time.
Having said that...here I am posting for support again! I have my assessment tomorrow and I'm getting very, very nervous. I've gone back and forth a lot over the past 3 years about whether I am autistic or not and I'm currently feeling that I am not and that I'm probably just a hypochondriac/drama queen who wishes neurodevelopmental disorders on herself.
I haven't done any prep work like sending in reams of info about myself, etc, even though I really wanted to, because I felt like it would just stress me out more. I've decided just to go along, answer the questions, do the tests and see what happens.
I'm sure a lot of you felt like this about your assessments? What did you do that helped? What helped calm any assessment anxieties?
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.
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!!
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!