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