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Initial Assessment ... what next?

NAS37019

So I finally had my initial assessment yesterday and feel a bit ‘in limbo’ about what happens next? 

They said that they would need to have a meeting with a parent at the end of the month and then it will go to panel. I’ve read a lot of posts on here where people have mentioned questionnaires and numerous assessment meetings but I haven’t had to do any of that. (Also I forgot to note, my mum has told me that she doesn’t think I’m Autistic and will tell the people in the meeting that). 

My assessment took place in the same building where I had to meet with a psychologist prior to being referred, with a speech and language  therapist and an occupational therapist. They both seemed really nice and wrote a lot during the meeting. 

They asked me about things like friendships, relationships, interests, sensory issues and then we did some ‘activities’. I feel as though I’ve done them wrong though. 

One of of the activities was a black and white outline where I had to order some foam shapes. They were all the same shape, but different shades of red, and there were three blue ones. They kept turning the image around and asking what I could see. I said it looked like a rocket? 

The next part part was when the man told a story about some frogs using a picture book and asked me to continue. He seemed to go into a lot of detail, but I couldn’t think on the spot so just described the pictures. 

Another was when he got a packet of different items out and asked me to choose 5 of them and make up a story. I chose a car and 4 blocks and said it was a car showroom. Told a story about a sandwich and a surfer, but he made the sea with a piece of string, and a shark with a feather. I didn’t really pay attention to what he was saying as I was trying to get my head around the items. 

I already feel as though they’re not going to diagnose me because I could answer a lot of their questions, but I’m really good at masking. I told them I kind of already know I have ASD, and feel as though I present more ‘female autistic’, due to being able to mask and mimic other people’s behaviours. 

I did take along a 4 page document of all of the issues I have in day to day life and they said they’d be taken into consideration. 

I kind of of feel even more lost than I was before...

Parents

  • Hi,

    Different assessment centres use different methods of assessments, sadly there does not appear to be a uniform approach. I had all of my assessments and received a verbal diagnosis on the same day. It doe seem as though they did quite a thorough assessment though!

    There is no right or wrong answer to the questions, they are simply intended to initiate interaction so that they can observe your social and communication skills. So being able to answer a lot of their questions will have no bearing on whether or not you get diagnosed.

    Do you know why your mum doesn't think that you are Autistic?

  • in reply to Kitsune

    She worked as a primary school teacher with a very low functioning asd girl in her class, and I think that’s her understanding of autism now. I’ve teied to explain to her about low/high functioning etc but she seems to be closed to listening

Reply Children
  • in reply to aidie

    Definitely! Never too old to play! Only a couple of weeks ago I just had to play on a rope swing that myself and one of my friends discovered whilst out for a walk in the woods :-) 

  • in reply to Kitsune

    nothing better than climbing trees. I think it should be prescribed by doctors. 

  • in reply to NAS37019

    I used to love Lego, in fact on last months meet up for the local Autistic women's group that I run we had a Lego evening :-) it was good fun, playing with Lego and chatting among ourselves!

    I used to spend hours sorting my mum's buttons box into different categories according to colour/shape/size. I used to play with my barbie doll sometimes too, I would tell my mum that I was that they were having a party. I would dress them ll up for the party but never actually pretended that they were at a party as such, I never did 'get' the whole pretend play thing! Mostly as I got older, I was out climbing trees, playing football and building dens with the boy next door and his friends.

  • in reply to Kitsune

    That’s one thing I seem to have cracked! She was telling me about how I’d only play with things like Lego, Knex or Mecanno which I could do on my own, and would fight with other kids when they didn’t do what I wanted

  • in reply to NAS37019

    Autism is a spectrum condition and if you've met one person with Autism, you've only met one person with Autism. Your mum knew how the Autism of the girl in her class affected that girl. But that will be different to how anyone else's Autism affects them. Are you able to try a different approach with your mum, such as asking her about your social skills etc when you were young?