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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

  • Thank you for sharing your experience. I am about to do my assessment tomorrow so it's useful to know not to expect an outcome right away. As others have said, it's out of your hands now so it's just trying to wait patiently - I'm saying this as much to myself as to you!

  • in reply to DaisyDuck

    Good luck with your assessment tomorrow! Please let us all know how it goes?

  • in reply to Kitsune

    Hello

    I had my assessment yesterday, I paid to go privately as NHS waiting list is longer than my saving will last!

    It was a structured interview with two psychiatrists. First 45 minutes they asked my mum a load of questions about what I was like as a child in terms of development, social interactions and special interests. Then a further 1 hour and 45 minutes talking to me on my own asking loads more questions.  It was pretty exhausting and I was 'overcooked' by the end and losing my train of thought a fair bit!  After a short period of time to confer (the psychiatrists left the room then returned) they let me know there and then that there were enough indicators for them to confirm that I do have Asperger Syndrome, although also explaining that term was not in use since the terminology change but it's what most people still use for high functioning autism.  They are going to take a couple of weeks to write up a full report and send it to me, and they'll also send a 1-page letter suitable for employers that confirms the identification and what steps might support me returning to the workplace. 

    Now all I have to do is find a disability-confident employer who also needs my awesome skill set!  I imagine that is going to be a whole lot harder than it sounds... but for now I'll keep positive and see what shows up.

    It was an exhausting afternoon but it was efficient and that has been helpful because my mum travelled a long way to come to the assessment and she also got some 'closure' by finding out the result quickly too.

    Hope that's helpful in some way to share. Happy to answer any questions if you have some.

    Daisy

  • in reply to aidie

    So happy to hear that you feel much better now :-)

    Thanks re: my icon, it's kinda fun and has some energy which appealed to me. 

  • in reply to DaisyDuck

    yea I feel much better now - actually my diagnosis was spot on and explained everything in my past. It also means I  know what I am dealing with.

    thanks DD

    ps I love your daisy duck icon it just looks so cool

  • in reply to aidie

    Hi Aidie, well if your expectations were different then it's natural you'd have a stronger response to it. Have you made friends with the identification now? 

    Lol at the "I told you so" T-shirt, sadly I expect that they will not even acknowledge it.  I am not good around little kids and my sisters are also half-sisters - I expect that the ASD gene comes from my dad's side so won't affect them. But yes, I will mention it if I see signs that something might not be quite NT. Thanks for the suggestion.

  • in reply to DaisyDuck

    i couldn't think straight for a week when I received my ASD diagnosis. But then i thought I was not on the spectrum and they where going to confirm I wasn't !!!!

    Now you can tell your sisters,,, make sure you are wearing your "I told you so T-Shirt"  Slight smile

    Keep an eye on nephews and nieces, your knowledge / awareness can be useful in early diagnosis if one of them happens to also have some Autistic related genes.

  • in reply to aidie

    No. I think the psychiatrist expected more of a response and said "I'll just let you absorb that for a minute". I said "It's only confirming what I already expected to be true, I don't have any emotion about it".  It was 24 hours ago and I still don't really have any particular thoughts or mood about it. I first suspected I was autistic about a year and a half ago, it was very unsettling then but I've come to terms with it, various friends know etc.  I hope it might improve relationships with my sisters who up until now I think they've thought I was just making it up to excuse what they see as 'poor behaviour' - we're not close...

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