Report now received, which classification was used in yours?

Hello

I finally received my draft report yesterday.

I was confused about the classification.

It states I was diagnosed using the DSM-1V criteria but I thought everyone in the UK was diagnosed using the ICD-10?

I might be getting confused as on my GP records it now shows Asperger's Syndrome F84.5 which is the ICD-10 code.

i did not think DSM-1V was being used now.

Is it usual to still have the DSM-1V used and if so reasons?

Thanks

Parents
  • Thanks, so where does the DSM-1V come into this?

  • Not at all sure.  The teams I saw clearly preferred DSM 5 because of the inclusion of sensory issues but there might be variations between regions.  I'm a bit confused about ICD-11 too.  Maybe it takes a while for changes to filter through.  

  • I agree, it does seem that there's very little consistency from team to team. I was diagnosed about four years ago, at around the same time as a friend who was referred by the same GP surgery. We ended up being seen by different units, albeit still in the same district - mine a brand-new NHS one, his a private provider (but paid for by the NHS out of CCG funding). He was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, while I was diagnosed with ASC.

    The team I saw did mention the equivalence of my diagnosis with Asperger's Syndrome, and also a similar preference for the inclusion of sensory differences. How equivalent my diagnosis is to that of my friend is very hard to say, though, as completely different diagnostic processes were used - he was diagnosed after a single interview with a psychologist, whereas my assessment was spread over four sessions, included input from my family, and involved an occupational therapist as well as a psychologist.

    I'm a bit confused about ICD-11 too

    ICD-11 pretty much aligns with the DSM-V (as ICD-10 did with DSM-IV), bringing all autistic conditions under the same umbrella diagnosis, albeit with a few tweaks here and there. It was officially released by the World Health Assembly in May of this year, but isn't slated for full adoption by member states until the start of 2022 - so the team who assessed me were the best part of a decade ahead of the curve!

    Whether this will make any difference in practice is hard to say. The worst fears about the change over in the USA leaving people without health insurance cover seem, thankfully, not to have been realised. I doubt that it will make a huge difference over here in practice, as social services support and benefit eligibility always involve an independent assessment of needs, and my personal experience is that my diagnostic report has counted for very little besides being supporting evidence that I'm claiming in good faith - none of the follow-up actions suggested have ever taken place, and my initial PIP rejection (since overturned at appeal) made many claims which directly contradicted what my assessment report states very clearly (frankly, I doubt that anyone even bothered to read it).

  • Thanks Trogluddite.  Yes, the variation between teams seems typical and, for all the guidelines, service providers don't adhere to any national standards.  The recommendation of being seen within 3 months is straight out of the window (it took me around 21 months from initial referral to diagnosis). 

    In both my and my son's cases I asked about whether our ASD diagnosis would previously have been one of Asperger's and they said, " Yes," but this information wouldn't have been volunteered.  

    I view the (very minimal) paperwork I received as corroborative evidence should I need to make a benefits claim and I hang on to everything, just in case, but I get the impression the assessments are based on functionning rather than diagnosis and also that they do their best to play up whatever functionality there is.      

Reply
  • Thanks Trogluddite.  Yes, the variation between teams seems typical and, for all the guidelines, service providers don't adhere to any national standards.  The recommendation of being seen within 3 months is straight out of the window (it took me around 21 months from initial referral to diagnosis). 

    In both my and my son's cases I asked about whether our ASD diagnosis would previously have been one of Asperger's and they said, " Yes," but this information wouldn't have been volunteered.  

    I view the (very minimal) paperwork I received as corroborative evidence should I need to make a benefits claim and I hang on to everything, just in case, but I get the impression the assessments are based on functionning rather than diagnosis and also that they do their best to play up whatever functionality there is.      

Children
No Data