• Replies 30 replies
  • Subscribers 88 subscribers
  • Views 14391 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Adult female diagnosis - mum doesn't think I had many childhood traits

NAS72736

Hello. I am an adult female (35) and think I might be autistic and have self-referred to my local autism service. They sent me 3 questionnaires to fill so I did mine (the EQ and AQ tests) which came out with a high likelihood of autism. But my mum filled out the CAST questionnaire for childhood autistic behaviours/traits and I scored quite low on that and my score indicated low or no autistic traits. I have just posted these off and am now waiting to hear.

I am wondering if this will affect the chances of me getting diagnosed with autism. I am worried that based on this CAST questionnaire I will be refused an appointment for diagnosis. My mum just seems to think I was a quiet and shy little girl but that I did very well in school, had no learning disabilities, had friends and had no problems with eye contact, strange behaviours, adherence to routines, etc. I just think my mum probably can't remember what I was like as I am 35 now and it's probably all a bit hazy, either that or she just didn't think any behaviours I did have were unusual (when actually they were!). I also think that the CAST questionnaire focusses on stereotypically male autistic traits.

I think I have so many autistic traits now as an adult woman (including social anxiety, general anxiety, obsessions, rigid thinking, resistance to change, and problems sticking to education and employment) that I am very doubtful that I had so few traits as a child.

Does anybody here have any experience of adult female diagnosis and problems with the developmental history part, especially perhaps with parents not thinking you are autistic or that you had any traits as a child? Would a low CAST score on its own be enough to refuse a diagnosis appointment or do they take into account current traits?

Thanks!

Parents

  • I think we have the same Mum.  I'm not going to ask her when I go for my assessment, she thinks exactly the same of me as yours does of you.  She seems to have forgotten or ignored everything negative about my childhood, I mean, they brought her in for parenting lessons because I cried all the time! 

    I'm going to ask my Dad and my brother for their POVs instead.  My brother just accepts that I am autistic and will just tell the truth as he sees it, since he is my bridge to neurotypicals I can be confident with him.  My Dad is less knowledgeable but just as supportive and he has always noticed stuff that fits but just not known what it meant.

    My point in the process is that I've had a first appointment with a psychiatrist who has diagnosed depression and PTSD, changed up my meds and recommended EMDR.  Since I have both of those things, along with anxiety, I'm happy to go along with that until I can guide myself to the right place to get a proper diagnosis.  I think mental health is a conversation, not a be-all-that-ends-all diagnosis, and you may have more than one counsellor or psychiatrist, occupational therapist and so on through your life.  Whether the actual diagnosis happens or not, the rest of it will still help as long as you participate in the process.

  • in reply to Nezumi
    Nezumi said:
    I think mental health is a conversation, not a be-all-that-ends-all diagnosis

    You're right, I think.  It has to start by making you feel supported and adapt to need and we are all different. 

    Having said that, I have read a good deal on the adaptations of assorted therapies for Autism because the thinking styles are so different.  I could be looking at a catalogue of their failures with me.  Not the be all and end all, for sure, but I don't think I can get any nearer a solution without it as a start point.

  • in reply to Dawn

    Ohhh do you have a reading list? Sounds fascinating!

Reply Children
  • in reply to Nezumi

    I'm trying to relocated them and will post when I find them again.  There was one journal piece written by a practicing psychotherapist detailing how much, much more time was needed to produce any effect; time was needed both to make the connections in thought and to identify and feeling.  Lots about understanding that silences might be a temporary withdrawal due to sensory overload and not a sign of resistance or non-compliance, that this was likewise the case for a battery of other behaviours, cautions about interpreting facial expression and body language without checking that out with the patient as they can be misinterpreted, and being specific with questions, allowing for the slow build up of detailed and logical ideas to get to an answer.  All very common sense stuff.

    Personally, I'm sick to death of knocking myself out to be open about my thoughts and feeling and to do what is asked of me, only to be told I obviously don't want to co-operate, have all sorts of assumptions made about me and yet no one seem to be hearing what I AM saying.  I felt like I was talking for England and trying to be honest and give them all the information.  What I got was, "I don't see why you think I need all that detail" (...err because I can't see how the problem can be understood without it) and "tell me what you feel", (like I'm supposed to know just like that. If I knew I'd say.  Or sometimes I have said, but they seem to want some other answer and I've no clue what that is) the list goes on.  

    It'll bug me till I find that article again now.

    I certainly hope it helps to HAVE a diagnosis if you're hoping to get the right therapy.