Post Assessment Help

Hi All

Looking for a wee bit of help and advice. 

I recently went for an autism assessment and got my results back yesterday and not sure what do to now, if anything. 

Basically, the assessor has advised that I am not on the autism spectrum and provided me with some of the reasoning behind that decision. 

To give a little bit of background about myself, I am in my early 40s and a couple of years ago, my then 16 year old son was diagnosed as being autistic which made me start to look at my own behaviour over the years, so finally decided to get an assessment.

One of the issues I have with the results of my own assessment, is not the outcome in itself, but the reasons provided for the outcome. 

They mainly focused on what I was like growing up, stating the fact that I had friends going through school and that I performed reasonably well in school and I didn't show signs or hand flapping or rocking back and forth and movements like that. The assessor mentioned that I was very likeable during the assessment as well. 

One of my concerns is that my son doesn't present any of those traits either, had lots of friends at school, was really well liked by his teachers, can come across really nice and friendly, in general, but he is absolutely on the autism spectrum. 

I was mainly expecting to be told I was autistic, I have stimmed most of my life, I have a very limited diet, I have no close friends, actually have very little friends at all and have struggled for the last 25 years in making friends and some other things as well.

So my question is, what should I do now, is there any point is requesting a second opinion from the same organisation that have already stated that they don't believe I am on the spectrum or just accept their diagnosis and try and move on and do what I can?

Thanks in advance for any advice. 

Parents
  • I wouldn’t use the same organisation for a second opinion. You will get the same answer.

    Hmm, your likeable. So someone Autistic shouldn’t be? I don’t get this. The same was said about my daughter, along with other nonsense about her appearance. She has friends, and she had friends at school. She masked until she could no longer, at about 13. She then lost some friends. 

    It is hard to diagnose an adult, because there are no guidelines like there are with children. An adult will have learnt to adapt and live within their capabilities. You would need to find someone who knows what to look for and what to ask, and who has experience with females (I’ve assumed you are female). They would need to speak to someone who knew you as a child, but this isn’t always necessary.

    If you find someone suitable, go armed with lots of information about your social capabilities, routines and sensory problems. 

  • I'm male but in another post we had a discussion where a few of us believed we presented the same as female if you get what i mean

  • Yes, though I have problems with groups of people, I have always been able to hold conversations with one or two people, and put myself out to be friendly, and be a good listener. So I think that I come across as an engaged and likeable person. However, all socialising exhausts me and after a while I then need solitude in order to recover.

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  • Yes, though I have problems with groups of people, I have always been able to hold conversations with one or two people, and put myself out to be friendly, and be a good listener. So I think that I come across as an engaged and likeable person. However, all socialising exhausts me and after a while I then need solitude in order to recover.

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