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Can someone help me understand my Autism assessment results?

NAS79598

So about a year ago, I went to an assessment center to get tested for Autism because I had been talking about it for a while with my parents and therapist. After a couple weeks they sent me a report with all the results, and I was not diagnosed with Autism. But the report is confusing and contradictory, and I'm sick of not understanding it so I figured I'd ask people on here to see if anyone has any advice or similar experiences.

My confusion comes from the fact that while I was not diagnosed with Autism, a large part of the report does not seem to support this conclusion. For context, here are some of the things said in the report:

"The pattern of answers Sadie gave on the PAI [Personality Assessment Inventory] is consistent with an ASD diagnosis based on current research."

[On the Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition (SRS-2):] "Scores in this range, however, indicate deficiencies in reciprocal social behavior that are clinically significant and tend to lead to severe and enduring interferences with everyday social interaction. In general, such scores are strongly associated with a clinical diagnosis of autism."

"Sadie completed the Adult Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), which is a self-report measure of symptoms commonly associated with autism spectrum disorder. Sadie’s scores yielded a score of 41/50. Scores in this range (over 32) typically indicate significant autistic traits."

Those three are from the main body of the report, by the end in the Summary and Diagnostic Impressions sections they seem to have totally reversed their position:

"While Sadie may meet criteria for autism based on symptoms count, the pervasive and development nature of the disorder (i.e., impacting all aspects of life to a significant degree across the lifespan) does not appear to reach a clinical threshold. The range of what is considered typical functioning is quite broad, meaning that most individuals experience some type of distress or difficulty in their daily lives. Further, Sadie’s emotional problems seem to have impacted her functioning significantly and cannot be ruled out as the cause for difficulty."

"Another factor complicating Sadie’s presentation which can present as a neurodevelopmental disorder (e.g., autism, ADHD) is trauma. Sadie reported a history of trauma related to abuse...Trauma arrests development, impacts mood, can cause emotional lability or blunting, and cause executive dysfunction."

So what gives? I can't be Autistic because I have "emotional problems"? I've read this thing so many times and I just can't understand why that would cancel out everything else relating to an Autism diagnosis. If anyone can help me understand this a little better, I'd really appreciate it.

Parents

  • It seems that they didn’t think ‘it’ affects your life enough. Not that they can see anyway, but they can’t see or tell if you mask to disguise things.

    Add that to the fact that you have trauma, so they aren’t sure, as both things can look awfully similar. However, we also need to think that you are a female, and it isn’t as clear cut as if you were male sadly.

    Do you have a history from as early as you can remember of behaviours that suggest you are Autistic? 

    I live with someone who presents like they have ASD, but they do have lots of trauma. And their ASD tendencies didn’t occur until later life it seems. They are being evaluated for BPD.

    Lastly, we have the same name Grin.

  • in reply to Catlover

    It seems obvious to me that autistic kids are more likely to end up in traumatic circumstances, the same as autistic people without trauma never get diagnosed.  If the trauma is present from birth, autism is obvious.  If trauma is a build up of events over time, autism doesn't get recognised until it becomes a "problem".  I am autistic but I totally thought I was BPD or bipolar or any number of personality disorders.  But I think mismanaged/unsupported autism from being undiagnosed at a young age is the contributory factor for this.

    Ultimately, if I knew I was autistic as a kid, I wouldn't have ended up in an emotionally abusive relationship or been employed by emotionally abusive bosses because I would have known how to get support to avoid all that.  So I wouldn't have trauma.  Some autistics are born into trauma and needs are unmet (not even in unsavory environments, simply because they were born sensitive to that environment and it was obvious) and others never end up in environments that cause their autistic traits to be a noticible problem.

    It's always a Catch-22, you can't separate the autism from the trauma when you don't know what was going on inside someones mind as they were desperately trying to fit in.  Which compounded the trauma as "acceptable".

    Anthony Hopkins discovered he was autistic at 70.  Autism isn't necessarily obvious from birth or early childhood, but the impacts can build up over a lifetime.

  • in reply to Laura

    This is incredibly well put, and has settled me a lot from my earlier wobble - see above. While that's very much a side-effect, rather than your reason for writing what you did (you were replying to the main question posed by the OP), I still appreciate it a lot!

  • in reply to Shardovan

    I tend to answer to a lot of information presented at once and really it was addressing/supporting what you were saying too :)  Additional to the secondary schooling chasm, HORMONESSSSSS.  What we may mask as children becomes much more obvious with hormonal development, changing relationships with friends, understanding sexuality, changing bodies.......

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  • in reply to Shardovan

    I tend to answer to a lot of information presented at once and really it was addressing/supporting what you were saying too :)  Additional to the secondary schooling chasm, HORMONESSSSSS.  What we may mask as children becomes much more obvious with hormonal development, changing relationships with friends, understanding sexuality, changing bodies.......

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