RADDS-R and Social Communication Questionnaire

I don't think it is essential to the diagnosis that the questionnaire is completed. Presumably the other relatives who looked after you are no longer surviving?

I think it might be better to explain to the diagnostic service that your mother does not have any sufficiently reliable memories of your childhood, due to her mental health difficulties at the time.

If your mother has kept all of your old school workbooks maybe she has your school reports too. They may provide some helpful evidence of what the teachers were reporting about you. There should be something in there about why you were placed in special lessons. Just because the school workbooks show you were doing well certainly doesn't mean you are not autistic. Many autistic children do very well academically and may have learnt to read and write by themselves before they even start school.

Asking your mother to go back to what would have been a very traumatic time in her life is likely to result in negative emotions and responses. She has probably blocked out many of those painful memories and finds it easier to believe that everything was fine. It's possible that she may be autistic herself, but that it was never diagnosed at the time she was experiencing mental health problems. Back then even the experts thought that autism was something that only affected males.

Like you my mum suffered from mental health problems throughout my childhood. I was looked after by my grandmother when my mum was in hospital. Even when my mum was looking after me she was taking high doses of both antidepressants and benzodiazepines, so wasn't really aware of much. I now believe her problems arose from undiagnosed autism, but during the 60s and 70s hardly anything was known about it.

However in my case my mum was supportive of me during the diagnostic process. She filled out the questionnaire as best she could but really struggled with a lot of the questions. She did have memories of the numerous times she was called to the school to discuss multiple issues they had identified, such as my meltdowns, refusal to interact with the other children, refusal to eat anything at lunch times, etc. The school even told my mum to take me to the doctors, but he just dismissed their concerns.

I don't think it is essential to the diagnosis that the questionnaire is completed. Presumably the other relatives who looked after you are no longer surviving?

I think it might be better to explain to the diagnostic service that your mother does not have any sufficiently reliable memories of your childhood, due to her mental health difficulties at the time.

If your mother has kept all of your old school workbooks maybe she has your school reports too. They may provide some helpful evidence of what the teachers were reporting about you. There should be something in there about why you were placed in special lessons. Just because the school workbooks show you were doing well certainly doesn't mean you are not autistic. Many autistic children do very well academically and may have learnt to read and write by themselves before they even start school.

Asking your mother to go back to what would have been a very traumatic time in her life is likely to result in negative emotions and responses. She has probably blocked out many of those painful memories and finds it easier to believe that everything was fine. It's possible that she may be autistic herself, but that it was never diagnosed at the time she was experiencing mental health problems. Back then even the experts thought that autism was something that only affected males.

Like you my mum suffered from mental health problems throughout my childhood. I was looked after by my grandmother when my mum was in hospital. Even when my mum was looking after me she was taking high doses of both antidepressants and benzodiazepines, so wasn't really aware of much. I now believe her problems arose from undiagnosed autism, but during the 60s and 70s hardly anything was known about it.

However in my case my mum was supportive of me during the diagnostic process. She filled out the questionnaire as best she could but really struggled with a lot of the questions. She did have memories of the numerous times she was called to the school to discuss multiple issues they had identified, such as my meltdowns, refusal to interact with the other children, refusal to eat anything at lunch times, etc. The school even told my mum to take me to the doctors, but he just dismissed their concerns.