Got my GP appointment tomorrow to ask for an Autism referral.

I just wrote a letter with all that. They referred without me needing to speak to them.

Thank you. jus had the appointment. and he said he will refer me. I think he said the next stage is an appointment with psychologist/psychiatrist? is that right?

The only part that made me sad was at the end of me telling him all about my life, his main reason for referring me was that I hadn’t made eye contact in the whole 10 minutes. I just felt a little as if I had been stereotyped. I can make eye contact if I wish to, it was the first time we had met and wasn’t comfortable to let him that far in. 

Dude, Hope it goes well for you today

I spent at least 10 hours researching, doing and re-doing online tests before I could even bring myself to request an appointment. I put all my test scores and quite a bit of detail about particular difficulties I am having into the request form (I had to make it online as a low-priority request - I would never be able to work out what information to give or not give the receptionist over the phone!)

Preparing for my appointment I probably did another 20 hours work. Then I panicked that it was too much detail and so I tried to condense it down. I found the paperwork for the local NHS adult assessment service in my area and I actually wrote the referral myself and printed a copy to take to the GP appointment.

One thing that really helped me was to sketch out a sort of flowchart to think through how I would approach the discussion if he wasn't receptive and my 2 or 3 most vivid examples for each point I wanted to make. Question 1 on my flow chart was did he believe me yes/no?

I'm not sure that anxiety is necessarily a bad thing here - it may actually help your GP To get a better sense of you. I was extremely anxious about my consultation and could barely stay seated in my chair in the waiting room, which thankfully was empty. If anything, it probably played to my advantage and helped make my case for me as by the time I got in to see him I could barely look him in the face and was broadcasting a load of leg-stroking, finger rubbing, knee bouncing stims that would have been impossible to ignore.

My GP told me he had read my initial request and then he asked me a question that I wasn't quite expecting or in a way I wasn't expecting it (I cant even remember what is was now) and it made everything go out my head so I just fell back on my notes and was very direct:

// I'm sorry, this is a really difficult conversation for me to have. I have a script I need to follow to manage this. //

// Thank you for taking the time to read my request. First, I need to know how willing you are to make a referral for me or whether you want me to persuade you? //

He immediately said that he was happy to refer me but needed some more information and that made things a lot easier. I didn't need to trot out my examples, so I pushed my luck with being direct and expecting him to accommodate my needs a little further::

// I'm sorry if you think this is inappropriate, or that I'm trying to take over your professional role here... but I have written a referral letter. Could you read it please and then ask me anything else you need to after that? //

Once he had read my paper it was easier to have a conversation because I knew I had already given him the information I felt was most important so I could just let the rest of the conversation meander wherever he wanted to take it  (I have a real anxiety about holding on internally to 'unimparted information' that I know I have and need to get across, but the conversation has already moved on and the moment has passed so I can't work out how to get it out there)

Is there something in your pages of notes that you could direct the GP to read as a summary if you get into difficulties?

If you are looking for an ASD assessment, and have taken the trouble to send in a lot of detailed information, your GP should hopefully already recognise that they might need to change their approach to accommodate you in the consultation.

Good luck! 

Your notes need to include how you think a referral would help you. This might be needing accommodations to access work, healthcare, or education.

I was referred to an outsourced professional back in January at my GP visit. I eventually heard back from them at the beginning of November and a telephone appointment was set up for my husband to speak to one of the counsellors and on the same day, I had a Zoom appointment with another counsellor. On Monday I received my positive diagnosis - yeah. Feel so much better now so I wish you well as you progress on your journey. 

Just a deep breath and go through the points you have written down. You are not on trial.

Saying that, I sat there and just splurged the whole of my life out in about  10 minutes.  The doctor stopped me in the end and said yes, he thought I would definitely benefit from an autism assessment.

I then sat in my car and cried, the relief I felt for being believed by a professional was overwhelming.

Good luck 

well the notes I prepared and sent came to 21 pages and around 4000 words. I guess we could call that info dumping ha ha. I always get really focused on things like that, which I guess is an other point towards it

Mine was over the phone because pandemic. I had a few notes prepared and she basically asked me why I thought I was, and I info dumped on her for 5 minutes and she said "I'm happy to refer you, I'll send you the paperwork."

thank you. Hopefully I've prepared enough

Good luck Simon!