ADHD: Private clinics exposed by BBC undercover investigation

Dawn said:

Don't let it doubt your ASC status if you feel comfortable that it's right. Doubt only if you don't feel it genuinely fits.

That said, I'd have doubts about an assessment that took no more than an hour. Mine was a full day, following the submission of a big fat bundle of old school reports, questionnaires from my mother, my one questionnaires, old dyslexia diagnoses and MH correspondence.

They need all that to be confident in making a diagnosis in many cases. 

Hi Dawn.

I'd appreciate it if you could explain what type of cases require all the documentation you speak of above (+ a whole day assessment).

My assessment consisted of the RAADS questionnaire + some others + 2 one hour online interviews so I'm doubting now from what you say and obviously from this documentary, that these were sufficient to make a reliable diagnosis.

Thank you.

You wouldn't necessarily need things like old school reports or input from family members. I didn't, because I was able to provide lots of information about my own experiences, and I'm fairly high-masking so input from other people wouldn't really be helpful anyway.

My appointments lasted a total of six hours, though this did include the RAADS-R questionnaire and a family history, both of which could be done on your own. The other appointment was two hours, so about the same as yours were in total.

I think that as long as a knowledgeable assessor has been able to observe you and hear about how you experience the world, that's the most important thing. It sounds like you did actually provide a lot of information, which suggests that things were sufficiently thorough for a valid diagnosis.

You wouldn't necessarily need things like old school reports or input from family members. I didn't, because I was able to provide lots of information about my own experiences, and I'm fairly high-masking so input from other people wouldn't really be helpful anyway.

My appointments lasted a total of six hours, though this did include the RAADS-R questionnaire and a family history, both of which could be done on your own. The other appointment was two hours, so about the same as yours were in total.

I think that as long as a knowledgeable assessor has been able to observe you and hear about how you experience the world, that's the most important thing. It sounds like you did actually provide a lot of information, which suggests that things were sufficiently thorough for a valid diagnosis.