Published on 12, July, 2020
I'm getting more stressed about my assessment. I think it's the not knowing what will happen, where will it be, who will be there. I get really stressed when it's something new and I have no way of doing any research. Can you tell me what will it be like, how many people will be there, what sort of questions get asked, how long does it last for. Sorry I'm just trying to get a picture in my mind of what could happen on the day
It varies depending on which service is doing it, so I can only share what mine was like (on the NHS in London).
So it was two sessions on different days, less than an hour each and with two different people. They said they don't speak to each other about it until after the second one so they both go in with a fresh view.
The first one was basically just an interview type thing where he asked me a bunch of questions about various things. Basically a more in depth version of the questionnaires you have to fill in before.
The second one involved practical stuff, like tell me what you see in this picture, tell me the story of this picture book that doesn't have words, explain to me how to make a cup of tea, take a few objects from this bag and make up a story using them. And there was also more talking.
Between the second session and the one where they tell you their conclusion, they spoke to each other and came to a joint conclusion that I was autistic. And then sent me a more in depth report on each aspect of the assessments.