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Advice - ASD assessment

NAS89617
11 months ago

Hi all, 

I had my ASD assessment this morning and was told that I am not autistic because I only meet 2 out of the 3 criteria for a diagnosis. I originally scored 45 out of 50 for the AQ50 and I really felt like I was going to be diagnosed wih ASD. 

The one that I failed at was to do with habits, routines and dealing with change etc. At the time of the assessment I didn't really think that much into this side of things because I have always been more focused on the socialisation side of ASD. 

I don't really like to do anything other than stay at home and don't have any special interests other than films/tv so I never really thought about whether I have routines or habits. There are little things I like to do and I struggle with ambiguous instructions but other than that, I can't think of any other routine type things. 

I was just wondering if anyone has had a similar issue or any advice? I don't know whether I should contact psychiatry UK to just let them know of the things I have thought about now but I don't want them to think I am making it up because I failed the examination. Sorry for the long post. 

Parents
  • 11 months ago

    These are the ICD-11 diagnostic requirements for an autism diagnosis:

    Diagnostic Requirements

    Essential (Required) Features:

    • Persistent deficits in initiating and sustaining social communication and reciprocal social interactions that are outside the expected range of typical functioning given the individual’s age and level of intellectual development. Specific manifestations of these deficits vary according to chronological age, verbal and intellectual ability, and disorder severity. Manifestations may include limitations in the following:
      • Understanding of, interest in, or inappropriate responses to the verbal or non-verbal social communications of others.
      • Integration of spoken language with typical complimentary non-verbal cues, such as eye contact, gestures, facial expressions and body language. These non-verbal behaviours may also be reduced in frequency or intensity.
      • Understanding and use of language in social contexts and ability to initiate and sustain reciprocal social conversations.
      • Social awareness, leading to behaviour that is not appropriately modulated according to the social context.
      • Ability to imagine and respond to the feelings, emotional states, and attitudes of others.
      • Mutual sharing of interests.
      • Ability to make and sustain typical peer relationships.
    • Persistent restricted, repetitive, and inflexible patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities that are clearly atypical or excessive for the individual’s age and sociocultural context. These may include:
      • Lack of adaptability to new experiences and circumstances, with associated distress, that can be evoked by trivial changes to a familiar environment or in response to unanticipated events.
      • Inflexible adherence to particular routines; for example, these may be geographic such as following familiar routes, or may require precise timing such as mealtimes or transport.
      • Excessive adherence to rules (e.g., when playing games).
      • Excessive and persistent ritualized patterns of behaviour (e.g., preoccupation with lining up or sorting objects in a particular way) that serve no apparent external purpose.
      • Repetitive and stereotyped motor movements, such as whole body movements (e.g., rocking), atypical gait (e.g., walking on tiptoes), unusual hand or finger movements and posturing. These behaviours are particularly common during early childhood.
      • Persistent preoccupation with one or more special interests, parts of objects, or specific types of stimuli (including media) or an unusually strong attachment to particular objects (excluding typical comforters).
      • Lifelong excessive and persistent hypersensitivity or hyposensitivity to sensory stimuli or unusual interest in a sensory stimulus, which may include actual or anticipated sounds, light, textures (especially clothing and food), odors and tastes, heat, cold, or pain.
    • The onset of the disorder occurs during the developmental period, typically in early childhood, but characteristic symptoms may not become fully manifest until later, when social demands exceed limited capacities.
    • The symptoms result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning. Some individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder are able to function adequately in many contexts through exceptional effort, such that their deficits may not be apparent to others. A diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder is still appropriate in such cases.

    It appears that your assessor reached their conclusion because there wasn't sufficient evidence within the second category listed above. Presumably if you scored highly on the AQ50 you would have some of those behaviours but perhaps struggled to come up with sufficient examples when asked.

    I can't see any harm in emailing the assessor with details of any examples you have subsequently thought of, outside of the pressured environment of the assessment. The assessment is not an examination and the people doing the assessment should have awareness that autistic people can struggle to answer on the spot. I am not sure what the outcome would be but at least you'll know you tried.

Reply
  • 11 months ago

    These are the ICD-11 diagnostic requirements for an autism diagnosis:

    Diagnostic Requirements

    Essential (Required) Features:

    • Persistent deficits in initiating and sustaining social communication and reciprocal social interactions that are outside the expected range of typical functioning given the individual’s age and level of intellectual development. Specific manifestations of these deficits vary according to chronological age, verbal and intellectual ability, and disorder severity. Manifestations may include limitations in the following:
      • Understanding of, interest in, or inappropriate responses to the verbal or non-verbal social communications of others.
      • Integration of spoken language with typical complimentary non-verbal cues, such as eye contact, gestures, facial expressions and body language. These non-verbal behaviours may also be reduced in frequency or intensity.
      • Understanding and use of language in social contexts and ability to initiate and sustain reciprocal social conversations.
      • Social awareness, leading to behaviour that is not appropriately modulated according to the social context.
      • Ability to imagine and respond to the feelings, emotional states, and attitudes of others.
      • Mutual sharing of interests.
      • Ability to make and sustain typical peer relationships.
    • Persistent restricted, repetitive, and inflexible patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities that are clearly atypical or excessive for the individual’s age and sociocultural context. These may include:
      • Lack of adaptability to new experiences and circumstances, with associated distress, that can be evoked by trivial changes to a familiar environment or in response to unanticipated events.
      • Inflexible adherence to particular routines; for example, these may be geographic such as following familiar routes, or may require precise timing such as mealtimes or transport.
      • Excessive adherence to rules (e.g., when playing games).
      • Excessive and persistent ritualized patterns of behaviour (e.g., preoccupation with lining up or sorting objects in a particular way) that serve no apparent external purpose.
      • Repetitive and stereotyped motor movements, such as whole body movements (e.g., rocking), atypical gait (e.g., walking on tiptoes), unusual hand or finger movements and posturing. These behaviours are particularly common during early childhood.
      • Persistent preoccupation with one or more special interests, parts of objects, or specific types of stimuli (including media) or an unusually strong attachment to particular objects (excluding typical comforters).
      • Lifelong excessive and persistent hypersensitivity or hyposensitivity to sensory stimuli or unusual interest in a sensory stimulus, which may include actual or anticipated sounds, light, textures (especially clothing and food), odors and tastes, heat, cold, or pain.
    • The onset of the disorder occurs during the developmental period, typically in early childhood, but characteristic symptoms may not become fully manifest until later, when social demands exceed limited capacities.
    • The symptoms result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of functioning. Some individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder are able to function adequately in many contexts through exceptional effort, such that their deficits may not be apparent to others. A diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder is still appropriate in such cases.

    It appears that your assessor reached their conclusion because there wasn't sufficient evidence within the second category listed above. Presumably if you scored highly on the AQ50 you would have some of those behaviours but perhaps struggled to come up with sufficient examples when asked.

    I can't see any harm in emailing the assessor with details of any examples you have subsequently thought of, outside of the pressured environment of the assessment. The assessment is not an examination and the people doing the assessment should have awareness that autistic people can struggle to answer on the spot. I am not sure what the outcome would be but at least you'll know you tried.

Children
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