Published on 12, July, 2020
I did terribly on the ADOS assessment and declined most of the things she asked me to do. Well I started of trying but ended up not being able to. I told her I needed time away to practise before I could answer them.
Anyway the ADI-r took place with my mum answering the vast majority of the questions. Mum told her I was very shy as a child, and didn't have any friends and preferred my own company. From he questions she was asking, and how my mum answered it sounded like I did not have many developmental delays. I learned to talk around the right age, learned to walk around the right age, BUT the teachers would think I couldn't hear them because I didn't learn to respond to them properly until I was around 5 or 7 years old. Mum told them she reckons it was cos we didn't speak English at home. I had convulsions as a baby and because two of my uncles have epilepsy they thought it was a good idea to put me on meds for 4 years. One of my uncles who has epilepsy thinks he has autism but never got assessed. My dad had got assessed as having a learning disability but not dx'd autism. Sadly he passed away.
I'm afraid cos I don't know what the result is going to be. Plus I have had psychosis so maybe that explains the situation more than autism.... so she may refuse to diagnose me
You say you did terrilbly, but you will get an accurite Diagnosi by being yourself.If you "mask" or pretend then you will not get an accurite diagnosis.You MUST be the real you during assessment.
I don't think I will be able to get a second opinion easily unless I go private which I cannot afford at the moment. I already sent her the letters where my psychiatrist is asking my GP to refer me for the autism assessment because he thinks I have that. But of course he's not qualified or allowed to give me the diagnosis.
That’s a difficult situation, some private providers are very expensive after all.
Would you feel happy with self identifying as autistic for the time being or do you need a formal identification (for example, for adjustments at work)?
After my tests I was very anxious about how I would feel if they told me I wasn’t autistic. But when I sat down with the psychologist to receive my result I realised there was no good answer. My problems wouldn’t go away if it was a Yes or a No.
I wouldn’t worry about not having a developmental delay though. Lots of autistic people don’t really show signs until a few years later. I was hyperlexic (could read when I was 3).
I went via RtC after waiting on the NHS for three years, I don't think I will be able to get a second opinion easily unless I go private which I cannot afford at the moment. I already sent her the letters where my psychiatrist is asking my GP to refer me for the autism assessment because he thinks I have that. But of course he's not qualified or allowed to give me the diagnosis.
Plus I have had psychosis so maybe that explains the situation more than autism.... so she may refuse to diagnose me
You can always ask for a second opinion.