Published on 12, July, 2020
I (36F) have been the date for my assessment. Getting the date has made me really scared of the actual assessment - I have no idea what to expect and what I will be asked about or to do. I’m scared of getting it all wrong.
The people who do the assessments are well aware people are nervous and are really good at putting us at our ease.
I was a few minutes late for my first assessment meeting and was incredibly flustered as a result but they were brilliant with me. First time I’ve felt truly understood by anyone.
In terms of what to expect, different clinics seem to use different methods but mine started with with a long chat about my life history and my difficulties so they could assess whether it was worth probing deeper. They then followed up with an IQ test and a standard autism test called ADOS.
My advice would be to write a list of all the reasons you think you are autistic and all the challenges and difficulties you’ve had in your life. It’s so easy to forget important points in a meeting.
They’ll probably give you a bunch of forms to complete too but you can do that at your leisure.
Thank you!