Help with a going for a Lorna Wing Assessment

Hi there.  I was assessed at the Lorna Wing Centre.  Relax.  They are lovely and will really put you at ease.  I also know they are inundated and they wouldn't be assessing you if they didn't already think from your referral that there is a reasonable chance that you could be autistic.

When I went through the process I answered their questionnaire in great detail amassing any and all information I could for them whether I thought it might point to the fact that I am Autistic or the opposite, perhaps I wasn't.  If you have relative who have recollections from your youth, it might be sensible to sit them down and ask them for their perceptions of the responses to those questions.  I had a battery of old school reports detailing how I never mixed as a kid and what my concentration and focus was like - that proved really useful. Depending on your generation, have you video of when you were young so that they can see how you played and interacted with the world and people around you?  If not, write down all your recollections. Give them all that before hand and don't worry about overburdening them with detail.  They'll find it all useful and they will read and pay attention to it.

On the day itself they will put you at your ease and you can have little breaks if it's overwhelming.  They asked me a number of questions about what had prompted me to want to be assessed and then about all the areas in the questionnaire and they are interested in all the detail - so take your time.  Take someone who knows you well along, if you can.  They'll have a word with them too.  

I'm so sorry you've had such a negative experience with the NHS.  I know some trust have assessors who are well trained these days and can spot the subtler presentations of Autism, but there are others who are still stuck in the 20th century conceptions of what Autism looks like and are wont to miss out on some cases, particularly with women and girls, putting down their struggles to social anxiety or such.  You can rest assure with the Lorna Wing though that they are bang uptodate with the latest research and give it the time and attention needed not to miss a trick.  There was so much they picked up on at my assessment which evidenced my Autism that even I hadn't noticed at that point.  These guys are good and, if you are indeed Autistic, their verdict is unlikely to be rejected by anyone because their reputation is so good.  They do have incredible expertise in the subtler presentations of Autism and in separating out Autism from other neurodevelopmental conditions and from psychological conditions which might emulate the surface features of Autism.  You can have real confidence in their outcome.

Disco doesn't involve any interpretation of pictures of frogs, you might be pleased to hear.

Hi there.  I was assessed at the Lorna Wing Centre.  Relax.  They are lovely and will really put you at ease.  I also know they are inundated and they wouldn't be assessing you if they didn't already think from your referral that there is a reasonable chance that you could be autistic.

When I went through the process I answered their questionnaire in great detail amassing any and all information I could for them whether I thought it might point to the fact that I am Autistic or the opposite, perhaps I wasn't.  If you have relative who have recollections from your youth, it might be sensible to sit them down and ask them for their perceptions of the responses to those questions.  I had a battery of old school reports detailing how I never mixed as a kid and what my concentration and focus was like - that proved really useful. Depending on your generation, have you video of when you were young so that they can see how you played and interacted with the world and people around you?  If not, write down all your recollections. Give them all that before hand and don't worry about overburdening them with detail.  They'll find it all useful and they will read and pay attention to it.

On the day itself they will put you at your ease and you can have little breaks if it's overwhelming.  They asked me a number of questions about what had prompted me to want to be assessed and then about all the areas in the questionnaire and they are interested in all the detail - so take your time.  Take someone who knows you well along, if you can.  They'll have a word with them too.  

I'm so sorry you've had such a negative experience with the NHS.  I know some trust have assessors who are well trained these days and can spot the subtler presentations of Autism, but there are others who are still stuck in the 20th century conceptions of what Autism looks like and are wont to miss out on some cases, particularly with women and girls, putting down their struggles to social anxiety or such.  You can rest assure with the Lorna Wing though that they are bang uptodate with the latest research and give it the time and attention needed not to miss a trick.  There was so much they picked up on at my assessment which evidenced my Autism that even I hadn't noticed at that point.  These guys are good and, if you are indeed Autistic, their verdict is unlikely to be rejected by anyone because their reputation is so good.  They do have incredible expertise in the subtler presentations of Autism and in separating out Autism from other neurodevelopmental conditions and from psychological conditions which might emulate the surface features of Autism.  You can have real confidence in their outcome.

Disco doesn't involve any interpretation of pictures of frogs, you might be pleased to hear.

Thank you for describing your experience of attending a DISCO assessment at the Lorna Wind Centre.

(From a definitely NON-fan of the interpreting pictures of frogs assessment variety!).