Published on 12, July, 2020
So asd would explain so much of how my friends brother is as a person and how he experiences life. So he went through the wait for the assessment. Which many will know is a stressful time. But like many of us he wanted the knowledge to be able to understand.
The assessor said he is not autistic but his reasoning seems unfair. For example when asked about special interests he said birds. But the assessor said they like birds too so it not really a special interest. But he doesn't just like birds, he is fascinated by them and spends so much time learning about them. And drawing them. He even has birds that follow him if he leaves the house because the birds know he takes food for them everywhere he goes.
I'm not a asd assessor and don't have the training to diagnose it. But autism would fit this person so well. And it seems unfair that the whole diagnosis he got was based on such a small part of autism which the assessor seemed to not understand at all.
Has anyone got any advise or knows if there is a way to appeal or get a second opinion in such cases without him having to self fund. He lives in Scotland if that changes anything.
Sorry if I've not quite explained that right, I hope it makes sense.
Amber said:Has anyone got any advise or knows if there is a way to appeal or get a second opinion in such cases without him having to self fund.
I suggest that your friend's brother follows the NAS advice here:
"If you disagree with the outcome of the assessment, you may want to raise your concerns directly with the team of professionals who assessed you. You can consider requesting a second opinion by going to your GP if you have had an assessment through the NHS. "
From: What happens during an autism assessment - NAS
This sounds pretty poor in my opinion. Went private myself, and so the assessment process was very well explained: first a 'triage' type interview with a nurse to see if I presented enough indications to merit further investigation. Which I did. Second phase was the main event: a lengthy video meeting with a relative (parents long gone) to discuss my upbringing and early development, and a real doozy of a one-on-one interview with a psychologist to assess me as I am now. A panel of experts reviewed the results of these and a verdict was provided at the end of the day, followed by a formal report a month later.
That first interview is not meant to be a diagnosis, but an indication if pursuing the full ASD assessment is necessary and the right thing to do. Makes me a bit cross actually, that in this case poor interviewing technique is implied. Absolutely must have followed-up with "what is it you find interesting about birds?" or similar in order to tease out the details from a likely very shy subject.
Thanks all of you for answering.
He only had the first appointment, I thought it was weird because I had two.
He going to go private when can afford so hopefully they'll pick it up better and give him a proper answer.
I was also rejected as autistic but told I have ADHD. I think professioanals seem to be reluctant to diagnose people they see as marginal. I 'failed' on not having a strict routine, having non verbal comms like hand jestuers and shrugging my shoulbers, plus not have a monotone voice. I could not be bothered to fight it so am going private soon.
My appointments were first one on teams for one house then I went in person for a two hour one. that was just with one 'doctor'. The whole system is screwed up and there is no consistiancey about how we are diagnosed.
Hi,
How many appointments did he have? I had 3 appointments with the Specialist Autism team, each one lasted 2 hours, it was then, at the 3rd appointment after doing the "facial expression" test that I got 13 out of 25 right, 4 of them took me a few minutes to work out that I was told I am autistic.
If this was after one appointment, then no, I wouldn't accept that "diagnosis" on the basis he wasn't seen properly.
Hope this helps.
Doesn't sound very thorough. An assessment should consist of more than a few obvious questions. I wonder if they are actually qualified to provide a full assessment. Maybe there is more information that you don't know.