What happens at a diagnosis assessment?

It’s good that you got acknowledgement of your referral. You just have to be yourself during an autism assessment - I know that can be easier said than done, especially if you have various emotions around the possibility that you are autistic. 

I was referred by my GP for an NHS assessment, but the waiting list was over 4 years in N. Ireland so I had my assessment at a private clinic that specialised in autism assessment. The NHS assessments where I live, take place at an adult autism clinic at a hospital The assessment took place over three separate appointments. The first part was a developmental history gathering exercise which was undertaken by a Clinical Pschologist. He asked lots of questions about the past and the present. The second and third parts were conducted by a specialist Occupational Therapist who had been trained to assess adults according to the accepted NICE guidelines. I was asked questions, we had a conversation on several different topics and I was observed doing set tasks. There are no right or wrong answers. At the end of the process I was told that I was autistic and this was followed up by a written diagnosis of autism and a detailed report of my strengths and challenges. I also had two more follow up appointments to discuss the findings.

Just curious what sort of tasks you had to do, I didn't have to do any but the process has changed (I was assessed under old criteria) so I'm also interested in what happens these days.

Just curious what sort of tasks you had to do, I didn't have to do any but the process has changed (I was assessed under old criteria) so I'm also interested in what happens these days.

One of the tasks was to take pieces of different coloured shapes, about the size of lego bricks, out of a box and place them within an outline of a large shape. There were a few other variants of that task, and tasks requiring me to describe objects and images.