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Autism assessment waiting list

John878990



Hey everyone Wave

So today my psychiatrist said he suspects I might be autistic and recommended going for an assessment.

I agreed to the referral, but then he told me the current wait time is around 4 years and 8 months Flushed

Is that normal?! Has anyone else been through this recently and can share what your timeline looked like?

Just trying to figure out if this is typical or if something’s gone a bit mad with the system.

Would really appreciate hearing your experiences. To be honest, it all sounds pretty stressful—and I’m not keen on the idea of just being handed antidepressants as a quick fix to mask what might actually be a broader health condition.

Also I'm wondering if the psychiatrist might’ve regretted starting the referral, and maybe was subtly encouraged to stretch the process out so I’d eventually give up on it altogether.

Thanks all

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  • in reply to babak_khanbashi25

    Hi and welcome to the community!

    The link from my reply below explains how to request an assessment - I'll repeat it here:

    NAS - How to request an autism assessment

    The NAS article does include links to screening questionnaires that GPs would require. But you might prefer to use the website below for this. It provides a useful commentary for each questionnaire, and enables them to be completed online (with scores calculated for you), saved as PDFs and - if the results support your suspicions and you decide to seek a formal diagnosis - printed off to share with your GP.

    The AQ-10 or AQ-50 are the most frequently used / required by GPs in support of NHS referrals. (RAADS-R might also be helpful, but recent research has thrown doubt on its validity as a screening tool).

    Embrace Autism - screening tests