Advice on assessments

Hi, So I just looked at my records and I was referred in August of last year and i'm getting my assessments end of this month pretty much. About 9 months. So that might give you an idea how long you may be waiting for. Hope that helps or at least gives you an expectation? I'll post on here how it goes of course and mine is through clinical partners so will be quite similar in ways I guess? Hope you hear something soon! Its crap waiting. 

A

No worries, i know you'd posted this a while ago so i wasn't sure you'd see it. Hope you have a positive experience that is helpful at your assessments. Take care

Thanks, I'm going with Clinical Partners too but the 12-18 month wait is daunting me a bit, so I'm really hoping it's not going to be that long! 

Do come back on after your assessments to let us know how you are. Best of luck

 M 

Hi, Thanks, i've got three assessments, one for ADHD, one for autism and another one for autism but with my informant as well. Its a lot but i'm sure once its done i'll be a lot happier and sorted with things. Hopefully you are closer to yours too? Fingers crossed anyway.

A

No apology needed. Best of luck to you for the end of the month! 

HI, Thanks for getting back to me and sorry for not replying, i'm trying to reply to everyone who bothered to reply as I think its the right thing to do! Anyways so i'm getting mine end of the month, done my questionnaires and my Dad is being my informant. He's autistic too and hopefully that should show the link etc and all that kind of thing. We joked that just watching us together for five minutes would show how we are as we can't talk we just talk over each other ha ha. Anyway thanks again and i'll post how I get on. A

Hi, sorry for late reply these have gone to my junk mail. Yeah so I have assessments coming up and I managed to get hold of old psychiatry notes from being a kid so I think they should be gold dust for my assessment. Fingers crossed but thanks for replying. A

Sorry for not replying and I appreciate you doing so. I've put an update on a reply to the person who put that big long explanation. Hope you get sorted soon, I have my assessments end of this month so fingers crossed it all goes ok. Best of luck with everything or whatever people say! :-) A

HI,

This got put in my spam so I missed it earlier so i'm really sorry about not replying when you went to the bother of putting such a detailed and helpful response. I DO have my assessments coming up for ADHD and autism at the end of this month and the beginning of the next. You've put my mind at rest a bit with the process and i've done the forms and questionnaire things and put loads of info in. I also managed to track down my old psychiatry notes from when I was a kid. I was constantly getting chucked out of school for not going and not behaving but I hated being told what to do and being stuck in a strict environment like that. My big thing has been abusing drink and drugs to cope over the years. I literally smoked cannabis from age 11 till about two weeks ago. I have had a lifetime of failed jobs, failed relationships, stressing about people and social stuff etc etc. I have basically adopted a safe lifestyle, just me my four cats and nipping to the shops occasionally. I just wish i'd done it years back and KNOW about what was going on. I've spent my whole life thinking i'm everything from a soicopath to a depressed druggie and everything inbetween. I was actually told I was ADHD by the same child psychiatrists and this was in the 90's and my Mum just wouldn't have it and yeah i've struggled after that. So thanks for putting my mind at rest a bit and i'll tell you later how they go maybe if I remember. Best of luck to you. 

A

Im glad you found it helpful. I was advised before hand not to worry about preparing....and I'd agree with that. You can't prepare as such as it's just a matter of telling your truthful experiences even if it's hard to share/ look back at your struggles. But I've shared how the general process goes as I think it would have helped me to know what was involved in terms of a mental image of what an assessment process looks like. i guess not all experiences will be exactly the same but I'd imagine they'd be similar. 

I hope you get your assessment soon. 

Hi, A, I'm in much the same situation as you, awaiting an assessment some time next year. The wait is agony! I did find AI helpful with gathering information and organising it concisely (I tend to over write) and I've found it enlightening to delve back into my childhood and notice things that perhaps were linked. As Poetchi said, keeping a daily log is something I've started too in the hope it'll make the assessment go smoother.

Wishing you luck with the eventual assessment

This is such a great wealth of information. I'm in the same situation as OP so, really, reading this is such a help! 

Hi, bit late to the party replying to this but I had my assessment the other day so I'll share my experience while its fresh in my mind. Im assuming you are still waiting for your assessment.

My experience through the NHS went like this.

When the appointment is booked they will send you 2 questionnaires; one for you to complete and one for a family member or someone who knew you as a child. ( you can complete both if you don't want to involve anyone else- they do ask different questions so if you're not giving it to someone else I would suggest taking a look at both yourself. Thats what I did). They involve really thinking about your past and I found doing them a little at a time was best as they're fairly long. You send them back prior to your appointment.

During your appointment it's just a pile of questions similar to the questionnare you've filled to be honest. I was expecting tests in some way but it was just a chat, answering questions about different stagesand aspects of your life. It takes 2 hours. The assessor was really supportive and encouraged me to say if I needed a break at all. I went all in and just tried to get it all done in one but found i got fairly overwhelmed by discussing it all by the end of the 2 hours and had to stop briefly. I wish I had taken a break half way through. So maybe consider really checking in with yourself and asking for 5 mins to yourself half way through if you get overwhelmed by lots of information like I did. 

When I arrived the assessor said I'd provided a lot of information they needed in the questionnare so I got the vibe they felt they had a lot of what they needed already. So.. I'd suggest really taking time to include as much as possible in the initial pre appointment forms to help as i felt after the appointment there were thing I wish I'd said but I think I'd essentially covered in the questionnare. The assessor said not to stress about what you share and if it's the 'right things' as she will keep asking questions and adjusting untill that section is answered enough for her. They're not there to catch you out, they just want to get the best picture of you and your experiences. 

So essentially you just sit at a table and chat with someone and tell them your life experiences. My assessor was very kind, supportive and understanding. It was a very supportive experience for me and I hope it is for you. 

I hope that's helpful and I've kept it concise enough to not be overwhelming to read. happy to answer any questions as best I can if you want to ask anything. 

( I'm also nearly 42 but known I've felt something was off since I was 11 too )

Take care

Hey! I recently got diagnosed as an adult too and one of the things that my assessor said was really helpful was that I wrote down (almost like a diary) in the months leading up to my assessment reasons why I was seeking diagnosis and also things that I came up against in daily life that related to my autism. She said this was really helpful and made the diagnosis a smooth process, because in the end I had about 14 pages worth of info on why I think I have autism! It might be worth doing a diary or keeping notes on your phone when things come up, because for me it made the waiting for an appointment much easier (I hate waiting for things) and also it provided a lot of nuanced info! 

Hi, I had an adult assessment last June at the age of 57, part of my assessment was using ADOS-2 testing. Mine was in person so yours maybe slightly different if done over the internet. Try not to worry, they aren’t there to catch you out, I imagine you have or will do a written questionnaire before the interview. I didn’t have an informant from childhood so quite a lot of the interview was taken up with building up a picture of my childhood.

I understand your issues with reading, mine are similar, I normally have to read something multiple times before it makes sense. I use a lot of audiobooks but still have issues with retention.

Hi,

Thanks for getting back to me but I was rather hoping a human could just say how they experienced it. I hate links and things like that and I struggle with my ADHD reading things. I was just hoping someone could put a couple of paragraphs just on how they experienced things. To be honest I have LOADS of questions as I am just realising A LOT about myself and working through stuff. Is there any groups you can suggest or suggest ANYTHING as I feel like I don't know what to do now kind of thing?

Dear alterpop,

Thank you for your message. We have a wealth of advice here on the NAS website. First may I signpost you to the diagnosis section which will hopefully explain the process to you. Please find the link here:

https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/diagnosis

Please feel free to explore the Advice and Guidance pages should you wish to find out more. 

I hope everything goes well for you.

With best wishes,

Anna Mod