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Had first interview by adult autism team today

dogdude

Hi all.

I had my first interview today and it has left me very agitated. I was told I would either be asked back for a follow up or told I dont have it, and I have been asked back but he said it was very "mixed" from what they see. This is because  it was all based on info from my mum about how I was when I was little. This was 30 years ago and my mum was not sure of alot of the questions. I have most of the symptoms and have had my whole life as far as I remember, but in the interview they kept saying they are not sure there is enough evidence from when I was little. I did alot of hand flapping(stimming) when little and was quite eccentric this was drawn to parents attention in early primary school(age 5ish). I still do that to this day at 33. I am concerned he seems not particularily interested in any symtoms I have now but insists on me remembering things from childhood. As far as I am aware I have been how I am all my life. I hope that my mums info is not all this is based on or I am concerned I will be dismissed out of hand at the next stage. Since learning that aspergers is probably the explanation for most of my problems it has helped greatly with understanding my self and I am terrified of the fallout of being told I am wrong. I have terrible social anxiety and time management isssues as well as sensory sensitivity and relationship problems.  Has anyone else encountered this issue with the distant past being the main focus and point of contention? Hope to hear from you guys. I can form friendships but bore people to death with my various obsessions and avoid busy social settings a lot which makes maintaining friendships awekward. I can act "normal" sometimes but it takes a lot out of me and is very stressfull making small talk and things. 

Thanks

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  • Former Member
    Former Member

    I think it might help if you try and separate some of the things that are going on.

    Firstly, if you have ASD then there should be some fundamental difficulties in communication that the specialists should be able to identify. Do you encounter problems understanding other people and making yourself understood? Can you remember events,perhaps from junior school onwards where, for exampl, you did not understand the teacher or the teacher made some remarks that you never understood? Did you have friends at school or were you always on the outside? Are you comfortable looking people in the eye and do you understand peoples emotions if you do this? Do you encounter situations where people lose their temper with you and you don't understand why?

    Secondly there are some peripheral or consequential issues that often coexist with ASD. You talk about stimming. This is very common in people with ASD but it doesn't form part of the diagnosis as it isn't part of the communication disorder that defines autism. Also, I expect you may be anxious or depressed but these issues do not help with working out what the diagnosis should be. People get anxious and depressed for all sorts of reasons and, in this situation, they make the diagnosis more difficult as they have to see through these issues to work out the underlying problem.

    They, and you, shouldn't get too hung up on your mother's recollections - I was diagnosed with only my own stories of school and working life as my parents passed away before I was diagnosed. Another issue with parents is that they may have signs of ASD too. My father was 'eccentric' and I now understand that this was probably because he had autism too. Mothers can also have the syndrome and can also be more or less perceptive in describing their children's behaviour. I would think that anyone diagnosing you should be interested in parents' evidence but should always regard them as slightly unreliable witnesses.

    I would agree with the suggestion to take the free test here aspergerstest.net/.../

    The test seems to be a fairly reliable indicator, I expect you will get a high score :-)

Reply
  • Former Member
    Former Member

    I think it might help if you try and separate some of the things that are going on.

    Firstly, if you have ASD then there should be some fundamental difficulties in communication that the specialists should be able to identify. Do you encounter problems understanding other people and making yourself understood? Can you remember events,perhaps from junior school onwards where, for exampl, you did not understand the teacher or the teacher made some remarks that you never understood? Did you have friends at school or were you always on the outside? Are you comfortable looking people in the eye and do you understand peoples emotions if you do this? Do you encounter situations where people lose their temper with you and you don't understand why?

    Secondly there are some peripheral or consequential issues that often coexist with ASD. You talk about stimming. This is very common in people with ASD but it doesn't form part of the diagnosis as it isn't part of the communication disorder that defines autism. Also, I expect you may be anxious or depressed but these issues do not help with working out what the diagnosis should be. People get anxious and depressed for all sorts of reasons and, in this situation, they make the diagnosis more difficult as they have to see through these issues to work out the underlying problem.

    They, and you, shouldn't get too hung up on your mother's recollections - I was diagnosed with only my own stories of school and working life as my parents passed away before I was diagnosed. Another issue with parents is that they may have signs of ASD too. My father was 'eccentric' and I now understand that this was probably because he had autism too. Mothers can also have the syndrome and can also be more or less perceptive in describing their children's behaviour. I would think that anyone diagnosing you should be interested in parents' evidence but should always regard them as slightly unreliable witnesses.

    I would agree with the suggestion to take the free test here aspergerstest.net/.../

    The test seems to be a fairly reliable indicator, I expect you will get a high score :-)

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