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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

Parents

  • I'm heading into the diagnosis process myself but I'm lucky that my mother is fairly supportive.  (I haven't told her i'm going for assessment, just that they are looking into parents history because my son has ASD).  It was her who suggested, about 10 years ago and before I had my children, that I may have HFA / Aspergers.  At the time I disagreed because I was offended, but the more I learn the more I think she is correct but just expressed her opinion using odd examples of traits ("small neat ears" rather than "solitary with special interests" for example).

     

    Anyway the reason i'm replying is something she said about my "friends" in childhood.  She said lots of children thought they were my friend, but I thought I didn't have any friends.  She said I didn't know what other children were "for" or what the point of playing with them was.  There were school peers, and there were children of my parent's friends who I saw outside school, and there were cousins / siblings.  To me they were all different and none of them were "friends".

    Looking back, I couldn't comprehend a definition of the word "friend" and thought there was some sort of threshold a person needed to cross before I could use that word.  Perhaps that I should have a desire to spend time with the person and interact with them, and that desire should be mutual, and there should be evidence of time spend interacting.  I didn't have much desire for interacting so I didn't think I had any friends. 

    Now I have more understanding I know that adults use the word in a way that isn't strict or consistent, and I can use it in context appropriate ways (although I still struggle to use "friend" when I mean "acquaintance from outside work who I don't like that much but don't want to explain to you the details of how I know them")

    All that is a long winded way of saying perhaps that perspective helps you think about your childhood "friends" and explain it to the assessors?  Then you could give a personal perspective as well as relying on your parent's recollections.

Reply

  • I'm heading into the diagnosis process myself but I'm lucky that my mother is fairly supportive.  (I haven't told her i'm going for assessment, just that they are looking into parents history because my son has ASD).  It was her who suggested, about 10 years ago and before I had my children, that I may have HFA / Aspergers.  At the time I disagreed because I was offended, but the more I learn the more I think she is correct but just expressed her opinion using odd examples of traits ("small neat ears" rather than "solitary with special interests" for example).

     

    Anyway the reason i'm replying is something she said about my "friends" in childhood.  She said lots of children thought they were my friend, but I thought I didn't have any friends.  She said I didn't know what other children were "for" or what the point of playing with them was.  There were school peers, and there were children of my parent's friends who I saw outside school, and there were cousins / siblings.  To me they were all different and none of them were "friends".

    Looking back, I couldn't comprehend a definition of the word "friend" and thought there was some sort of threshold a person needed to cross before I could use that word.  Perhaps that I should have a desire to spend time with the person and interact with them, and that desire should be mutual, and there should be evidence of time spend interacting.  I didn't have much desire for interacting so I didn't think I had any friends. 

    Now I have more understanding I know that adults use the word in a way that isn't strict or consistent, and I can use it in context appropriate ways (although I still struggle to use "friend" when I mean "acquaintance from outside work who I don't like that much but don't want to explain to you the details of how I know them")

    All that is a long winded way of saying perhaps that perspective helps you think about your childhood "friends" and explain it to the assessors?  Then you could give a personal perspective as well as relying on your parent's recollections.

Children
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