Assessment Help

Hiya. I must take issue with you for calling AS a 'developmental disorder', it is nothing of the sort. I resent being called 'disordered' and so do many of us. We have a condition known to be on the autism spectrum, which simply describes our differences to NTs. You were (assuming you do get diagnosed as autistic) born that way. Your development, like anyone else's, was subject to your environment, but you were in that environment as an AS person.

There is absolutely no need whatsoever for either your school reports or any input from your parents. The assessement is of you, the other information helps to inform the process when it is available, but many people have neither of those things to offer. This doesn't affect your asessement, although we do sometimes hear from posters telling us that they have been told it is essential. This is simply not true.

Depression and anxiety go with our condition, mainly due to trying to function in a world that we have no control over, largely populated by people who cannot understand our difference. We have 'troubled minds' because of the way our brains work, but that doesn't mean that we are incapable, incompetent, or untalented. Quite the reverse, but the depression and anxiety that we get because this is not understood simply adds to the pool of negativity that is our experience when out in the NT world.

A 2 hour asessemnt is sufficient, in the hands of a properly qualified assessor, to make the diagnosis. There is nothing that you can be pre-warned about because it is a dynamic process -  it is a tailored discussion, not a question and answer tick-box filling exercise. No two such assessments can ever be the same because no two people are ever the same.

Remember, this is your assessment. Some of us have had very good experiences, some of us have had very bad experiences. You cannot take either example as indicative of how yours will go.

However, let me assure you that the session will not be painful or harmful to you. The (typical) anxiety you are feeling over it is perfectly normal for anyone, the intensity of it is very much AS in nature. Relax into the session - two hours seem long, but my own two hours were over in about 5 minutes, it seemed. I can't remember any of the discussion, apart from a few odd snippets, and I'm still amazed that that was all it took.

I did an AQ questionnaire, it meant little to me at the time and I can't remember any of that either, but on the strength of it I was put straight to the assessemnt, although I had to wait a year for it to come around. I didn't come to this website untill after I'd been diagnosed, and frankly I'm glad. I think that if I'd asked questions and got the range of answers that commonly arise, I'd have been thouroughly confused and even more anxious.

You're an individual, you make your own choices and decisions, and I sincerely hope that you get the answers that you deserve whether you decide to include your parents or not - you know them better than any of us so we cannot advise you either way. Your answers will come from your diagnosis, not from us. All we can do is welcome and support you, understand who you are and what you're going through, and do discussions like this with you. I think that if you spend time going over old threads on here, it will give you a much greater understanding of our range of experience when we are faced with questions such as yours.

I wish you all the best

Hiya. I must take issue with you for calling AS a 'developmental disorder', it is nothing of the sort. I resent being called 'disordered' and so do many of us. We have a condition known to be on the autism spectrum, which simply describes our differences to NTs. You were (assuming you do get diagnosed as autistic) born that way. Your development, like anyone else's, was subject to your environment, but you were in that environment as an AS person.

There is absolutely no need whatsoever for either your school reports or any input from your parents. The assessement is of you, the other information helps to inform the process when it is available, but many people have neither of those things to offer. This doesn't affect your asessement, although we do sometimes hear from posters telling us that they have been told it is essential. This is simply not true.

Depression and anxiety go with our condition, mainly due to trying to function in a world that we have no control over, largely populated by people who cannot understand our difference. We have 'troubled minds' because of the way our brains work, but that doesn't mean that we are incapable, incompetent, or untalented. Quite the reverse, but the depression and anxiety that we get because this is not understood simply adds to the pool of negativity that is our experience when out in the NT world.

A 2 hour asessemnt is sufficient, in the hands of a properly qualified assessor, to make the diagnosis. There is nothing that you can be pre-warned about because it is a dynamic process -  it is a tailored discussion, not a question and answer tick-box filling exercise. No two such assessments can ever be the same because no two people are ever the same.

Remember, this is your assessment. Some of us have had very good experiences, some of us have had very bad experiences. You cannot take either example as indicative of how yours will go.

However, let me assure you that the session will not be painful or harmful to you. The (typical) anxiety you are feeling over it is perfectly normal for anyone, the intensity of it is very much AS in nature. Relax into the session - two hours seem long, but my own two hours were over in about 5 minutes, it seemed. I can't remember any of the discussion, apart from a few odd snippets, and I'm still amazed that that was all it took.

I did an AQ questionnaire, it meant little to me at the time and I can't remember any of that either, but on the strength of it I was put straight to the assessemnt, although I had to wait a year for it to come around. I didn't come to this website untill after I'd been diagnosed, and frankly I'm glad. I think that if I'd asked questions and got the range of answers that commonly arise, I'd have been thouroughly confused and even more anxious.

You're an individual, you make your own choices and decisions, and I sincerely hope that you get the answers that you deserve whether you decide to include your parents or not - you know them better than any of us so we cannot advise you either way. Your answers will come from your diagnosis, not from us. All we can do is welcome and support you, understand who you are and what you're going through, and do discussions like this with you. I think that if you spend time going over old threads on here, it will give you a much greater understanding of our range of experience when we are faced with questions such as yours.

I wish you all the best