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Assessment Help! - Forms/sections to be filled out by parents/carer?

PurplePenny

So I have finally been contacted for the assessment for possible asd/autism. I have my forms, 2 of them. One to be filled out by me and the other by a carer/parent. I have decided to give 1 to my mother, as she is the one who knew me best as a child. 

However, I am a bit concerned... I am worried that her answers to the questions will be influenced by my father. He is against the idea of me having autism and thinks it is a silly notion - as back in the day autism was unheard of. I was just a 'shy' child - he would say.

I am a bit worried he might influence her answers on the questionaire which might make diagnosis harder (should I have it). 

I love them both, but they have different mind sets and feel anxious about the idea of not being diagnosed because of the answers (or lack) that she might give. 

Can anyone relate to this? Can anyone share any ideas, advice or help I could use for this? Am I overthinking this? What do you all think?

  • Your fears may be groundless. It might even be that in attempting to describe your behaviour in disparaging or superficial terms, your Dad actually confirms it. He would have to know a lot about AS to be able to manipulate answers against you, but he doesn't so the danger is minimal. It could even be that your Mum, impressed by you as to the importance of answering truthfuly, does so.

    However, parental questionnaires are not vital to the process, merey helpfuly informative. You could, if you wish, ignore it completely, it shouldn't be any detriment to you at all. Many people get diagnosed whose parents are long passed away/unavailable/unwanted (for reasons such as yours - perfectly valid) and cannot contribute. Weigh this against the anguish you are having over it and my recommendation would be if it's shaking you so badly, don't ask them. They should give it back to you to send in anyway, so you might have the opportunity to review it yourself, but I certainly wouldn't bother trying that one, it could twist your head right up and cause more of a rift.

    Finally, if your Dad thinks you're not AS, where does he get his in-depth knowledge of the condition from? Chances are he neither understands children nor the true nature of AS. That's not good parenting.

  • Former Member
    Former Member

    Parental evidence is desired for demonstrating that the condition was present in childhood. It is frequently brought up as an issue on the forum as

    a) parents may be uncooperative

    b) parents may have a distorted view of normality for example if they are also affected by the condition

    c) parents may be deceased

    etc.

    it isn't essential, your own recollections of incidents at school and in childhood can be useful. School reports can also provide supportive evidence.

  • It shouldn't make much of a difference.The questions seek to highlight the characteristics you had during childhood, not what the informants opinion is of them. The assessor should be able to tell the difference between normal shyness and the social problems relating to ASD, so I wouldn't worry about it.

    If you photocopy the form you can get more than one person to fill it in such as a sibling, childhood friend etc. In my case I got 3 filled out by my mum, dad and wife as each had their own perspective and could contribute their own observations, the psychiatrist who conducted the assessment was grateful for this as it gave him more information to work with.