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What's An Assessment Like?

Stir_Ling

I'm due for my autism assessment in November. I am traveling from the USA to Lithuania to do it just because of cost. Yes...it's cheaper to fly to Lithuania, stay for a few days, and fly back than it is to pay for an assessment in the place where I live. Greatest country in the world. (That's sarcasm.) 

I have been keeping notes, and I have copies of my masking test and aspie quiz. However, there is no family member, besides my wife and children, who might be able to communicate to the specialist, certainly not about my childhood. I am estranged from my family, primarily because I had to draw harsh boundaries after getting diagnosed with CPTSD in 2010. 

I'm expecting to be interviewed. Will they do things like make me sit in a room by a strobe light or in some annoying space that smells like socks and fish as they pump in the sound of artillery fire to see how I react? Will I be given a cognition test of some kind? 

I'm 52 and male and have a relatively stable career. I'm skilled at masking---in recent weeks, I've become quite aware of just how sophisticated my masking is. I'm sure many here know what I mean by this, so I won't explain it. Do they have a way of dismantling the masking, or "forcing me" into stressful situations where I might reveal some stimming or some more outward sign. I'm concerned that I'll manage to hide my autism from the specialist in the same way I hide it everywhere else. At the same time, this fear might be a tentacle of impostor syndrome. 

I'm sure they've devised ways to handle all this. Still, I'm anxious to know what awaits me so that I'd have some way of predicting it. 

Parents Reply Children
  • in reply to Trev

    ICD 11

    My assessment was done under ICD 11 and the report has several tables of information consisting of :

    Development/Personal History

    Evidence of impairment

    Health Relate Areas

    Mental Health Comorbidities

    Neurodevelopmental Comorbidities

    Substance Use and Smoking Status

    Risk assessment - Past and current

    ADI-R Summary of Findings

    ADOS Assessment

    Then there is a table of "ICD-11 Autism Spectrum Disorder Checklist" where the result for each trait is yes/no/some traits.

    It says at the top of the table "Must meet criteria A,B,C, and D", then there are 7 traits for criteria A, 7 traits for criteria B, one trait for criteria C and one trait of criteria D.  The columns of the tables are ADOS-2, ADI-R, MDT and Overall.  At the bottom of the table is the question "Are the diagnostic criteria of Autism Spectrum Disorder met?

    After that there is a section whether an Intellectual Development disorder is present or not, then whether an Impairment of Functional Language is present or not.

    The outcome of my assessment lists the members of the multidisciplinary team and states that they agree that I meet the criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder under ICD-11.

    DSM 5-TR

    i don't know what a DSM5-TR assessment report looks like, but having a look at my copy of DSM5 (where the autism section is almost identical to DSM5-TR)  it looks like the outcome will record in addition to specifying whether an intellectual impairment is present or not and whether a language impairment is present or not it is required to specify the support level required for "social communication" and for "Restricted, repetitive behaviors", with the levels being:

    Level 1 "Requiring support"

    Level 2 "Requiring substantial support"

    Level 3 "Requiring very substantial support"

    Maybe someone having an assessment under DSM 5-TR would have more information on the differences between the two in terms of the report that you receive and will be able to provide more information.

    Edit: I found this example of a DSM 5 assessment report that is very different from the ICD 11 one I had (The ICD 11 assessment seems to be whether you have traits or not and DSM 5 gives scores where traits are present):

    www.registeredpsychologist.com.au/.../PECS-Example-Autism-Report.pdf