What's An Assessment Like?

If it is anything like what I did:

There will probably be some forms to fill in advance. Some are the screenimg tests, some are personal detail related. One of my forms covered questions related to autistic traits. I took 1-2 weeks to fill this in as I thought of things. I researched things online, then thought back to find evidence, which took time. I don't know how common this is but it removes the pressure to try to remember stuff as they have read it all in advance.

You have one or more sessions. I had one to talk about my life and background in general, and one about the autistic traits. They clarified any points from the answers I supplied and I could raise anything else.

The sessions were steered conversations, not an interview. They stop you from rambling, or going off topic and wandering into special interests.

I also did the ADOS-2 test, which is a session with a behavioural expert, you do some simple tasks and talk a bit about your life.

There is no pass or fail. I think it may be  possible to fake being normal if you are good at masking and wanted to, but you need to just relax and be yourself, I think it is harder to fake being ASD. They look for consistency, it is about what you don't say, how you phrase things, what you talk about, not just claiming to have some traits. It is better to all be done face to face.

I thought I had done too well and might just be a quirky worried normal person. But they'd though I was positive from the initial discussion before we even started.

How they handle absence of an informant is up to them, it should be possible, you should ask.

There shouldn't be anything confrontational or awkward. They should want you to be at ease and talk. But I don't know Lithuania.

If it is anything like what I did:

There will probably be some forms to fill in advance. Some are the screenimg tests, some are personal detail related. One of my forms covered questions related to autistic traits. I took 1-2 weeks to fill this in as I thought of things. I researched things online, then thought back to find evidence, which took time. I don't know how common this is but it removes the pressure to try to remember stuff as they have read it all in advance.

You have one or more sessions. I had one to talk about my life and background in general, and one about the autistic traits. They clarified any points from the answers I supplied and I could raise anything else.

The sessions were steered conversations, not an interview. They stop you from rambling, or going off topic and wandering into special interests.

I also did the ADOS-2 test, which is a session with a behavioural expert, you do some simple tasks and talk a bit about your life.

There is no pass or fail. I think it may be  possible to fake being normal if you are good at masking and wanted to, but you need to just relax and be yourself, I think it is harder to fake being ASD. They look for consistency, it is about what you don't say, how you phrase things, what you talk about, not just claiming to have some traits. It is better to all be done face to face.

I thought I had done too well and might just be a quirky worried normal person. But they'd though I was positive from the initial discussion before we even started.

How they handle absence of an informant is up to them, it should be possible, you should ask.

There shouldn't be anything confrontational or awkward. They should want you to be at ease and talk. But I don't know Lithuania.

This is so helpful! Thank you. 

I already had an interview, which seemed along the lines of an assessment, really, as the therapist went down a list of checkpoint-type elements, and proposed to me theoretical situations. When I gave those answers more than a month ago, I had much less conscious awareness of my condition; in the meantime, all sorts of things have popped up. It feels like the moment when you learn a new word, and suddenly you see it in advertisements or announcements all around you in familiar places. It was always there, but it had no meaning because you did not know it. 

I would answer some of those questions differently now, so I understand the reason your session gave you time to answer. In essence, that's what they're doing now. They had an initial assessment/interview, then told me they suspect autism but require a more thorough assessment, done by a different specialist, with whom I've yet to speak. My take on a question like, "What do you notice when you watch characters having a conversation in a film or television show," is completely different. In fact, I try to memorize the back-and-forth, and the difference between what they would say and what I would say, given certain questions. 

What's fascinating is just how much of my day-to-day and moment-to-moment is different now. Yesterday, the vibrations of the shopping cart I was pushing over an asphalt car park made my entire body tense, and my hands felt like they were burning. What...I used to just ignore that? It's frightening and fascinating and just downright weird.