Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi
My daughter, who is 10 years old is finally seeing the specialist ,with regards to an autism assessment. Can anyone give some advice about it, as i know it will last an hour and half and they will probably ask my daughter to perform specific tasks. Can you give me any further information about this, as both my daughter and myself are really nervous. The Autism Outreach team have suggested that i write some notes about my daughter's behaviour to aid the assessment.
I would like to offer you some reassurance. We were also nervous but my daughter, although she was older than your daughter (17 years old) enjoyed her assessment. A lot of it was done through interactive games and tasks. In fact this is the only 'medical' assessment that she has not come away from feeling bad about herself. As a parent i did find it upsetting as I wished that we had got to this point so much earlier in my daughters life so that we could have found her an educational environment that was better suited to her needs. You have got there so much earlier in your daughter's life, which is great. I had written reams and reams about the timeline of my daughter's mental health problems, which was what pushed me to have her assessed in the first place, but this wasn't necessary. The assessor's asked questions which unlocked memories that I had not necessarily thought relevant. As parents we were in discussion with the doctor for about two hours about our daughter's development and behaviour. Our daughter was with the clinical psychologist for about two hours too. It was exhausting but the whole experience was fascinating and we all came away feeling more empowered than before.
Good luck. Do let us know how you get on.