Do they require your parents for an adult diagnosis?

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What if you don't have any?
Would they not be able to diagnose you then?

I don't think it's a requirement, but it sure helps, I would think.

You don't necessarily need your parents for an assessment, but it's helpful because they might be able to remember how you were as a child and give you a third-person perspective on your behaviours. If you don't have parents, perhaps you can ask a friend or a partner [if you have one] who can observe you. Having school reports where teachers have made comments about you are also helpful.

With my assessment, I found that they were most interested in my subjective experience and they didn't ask me for much third-party information, although I was ready to give them some if needed.

Depends entirely on the view of whoever is doing the assessment. Some professionals require it and some don't. There is no universal standard in how assessments are conducted.

They sent my parents a questionaire asking about my capabilities taking care of myself and asking about my early childhood years. My mom mentioned my being withdrawn at school. my talking early, taking a long time to learn to walk, taking a long time to learn to tie my shoes, and how I took a long time to learn to ride a bike. She also mentioned how they were forced to make me interact with other children.

How old are you? I imagine they might want your parent's responses say if you're 19 or 20. If you're 40 or 50 I doubt they'll ask. In my case they asked DH to fill some forms. We've been together for 16 years so he's the person who knows me well. Although I have a long memory and knew what I was like as a toddler and preschooler, so they got all the information from me directly already. I know my speech was normal, my walking was late, I was super careful and didn't play with other kids much.

I think it can be helpful.... but it was never part of my assessment. My parents didn't even know about it.

A friend that has known you the longest.

Hi, I was diagnosed at 39.

The thinks-he-knew-it-all lead adult psychotherapist of my borough told me I didn't have ASD, and that it was impossible without a parent to interview.

About 6 months later, I went to a proper facility, the Maudsley hospital, and they managed fine without my parents. I was so ruddy obviously ASD that they cut the testing process short.

So don't believe all the self-important quacks.


It does help for you to produce an acquaintance who knows you well, and preferably who has known you a while. I brought a friend who had known me six years.

It just helps the assessment process, for them to be able to have someone give input about how you react to stuff, rather than just getting your reaction.

As an adult with life experiences, you will be less of a blank canvas that a child will be, which makes diagnosis more difficult, but not impossible.

For instance, on the facial expression recognition test, I scored above average for detecting negative emotions. A "tick the box" diagnostician would have ruled out ASD from that.

But a thinking properly trained diagnostician took into account that I had somehow survived being brought up by an abusive mother, and as such, had had a LOT of practice recognising danger signs. I suppose you could call it intensive training in that department. Lol. We aspies are not untrainable, we just don't always catch on as painlessly as NTs.

No it's not an essential requirement. Both my parents are dead so it was out of the question, but the DX went ahead anyway. They're keen to find at least one person to corroborate the case though. In my case at the time, it was my wife, who had known me fr over 10 years. My sister had known me much longer of course, but they didn't ask her, for some reason. Just as well.....I think she'd have been very reluctant to say anything "critical" about me.

My parents are both deceased, and I was diagnosed in my 40s.

~Kate

I have a bit of a problem then. If they need to speak with someone who's known you for a long time, I really don't have anyone here in my area and my parents are extremely unlikely to cooperate with a physician. I went to counseling when I was a child, but I have no idea how to locate records of the sessions, or even if they are still around(it was the early 90's). Is there any way to be diagnosed just speaking to someone? I have an almost photographic memory, so I remember a lot of my early childhood.

Going through testing now at 49. I was asked about my parents, but unfortunately I was adopted as a baby, & have no info on my biological parents if there's anyone on either side on the spectrum. I would say it's great if you have that info, but it's not an absolute.

I am going on all the issues plus my memories I have had over my lifetime. I feel there's more than enough reason to believe I do have Aspergers. I go back for more tests tomorrow.

It's not a requirement but it makes it easier. I had a background interview with my parents and I both there, and he asked me for permission to meet with just my parents for more information - but that never occurred because he felt he didn't need it to make a diagnosis.

What they want is descriptions of you from other people's points of views, preferably when you were young. Parents, siblings, or close friends can all do this. They can also get some information just from people who've known you later in your life, apparently SOs are usually part of the diagnosis process.

The more information they can get the easier the process is. It isn't necessary, but it makes it a lot easier to be sure enough to give the diagnosis.

It is very usefull as they need to know how you acted at a very young age. Many people keep a kind of growth book of their children, they are very usefull. Other people that have knowledge of your early life are good too, so you can do without your parents, when they are not availeble because of any reason, but it is a lot easier. Plus they can provide some support as well, which I found very usefull.