Got appointment to get tested what to expect?

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Ive got the date to get tested,will the tests be stressful? Its said its 2 hours what type of tests will it involve. What should i take with me.

Yourself

If it doesn't say you need to bring anything else I wouldn't expect you to need anything.

That's all I can really say because I've only got as far as screening so far and I'm waiting for an assessment date. Good luck, hope it's not stressful.

Good luck. As iliketrees says, just be yourself. Having been through assessment myself recently at the age of 57, I know the idea of it can be daunting. If you want to take notes to refer to, then do so, it might be helpful.

Remember that it's being done for your benefit. They are there to help you, so if there is anything you're not comfortable with or don't understand, then say so. And if you're not happy with the results, you are entitled to a second opinion (in the UK at least, not sure where you are).

I meant take yourself That is the most important thing - that you go to it.

Beforehand I spent about a week writing notes to reference so that I wouldn't forget anything in the talks. I didn't even get to use all of them in actuality, as I had written pages upon pages of recollections based around behavior through my life (basically the case for why I thought I needed this evaluation).

I didn't get to mention most of them and many of the things I wanted to say and describe, but the notes were still useful for questions that were asked, as I tend to forget things under stress and I do need reminders of what I wanted to express, when on the spot. The stress, by the way, was not caused by the specialist per se, just my own response to the situation; they will try to make you at ease.

I took a 10-page typed report I'd created which bulleted all my traits from early childhood onward. This was just to make sure I didn't forget anything important when talking to the doctor. It's a good thing I brought it too, because the minute she asked, "do you have a reason for thinking you might have autism?" all my answers flew right out of my head, and my response was "...Yes.... Let me think of them." I only remembered a handful of traits I'd wanted to make sure I mentioned, so in the end I just said, "All the rest of my traits are on the paper I gave you." She read through it too, because in my final report, she made reference to some of what I'd written. You don't have to go into as much detail as I did, but it might not be a bad idea to have a few notes written down so you don't forget anything important that you want to mention.

As for the tests, they vary quite a bit, but I took the WAIS IV (IQ test) several paper tests about anxiety, depression and personality disorders (BAI, BDI, MCMI-III and SCL 90), the BASC 2 about my history of mental concerns (there was a second half to this that my mother filled out about my childhood), and the ADOS-2, the autism diagnostic observation schedule, which was an informal, semi-structured interview with various games thrown in, the point of which was to "probe" for autistic behaviours. I also took the WIAT-III, but that's an academic achievement test, and I was being tested for dyscalculia at the same time as autism, so it's doubtful you'll be given this one. You probably won't be given all the tests I mentioned, because my testing took place over several days once a week, and added up to a total of five hours of testing, not including the time I spent at home filling out the self-reports. Good luck, let us know how it goes!

Thank you for the replies. The notes/lists sounds like a good idea. What type of stuff should i put in them?

If you haven´t any papers from childhood,like tests, teachers observations, or have parents, who could tell you anything or fill out questionnaires about you as a kid, - just jot down your own memories, early and present issues/traits as they appear. Note if something seems to have been the same as you go back.
Stick to the headlines in your life. The tester will know, what to ask you about.
2 hours isn´t a long time, so you have to be a bit rational about it.

I just had specific traits grouped under larger headings, like "Sensory Sensitivities: 1. hyperacusis, 2. intolerance of touching," etc. I'd recommend using the DSM V criteria as headers for your list, like "social reciprocation deficits," or "nonverbal deficits." The headers allow you to organise your information neatly while still enabling you to list all your relevant traits.

That's exactly what I did, yep! You and I followed the same note structure.

I followed the criteria and listed my personal relevant traits, and also made a separate set of notes regarding personal memories of events, behaviors, and also -- like you -- sections under headings like "Sensory Issues" and other information etc.

Several months before I was diagnosed, I read Tony Attwood’s Book (“The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome”). Each chapter triggered memories of “issues” I had had in my life. Rather than try to remember everything, I started to document and categorize these memories. This document included: therapy history, list of anxieties, list of ocd traits, list of social interaction difficulties (including several quite troubling bullying incidents), list of sensory difficulties, list of motor difficulties, list of work difficulties, list of special interests, list of stims, list of rituals/routines, etc.

This document was more for me than anyone else. As I would think of new things every day. And, I wanted to remember it all. The only way I could remember everything was through a very detailed, well-organized (and categorized) document. Eventually, I had a ~50 page typed document.

When I first spoke to the clinical psychologist (who eventually diagnosed me), I referred to this document to answer some of her questions (such as, “Why do you think you might have Asperger’s”). I then told the clinical psychologist about the document I had written. She asked to see it. She was quite impressed with its detail and organization.

Thank you for all of the advice. Making a list is a good idea. Im really disorganised. I cant understand my own hand writing.(dyslexic). The thought of reading then reading my thoughts out is Not a good one. I think it would be a good idea to gather my thoughts here. Some of my querks are things i thought were normal or atleast not abnormal till recently. Sitting here now...complete mind blank.

It may be a good idea. Collect your thoughts here and print them.
I began a sort of a diary, where I wrote, what I remembered and my thoughts about it.
When I started my assessment, the writings stayed at home, because I was already analyzing things and was ready to talk about it.

Pretending to be [Ab]Normal

When I ended up in a military psych-ward, I went through these questionnaires, lots of them, and they also had me fill out the questions on a computer-screen. I did my best to « avoid detection » simply by being cautious about how I answered (because innately, and for some « psychic » reason, I knew that answering yes to certain questions would guarantee being drugged with dangerous substances). Some of the frequent questions were about whether you have ever been depressed (the most commonly asked question), whether you hear voices or have ever heard voices in your head, etc. I answered no to every single one of these due to the fact that I know for a fact that emotions are NOT defined by genetics and that they can be « controlled » with enough practice (martial-arts-style meditation & self-directing of thoughts over-powered), and also the fact that voices in the head can be attributed to imagination, how-ever faint (and look-up the « THUD » experiment to see further evidence of why I felt it necessary to remain suspicious).

Over-all, the head-psychiatrist & all of her doctors (all seven of her team/group/followers/students/apprentices) made the ultimately decision that there was nothing wrong with me & that I did not require any kind of drugging, but then they also went on to insist that I had Asperger's. I was given that book authored by Liane Willey to read, and after I read the book, she asked me if I had read the book, and I was like, yup, Pretending to be Abnormal. She got kind of offended at that, saying that statistically, most peole are one way, and that I was in a minority, thus making it not normal (damn euphemisms: Like, just because a majority of the world might/may have believed that the earth was flat or that the sun revolved around the earth did not automatically nor necessarily make it true, and like-wise with this « normality » concept, because we live in one really backwards & upside-down world/society where absolutely everybody has been f****d up in one way or another... particularly the conformists).

Another strange coincidence is that, regarding this head-psychiatrist (Dr. Sandu was her name-title), she was also extremely beautiful (with lovely tail-bone-length hair), looking almost like an identical-twin to the very soul-mate that I fell in love with several years prior except that Dr. Sandu's hair was black & that she was from Poland, whilst the other girl was blonde & from the Ukraine (for « spiritual-reasons » and the fact that I had « evolved » from conformist-type thinking too quickly, amongst a variety of other very painful-factors, I have since completely disassociated from keeping in social-contact with anybody for a while now, but I do not regret the amount of « research-activity » that I have done since around ten or eleven years ago, much of it involving simply the « questioning of everything » and I really do mean everything).

Anyway, when I got out from military camp back into the civilian-world, I had discussed the experience with my kung fu instructor, and it seemed like a common belief that « they are there to help you » was frequently mentioned by him & other mainstream-oriented sources. I am a bit more like George Carlin though in the sense that I don't trust anything the government tells me or perhaps we should just hear it from George Carlin himself...

Anyway, back when I was in the psych-ward, the psychiatric-assistants wore white coats & frequently wrote things down onto a clip-board whilst also looking at the clock a lot. You know what I did whilst noticing this behaviour ? Well, when we had our « social-time » with the other « in-mates » within the psych-ward, I would get these other « hostages » that were being held captive with me to do this role-reversal with me as we talked about the psychiatric-assistants & wrote it down on our papers that were meant for drawings during art-time:
[quote="Ban-Dodger]Peculiar behaviours observed of psychiatric-assistants:
* Seem to have an obsession with rigidly following certain procedures, such as looking at we normal people being held captive, then writing into their clip-boards after looking at our activities every 15 minutes
* Has an apparent need to wear a white lab-coat whilst performing such a strange ritual
* The white lab-coat is always removed after the end of their shift indicating that they must feel some sense of superiority or importance whilst wearing said lab-coat
* They do not seem to notice that we are reverse-diagnosing them as we make our observations in order to gather our information for the purpose of diagnosing these psych-ward employees
* Seem to be studying us normal-people as-if though we were lab-rats being observed even though we are actually observing these psych-ward employees & scientifically keeping track of the details of their lab-behaviours in our own observations[/quote]
Boy was that a lot of fun. Another thing we did during our captivity within the psych-ward was just making fun of everything. Another time during art-session, I started drawing that Kenny character from South-Park (the construction-paper cartoon), and that he'd exclaim every time « This wouldn't have happened if I'd just had my McChicken sammich ! » whilst drawing him either being killed or captured into a psych-ward. Then everybody else also started drawing similar versions of their Kenny's & being captured or psych-warded or drugged, etc., because, obviously: « This wouldn't have happened to us (getting sent into this psych-ward) if we'd have just had our McChicken sammiches ! »

Also, I still wouldn't trust any attempts at getting you onto any kinds of psychiatric-medications, because a medication is not the same thing as a medicine, and the fact that medications are typically far more harmful than good, but you can look this up for yourself by looking up the published materials of former psychiatric drug-pusher/sales-woman by the name of Gwen Olsen who basically tells it like it is & that the facts of the industry is that the doctors are not taught by scientists, but are taught by salesmen who simply dress-up as scientists who wear their white lab-coat costumes (actors, man, just like in Dr. Stanley Milgram's shock-experiments where the doctors were not actual doctors, but actors wearing a white lab-coat).

Wait, I forgot to mention something, that when I was in the psych-ward, and the psychiatrists & assistants wanted me to socialise with them, I first asked the question : « Have you ever been depressed ? » and then they insisted that it was a personal-question and not appropriate for social-interaction (despite the fact that at least 30% or maybe even 35% of ALL of the questions that were asked in all of the questionnaires that they gave me revolved around asking about being depressed or not). They were all like: « See ? You definitely have Asperger's Syndrome ! »

I didn't really like the sound of the word « Syndrome » so I got them to call it AC instead (Asperger's Condition). They also told me that I would know more about it than they would since I had said condition, and we really do mean all eight of them combined, but in order to help the world have better understanding & greater insight into this whole Aspie-thing, I needed to learn about it as much as I can, and they had a surprising amount of positive things to say about the Asperger's types when referring to men of great contributions to society (indeed like they've actually been the only people who have ever been able to advance society on any significant-scale: Einstein, Galileo, they suspect Bill Gates has said condition [although I am also aware of various conspiracies surrounding him], and nearly every scientist who was villified & lost their careers before their discoveries were accepted into main-stream education, etc). Ultimately, the wiring is fine, but the software needed to be updated with up-to-date information (this is largely correct, for you do not resolve a memory-leak problem by switching the CPU in a computer if it's being software-originated, but you have to re-code or re-install the software itself which has nothing to do with the wiring of the CPU causing the errors, and I speak with the knowledge of a computer-expert on this matter with over 20 years of computer-repair experience).

Its hard trying to decipher traits that ive lived with all of my life,then seperating them from other disorder/mental ilness. Things have been popping in my head all day, yet when i sit down and try and type i get mind blank. Il start as best as i can then hopefully it will end up with some order as im really disorganised. It will be in no order just things popping in my head,il keep adding to it. P.s i really appreciate the help. 1. Dyslexic, and dyscalculic,dont know left from right,dont drive it is everything i hate rolled together,l get lost alot,loose things every day,very clumsy,very bad short term memory,forget what im Talking about often. Sensory over load,even on days when anxietys not as prolific loud noises,bright lights stress me out,other times people say i have tv too loud,clock annoys me i sometimes have to put it in other room,certain engine noises really stress me,the vaccum cleaner stresses me,i have to put plugs in my ears when i vaccuum. If someone else does it i have to block my ears,constant tinnitus,hate speaking on phone,hate speaking in general unless its a subject im researching or interested in. Struggle talking about my feelings,cant get across what im feeling, Severe performance anxiety(not sexual) terrible at anything im good at when im being watched or under pressure. Hate hot drinks,hate hot food, Obsessed with researching things im interested in. Can teach myself most things if im interested,struggled at school doing things im proficient at now through my own teaching. Taught myself to draw at school,couldnt paint but taught myself to paint very recently, can do things for exceptionally long periods im interested in,obsessed with detail in certain areas im interested in,can by pass things i should be bad at with sheer determination and focus aslong as im interested in it,negative cognitive bias,very paranoid,depression,anxiety disorders,bullied very badly at school,hate partys or social occasions,havnt had many friends till later in life,most friends are much younger,girlfriend is much younger,insomnia,sleep paralysis, rem sleep disorder one of which involves me stroking my face. Scared of the dark,Have to poke my eyes hard before bed till i fall asleep,Things that calm me down,Stroke my arm,pick my scalp,stamping my feet in a rhythmic manner,getting partner to stroke my arm or nose,flapping my fingers together when walking,pressing putty rubber,twirling a sock in my hand,rocking head from left to right on my own,moving leg left to right or tapping foot,tapping fingers,poor eye contact makes me feel very uncomfortable,can force it with people im close too or certain situations where its essential,constantly in my head whenever i make eye contact,skin conditions(eczma) flares up when stress,i.b.s flares up when stressed or eat certain foods,cant eat dairy makes me ill,only eat certain foods,ill tempered,meltdown over things that others say isnt important,get annoyed when people phone me or txt me,get confused when people ask me questions and have to guess what they mean,have to sit facing certain ways in any room depending on seating arrangement. Hold a grudge for ever,cant let go if any wrong doings did to me. Cant follow film plots. Above average I.Q on tests. Cant think of much else at the moment its a start though. Can simeone ask me questions il answer that would be helpful.

Of course you go blank, but it seems, that you already said the important stuff.
If I were you, I´d split up the text and put everything into categories, like : Historical, personality wise, socially, sensory/physically, mentally, quirks or what you choose to call it.
It will all become clearer.