How to prepare for the evaluation process

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I have an appointment scheduled for Feb 18 to begin the formal evaluation of my son for possible autism spectrum disorder. (He's 12, in case that is relevant.) The office has sent me a brief history form, but it's not ASD specific. I will pull together all the IEPs and the general psychologist's evaluation report.

Is there anything else that I can pull together, write down or otherwise do to help this process move smoothly? Do I bring every IEP since he was 3? I think that would be helpful for them to see what changes and what doesn't over time. But maybe it's too much, because it will be a large stack.

Thank you in advance for your comments. Just trying to be prepared.

I think it's fine. Just arrange them chronologically and they can look at what they want.

And please remember, some mental health professionals are excellent or at least very good, and some just aren't. Try not to over-invest, although this part can be hard.

Perhaps the all-time glaring example, a member of WP actually had a trained mental health professional, apparently with a degree, tell them that you can't be asperger's-autism spectrum if you've had even one friend in your life ? ! ? Wow, that's just do incredible that you hardly know how to respond to it.

Actually, that's easier to deal with than the professionals who are helpful in some ways but not in others.

I realize you are nervous and want the best possible care for your son, but becoming overly anxious over it will only cause undue stress. I would just bring what you have and allow them to worry about whether or not it is important. They probably see parents bring in mountains of paperwork on a daily basis and are able to sort through what is needed and what isn't fairly easily.

If it helps calm your nerves you could try organizing it into categories and dates putting the newest on top so that if they ask, you can easily pull it for them. I would also make a list of what you have (IEPs, evals, etc) and the dates that they range so they can look through your list (rather than guess at what you might have) and ask to see what they would like to see from it.

This will not only help them, but also help you feel as if you are prepared and ready.

They also don't ask ASD specific questions from you before hand, because they already know (since you are coming to them for the eval) that you think it is ASD and have reason to. They want a generalized history, because they would like to know what has been going on, some things can cause symptoms similar to ASD in children and adults. (Please don't take that as me saying that it's something else just saying that they want to make sure it is not.) So it helps to rule those things out.

I hope that helps and I hope you find the answers you need to help your son live a full and happy life.