Please answer if you have been diagnosed when an Adult!

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So my 45 minute meeting with the Psychologist (who determines if I go on to the next "round") is March 10th. I was wondering how prepared I am allowed to be... When I get nervous or anxious I like to write lists, lots and lots of them. I have written my whole childhood down, all I know and can remember. I also have made lists and categorized them of what I do now. My spouse says its like I am rehearsing and he thinks I will look like I am trying to hard. So, I do not want the Psychologist to think that, but I know if I go in there I will not remember almost anything. What should I do and do you think they will dismiss me from going on to the next test if I come "to prepared?". It has also been an obsessive new topic to add to my list of yearly obsessions, so I do not want to sound like I "practiced" for it. PLEASE, Any advice is appreciated!

hi~ your husband/wife is right~ dont worry too much. just whittle it down to a few lists, and go in with them.

its ok to explain you're nervous and dont want to forget anything. thats normal for anyone, so you wont seem too odd, or overly prepared.

you dont need to go through your entire childhood~ they may ask about how much you played with other children, whether you enjoyed playing imaginary games or practical ones, whether you liked building, lining up, catagorising things etc, and whether you had a lot of friends, and sustained them.
pick out a few things, so youll have them to mind if you get stuck. make sure you can read your notes easily~ i find a thick pen, in larger letter, is easier to read; im dyslexic.

you also need to detail any medical issues which relate to As~ did you have an induced birth? any food problems as you grew up?? i couldnt eat any savoury foods until i was in my 20s, which is part of sensory sensitivities~ so saw child food psychologists. have you had hearing teats~ but been found to have good hearing? that would indicate you have aural processing problems? do you need glasses, but prefer not to wear them when you're out? that would indicate visual overload problems. do you have hypermobile joints? dyslexia? IBS? there are a lot of medical issues relating to AS~ not everyone has them, but mention any which you have.

you just need to pare everything down to a few lists~ btw, over preparing, planning everything minutely, and loving lists~ VERY aspergers!! !

i turned up to my diagnosis with abut 12 pages of closely written A4. i rewrote the entire AQ test, and wrote a lenthly rebuttal to it's inadequacies they really couldve sent me home at that point, cos its such an AS way to behave, ha ha.

good luck : )
im sure youll be fine. have a good night's sleep the night before, make sure you're hydrated, which will help your brain function better, and take rescue remedy, or lavender on a hanky to inhale, as its very calming.

I don't know what the Dr. will think if you come prepared, but it sounds like a good idea if you have trouble remembering things.

I wasn't prepared like that at all for my diagnosis eval. I also didn't need it at all.

Very good idea to write down some prompts, that's what I did last year.

If I hadn't I would have gone blank from the stress of it.

I was 42 when I realised I probably had Asperger's & 43 when I started my diagnosis.

Good luck.

WTF are you talking about?

"Prepare" for it??????

I did the whole exhaustive multi day test, and got officially dx'd as having aspergers as a an adult a couple years ago.

I didnt do squat to 'prepare' for any of it (except to get my sister, and my gf's permission for the doc to interview each of them about me- because niether of my parents are avaliable to be interviewed).

Just be yourself, and take the battery of tests.

Its not a job interview, or the Bar Exam. you're not trying to impress anyone that you're qualified for something.you're getting diagnosed for a disorder. Just be your wierd self. They will recognize your wierdness and diagnose you accordingly. If you really have aspergers that will come through and theyll recognize it. Its nothing to worry about.

@ natural plastic.

Woah there.

Shes behaving exactly as a ton of other aspies do, and its a reasonable question to ask.

Lots of people with AS worry about new situations, or meeting new people, so like to plan or find out as much as possible in advance. Its a coping mechanism as much as anything else.
Good you dont do this, but plenty of us do. Please remember not everyone is the same.

Also, even NTs write lists in advance to act as memory prompts. Its not a huge deal.

I think its certainly fair enough to ask in advance about what to do, given its a relatively short interview, with a lot hanging on it.

Also. Given the nightmare so many people have getting diagnosed, its advisable to prepare for it, as this guy has the power to nix further referrals for her. It happened to me, and a ton of other people~ i wish id been better prepared, as it took me a battle of 2 1/2 more years until i finally got diagnosed.


@ Inachildsmind ~ do whatever makes you feel comfortable. The only caution id give is to not take too many bits of paper in at this point, if they're going to be visible. You want to steer this guy away from making too many judgements about 'weird behaviour' (for want of a better term). Though most people w AS act weird in some way or another, this can muddy the water and earn you a mental health label, rather than recognition of a neurological condition. Such misdiagnosis is more common for women with AS, too.
Sorry~ im not trying to alarm you, just steer you into a safe course. If this guy is really clued up about AS, then fine. However, plenty aren't, and just expect everyone with AS to be geeky, unsmiling men. Anything else gets classed as mental health problems. Waving a sheaf of paper about may not 'look like AS' to him.

Its reasonable to ask about it, and wise to be cautious. Just having stuff written on paper with you will be comforting, so you may not need it anyway : )
Think out in advance examples of AS behaviour you have, which accord with the stuff most commonly cited stuff on official sites. While *we* know list making is really common in AS, this guy may not, so you need a decent and articulate list of your own AS.

Youll be fine.

I rocked up to Attwood's place with nothing, well, except my mother, as they wanted to meet with her in secret away from me.

After about 15 minutes of the psycho (Julie Fox) talking to me, she revealed that I had AS.

I guess I was more obvious than I thought.

It is probably good to keep your lists handy and refer to them if you start blanking out, but the interviewer will have their own ideas about which specific questions they have found useful in doing their work. It is a bit of a crap shoot, hoping that someone can imagine your mind, and not get it confused with another way to get most of the same answers. On one hand, you don't want to try to treat the guy like a rubber stamp for your own ideas, but on the other, if you feel like you are being stuffed into the wrong box, it is good to try to explain how you differ.

Lists be overrated.

They'll ask you questions and see how you respond and appear. They're not looking for your actual answers, they're looking at how you actually answer and appear.

Hell, most of their questions won't even appear to be related to AS at all.

(This tends to be why people often think their AS referral visit was erroneous. Nope, that's how they go.)