i'm from the UK, I went to my doctor explained my reasons and they were happy to refer me. After a few months I got an appointment with a local service run by the National Autistic Society, a kind of prelimary meeting where they make a recommendation for a full assessment. I met with them and they were very dismissive, it was weird they said lots of things I knew not to be true and they were supposed to be the experts they really did seem to have some very stereotypical views with no nuance (basically contrasting me to people with the most severe autism, not taking any account of my age and how i've learned to get by), they said it would take up to a year to get an assessment but agreed to refer me.
After not receiving the referral letter they said they would send and not wanting to wait another year I decided to look elsewhere, I didn't want to go private because I just wouldn't trust that, so I looked into NHS assessments in other areas and found a good one that allowed self funding. (I'm still really angry with this first service I encountered, it is the only service for adults in my area and now I have been diagnosed I don't want to go back to them, they literal said to me 'if, and i'd eat my hat, you get diagnosed then you can come back' find it quite shocking they would say that to someone seeking diagnosis based on a 20 minute meeting, been meaning to write a letter of complaint)
For this other place based in southampton, the first stage was some self rated questionnaires (Autism Quotient, Empathy Quotient, and Systemising Quotient, I think there was also one on sensory issues) you can probably find these online (try the cambridge aspergers place) . Then they reviewed my medical history (not much there, one prescription of anti depressants while at uni, and one major depressive episode recently that set me down this path). Based on this they invite you to an assessment.
The assessment had three parts, they interviewed me for a couple of hours, they interviewed my parents for a couple of hours. Then there was a battery of neurological tests (sounds complex but it was simple puzzles, watching clips, asking to draw things and demonstrate things etc.). Plus during the tests and interviews they observed me.
The official methods they used were the Adult Aspergers Assessment (AAA), the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule Revised (ADOS), and Autism Diagnostic Interview -Revised (ADI-R). I think these three methods were the only ones used for diagnosis, everything else was supplementary and to help understand areas of strength and weaknesses for the report of recommendations they write afterwards. I also provided a lot of stuff they didn't ask for, school reports, work appraisals, baby book, but they said they found it useful.
This place was a specialist place that does assessments for the NHS so imagine it is similar to other NHS places. I think it is the luck of the draw as to waiting times.
edit: the place I went to no longer diagnose aspergers, they diagnose under the broader ASD. They said thats the way things are going even though officially the UK still uses ICD rather than DSM criteria, I'm not sure if that is the same everywhere in the UK but when I was contacting various assessment people I got emails back referring to ASD-level one assessments. I find it really annoying, as I feel like I can't say I have Aspergers because I haven't been diagnosed with it, and ASD is generally understood to be more severe so feel like people won't believe me.
15 Jun 2014, 5:03 am
for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.
