Undiagnosed newbie

Post Reply New Topic

Hi, I have an ADHD-PI diagnosis and am seeking an assessment for an autism spectrum disorder at the moment. My inattentiveness is very problematic whereas I think my ASD traits are mild, not bad enough to have stopped me succeeding at work or school (it's the ADHD that's done that) but they compound the problems I have in those areas by preventing me from using social skills or flexibility to compensate for the ADHD, as many underqualified people with ADHD seem to do.

I've had a meeting with someone from a charity for people on the spectrum and he said that he notices some AS traits when talking to me. He says not everyone on the spectrum is instantly recognisable as 'different'. It's in part my perception that everyone with an ASD would come across instantly to everyone else as different that has made me dismiss the possibility for so long, along with the fact that I underestimated until recently how different I do often seem to others after interacting for just a short period of time, more so in some situations than others.

Personally I am undecided about whether I meet the criteria for AS (for example, what on Earth does 'social or emotional reciprocity' actually mean in practice anyway? I know what each word means individually, but...), however I think my problems should at least warrant a PDD-NOS or non-verbal learning disability diagnosis. I just know now that not everything that I had previously attributed to the ADHD is likely to be caused by that in reality.

What concerns me now is my appointment I have with my ADHD consultant, because it's up to him to refer me on to the ASD department of the hospital. When I spoke to him on the phone, he said that my verbal IQ being higher than my performance IQ would contra-indicate an ASD. I told him that I had read that people with Asperger's Syndrome and similar manifestations of autism usually have a reversed IQ pattern to that of the majority of autistic people. That's right, isn't it?

What concerns me is that if he doesn't know much about AS, as that comment suggests to me that doesn't, he's not going to spot the more subtle signs that I bring to the table. I can imagine him telling me that because I make good eye contact (I usually do, especially in formal one-to-one meetings like that) I can't have an ASD, etc.

A very special Welkome to WrongPlanet' with a K.

The WP Kink

You can google for ASD tests and take a few.

I have been diagnosed with Adult ADD, but self-test high on the Aspie tests, and low as a NT.
If you take a few of the free tests available - some links on this site, you can take those results to your therapist.

Welcome to the WP, I wish you well.

rob

Nice to meet you, roseblood - and welcome to the Wrong Planet forums.

To WrongPlanet!! !

Welcome!

Welcome to WP!

Thanks everyone.

The man from the charity did give me a test to take, and I've told my consultant the results. I scored within the range in which a formal assessment is recommended and within which 80% (only 80% though?) of diagnosed people score. However I was at the bottom of that range. It doesn't surprise me because as I said, I think I have a mild case. I hope he doesn't use the low score against me because it was still within that range, and it's only supposed to be a guide. The questions are much more specific than any official diagnostic criteria are and are based on the responses of certain kinds of people - they asked a large number of scientists for some reason - not Aspies in general. I'm no maths nerd, I'm a language and philosophy nerd. That sort of variation isn't allowed for by tests like that. It didn't ask any questions about stimming at all, either. Stimming is actually a big problem for me, I've permanently bent over own ears doing it and caused a lot of physical pain to them at times. I don't know of anyone neurotypical who rocks quite as much as I do, or who sniffs their fingers at all. Unfortunately some of my most distinctively autistic behaviours are the ones given relatively little attention by most non-diagnostic checklists, while the ones I lack (e.g. great difficulty reading body language - I'm pretty good at that, just not good at knowing how to respond to the information or at considering that it might be deceptive) are given quite a lot.

Hi roseblood and welcome

Are you talking about the AQ? 80% of the developers' original sample who had ASD scored 32 or above. It says more about the accuracy/validity of the test more than anything else. It would be hard to get 100% of them in the top range with a questionnaire that has only 50 questions, as presentation of AS is so variable. It's a starting point, and a reference to take to the specialist who is assessing you. Is there a possibility of seeing a different specialist, one who has fresh eyes and is not so influenced by your previous diagnosis?

Good luck.

Yeah that sounds like the one I took. The person I'll be seeing isn't an ASD specialist, he's an adult AD/HD specialist. Because I am already his patient, his role in this situation is the 'gatekeeper' for other specialists (usually that's the GP's role), so if he thinks there's a good chance I have it, he'll refer me to the adult ASD specialist at the same place. If he doesn't want to refer me to them I could go to another specialist but it wouldn't be covered by the National Health Service so I'd have to pay and I really don't want to have to part with that much money, it could almost wipe out my savings.

Overall though, I would be surprised if he refused to refer me on. He actually mentioned the possibility himself when assessing me for AD/HD, because of things my mum said about me, but that was last year and he seems to have forgotten. Then he looked at our answers to the AS questionnaires they gave us both (different to the one I took recently) and must have decided it wasn't worth pursuing, as the report only diagnosed ADHD-PI. I think my answers wouldn't have been very accurate back then because I hadn't been told certain things about my current social behaviour or early childhood, or been forced outside of my social comfort zone as I have been since, and I also tend to over-analyse questions or miss the real point of them. So I think if I'm careful to prepare all of the things I want to tell him about, including pointing out that a higher verbal IQ is actually an indicator as well, and make sure I know what he actually wants to know before answering questions, he'll probably have enough evidence. I just fear there's a chance that holes in his knowledge, like the IQ issue, could make him dismiss the possibility over something that shouldn't. I suppose, if he were that rigid in his thinking, he wouldn't have said that we'll discuss it in our next appointment.

Update: Saw my consultant today, he is going to refer me to the ASD specialist.

Next step: 7-8 month waiting list!

I'm going to look for other doctors in my area and might go private if it looks like it will actually take that long.