Appointment is set!

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Under the DSM-5 criteria, you will only need 4 inattentive traits to be diagnosed as an adult. The need for six traits is really aimed at children.

Oh. That's indeed very interesting!

Of course, under the DSM-V, the condition for which I am seeking diagnosis will no longer exist.

Do you think you could write things down to take to your appointment? It seems to me that you can explain yourself well in writing, and it might put your mind at rest if you write down the things that you feel needed clarification from the previous appointment. Then you can mention them at the start of the next appointment. Maybe you could write down why you think you have asperger's - this might be useful for both you and the person assessing you.

I too find it hard to express myself during face to face appointments - I can't explain things properly and get a bit tongue-tied too. Then I go over the discussion afterwards and make sense of what was said and how I should have answered the questions - ie what I really meant. Writing things down often helps to clarify and then I have something to take with me to my next appointment.

Hope this makes sense!

I had my first testing appointment yesterday. Actually, I was under the impression that my appointment was going to be three hours, and that my diagnostic session would be next week, but I ended up only doing the WAIS III (2 hours), and then he scheduled a day for testing next week, too. Kind of threw me off, since his cost and timeline estimate said my diagnostic would be by March 15th, and I lose my insurance March 18th.

Anyway, the WAIS III was interesting. I'd never taken an IQ test before, and didn't realize it was one at first. I think I did fairly well on most of the tests/sub-tests, but there were definitely a few sub-tests that I wasn't able to finish (due to getting a wrong answer or timing out), while others I did. For those who are preparing for their appointments and testing and who haven't taken this test, I'll outline my experience:

My initial impression about the testing was that I'd be handed the test, whatever it was, and would sit an complete it on my own. However, the WAIS was administered completely by my psych...I actually only had a pencil in my hand for one sub-test. Everything else was verbally dictated to me, which was sometimes difficult, because I am a visual learner. The tests were as follows:

INFORMATION: In this part, you have to answer general knowledge questions, like, who is MLK Jr. It's kind of like Jeopardy, but easier. I probably managed 80% correct answers. Some of the people I'd never heard of, and there were other people that I knew of, but wasn't able to describe exactly what they did.

SIMILARITIES: In this part, the person administering the test says two things, like "apple" and "banana", and you have to explain how they are similar. I think I only had trouble with one of these questions.

VOCABULARY: Self-explanatory. I did pretty well on this. I didn't know one word. There was another word that I passed over, but several words later I realized what it meant (the word he presented was an adjective, but I was more familiar with the noun version of the word, which I didn't connect right away), and told him, which I think still counts.

ARITHMETIC: Self-explanatory, except I guess it's pertinent to say that it starts off as basic math problems, but eventually becomes word problems, which were difficult for me to hold in my head, and this is the only section of the test in which I had to ask him to repeat himself. I'm not so great at math, anyway, so this subtest was hit and miss. For instance, there was a question about the cost of an item that was 15% off, and I've never been able to calculate percentages that don't go into 100 evenly.

DIGIT SPAN: Oh, boy. In this test, the person administering the test will recite sequences of numbers, which you have to repeat back to them. It gets increasingly difficult...I think it goes up to 7 digits, but I could be wrong. You do it forwards, and then he/she will recite a sequence, and you have to repeat it back BACKWARDS. I managed to get all the way through repeating them back forwards, but it was incredibly difficult, and it brought out one of my rarer 'public' stims, rocking. I guess that's technically a good thing, as my psychologist has only ever seen me bounce my leg or foot. I didn't even realize I was doing it, though, until I caught him do a kind of double-take at me. As the sequences got longer, I could feel my brain overloading as it tried to hold the information, and I felt really distressed. In fact, I was kind of on edge and shaky the rest of the time. Anyway, the backwards didn't go as well...I only managed 5 sequences before I messed up.

COMPREHENSION: I'm not sure how to explain this test, except that there were some 'expressions' that you had to give the meaning for, and then explain why some things in society are the way they are (like, why would someone want to be tried by a jury of their peers). I did OK on this one. I didn't know the meaning of some of the expressions, and some of the society/social type questions asked for two answers/reasons, and I could often only provide one.

BLOCK DESIGN: In this test, you're given some blocks that are solid red or white on two sides, and split diagonally on the other sides (half red, half white). You are shown pictures of a design, and have to replicate the design with the blocks. I did very well at this. I was very fast completing the designs in the first 75% of the tasks, then a bit slower on the remaining ones. I was unable to complete the last design, despite trying at it for quite a while.

MATRIX REASONING: In this test, your shown a series of shapes and symbols that form a pattern, and you have to select the missing design/shape that would complete the pattern. the first 75% was pretty easy, and I did it fairly quickly. The remaining tasks were very difficult, as I was unable to recognize any patterns at all, so had to guess at my answers.

PICTURE COMPLETION: In this test, you are shown a picture, and you have to point out an element in the picture that's missing, like a chair leg. I did quite well at this one, and was able to point out what was missing almost instantaneously on many of the photos. I was unable to point out what was missing in the final two images, though (they looked perfect to me, despite having plenty of time to look over them).

DIGIT SYMBOL CODING: In this test, there is a key at the top of the paper, with numbers 1-9 and symbols that are assigned to each of the numbers. The rest of the page has rows of numbers with blank boxes underneath, and you have to fill in the symbol that corresponds with the number. This was easy. It is timed, and I managed to fill in all the way through the third row from the bottom. I don't know what would be considered 'good' on this test, but I felt I did well.

PICTURE ARRANGEMENT: In this test, you are given approximately 5 picture cards in a random order, and you have to arrange them to tell a narrative story. I KILLED this one. I did it super fast and managed to complete all of them and I'm 100% sure that they were accurate. I know this test has a reputation for being difficult for people with AS, because it implies social understanding and 'bigger picture' reasoning, but I used small details in the photos to arrange them. For instance, I couldn't figure out the order for one of them, but then realized that one of the characters was halfway out of the picture on the left side in one of the cards, and on the other cards, you could see more and more of her, which meant that she was moving forward. Another one I was able to figure out because of the pattern of footprints. I may have also been good at this one because I'm a filmmaker, and frequently storyboard scenes for my films, which is essentially what this is.

For those who have had testing before...do you know what the other test(s) will be that I have to take?

Don't worry, you did well on this test. Only it's kind of stressing to see the limits of your short term (working) memory. Could you report your scores when you get the results?

I can't say much about the forthcoming tests, they may vary largely form clinic to clinic. I was interviewed according to ADOS, and during this I was given a picture book from which I had to tell a story. It was like a story book for a 4 or 5 years old without words. Interestingly, the pictures blended into one other much like the way in M. C. Escher's graphics "Metamorphosis" (I told them about him, I admire his work, search it in Google). In another test I had to take 5 objects from a sack blindly and form a story with them. It was like pretend play, I could do it only because I was fortunate to have pulled a matchbox car and a sponge, so it had to be about car-wash... (the other three objects were paper coin -> money, little play card -> card for bonus points, little wooden cube -> the car wash). I was given an example before, and I must say I'd have failed if I'd pulled those 5 objects (ice cream stick -> someone having sunbath, little sun umbrella, little toy specs -> sunglasses, little piece of rag -> beach mattress, shoe lace -> lake(!) ).

Sure. I'm not sure if I'll get the results my next session, or not until my diagnostic session, which will be about 1.5 weeks from now. If I get them next session, I will post them here. If I get them during my diagnostic session, I'll probably start a new post.

I've always been considered quite smart, and graduated Summa Cum Laude from college, but I feel like I probably did very average on the test. I think I was 'advanced' when I was a kid, but kind of leveled out as an adult.

Thanks for the information on the test you took. All I know about mine is that it will take an hour.