finally getting evaluation next month

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it's a study that comes with a diagnosis for people with autism over 40. any tips? i remember reading from some other posts about being very authentic and not forcing anything. also possibly not taking that day's anxiety meds so i'm more raw.

Being cooperative and honest would seem to me to be what I needed to do for my Adult Autism Assessment. Knowing how to perform an assessment is the assessor's problem.

I volunteered as many seemingly-relevant personal records as I could find (school report cards, personality tests, and such) but the only thing I know my assessor looked closely at was a journal my Mom had kept for my first year. I suspect the journal was helpful but not essential...except it documented how old I was when I spoke my first words so it indicated I did not have delayed language skill development...which put me in the Asperger's part of the Spectrum.

I think I've seen some people report that the assessor would like to have some "informants" who know you well, preferably for a long time, that are willing to cooperate with the assessment. I took my bride with me for my first appointment with the psychologist and she was given questionnaires to do, too, to help the psychologist understand me better. And we were given some questions to ask my Dad about my early youth. I don't know what happens if they have to assess solely by interacting with you.

But, I know the assessment was kind of fun!

yeah i'm really looking forward to it. I'm nervous about involving my family because they tend to minimize and even gaslight. i told a very close family i showed signs of autism by another less official dr and she's heard over the phone by drs that they see symptoms just by looking at and talking...well her only response is silence so i'm not involving her. my old school records were purged, can you believe that? but i will gather collect and save online test scores and document all i can remember about my childhood on up. i wonder if i should make it chronological? i created this massive and quite overwhelming chart of my symptoms and gave it to one of my mental health professionals. he took it, placed it on his desk and kept talking and i was pissed.

My only comment at this time: The best diagnosis is an accurate diagnosis.

Oh, a second observation: Better no diagnosis than an inaccurate diagnosis.

Um...work with and cooperate with whoever does the assessment and good luck!

You wrote that you are finally getting tested next month. After your tests, let us know what they decided. KEEP US INFORMED.

Some weeks ago I went for the first appointment with a psychiatrist, I had filled in a series of questionares beforehand. I was asked a large number of questions some of which were about topics which I do not feel comfortable talking about with most people. This was my first ever contact with a psychiatrist in my life.

I was also asked an additional set of questions by email. I filled it all in an then I waited about a month. I was then told that at some point in the future I will be called in for a full aseessment. I was warned that the waiting time is rather long.

thank you so much for caring! I will

I feel the same way. i'm very skeptical of evaluators. i've taken great pains to know who i am despite others "guessing"

so you're still waiting? hope all goes well

I was informed beforehand that they are looking for a specific type of autism for the study after the diagnosis. so i can't see it coming out negative unless they are incompetent.

Thanks for the kind words, I am now waiting. I feel as if I am neither in heaven or earth but now stuck somewhere between the two while I wait for the second stage. My wife is autsitic also, she spotted it in me years ago. But I avoided a formal DX as I was coping in life. The nature of work has changed and I now need a formal DX. I was nervous that a DX would prevent me getting life insurance but after I managed to get the insurance company to provide cover for my wife at the start of the COVID era I now think that I should be able to get life insurance. I have been away from the wrong planet for year but now I have returned. I do not know how much I will be around here in the coming months and years.

A "specific type of autism"?? I know Autism is a Spectrum disorder but is that "specific type" the only type they will diagnosis? Do you know what "type" they are looking for?

Your displayed age is 49. Hopefully that is old enough to have firmly established your identity such that a diagnosis won't become your identity. Your friends and family already know you are odd, with or without a diagnosis. And your work history will speak for you, too.

P.S. Welcome back to WP!

Thanks I have not quite got my feet back under the table, <joke>I think that someone threw out my slippers while I was away</joke>. I have noticed that some of the old faces from the wrong planet have disappeared.

One problem is that people at work have been noticing that I am "different" or "strange", I feel that I am a less smart version of Alan Turing (Also I am heterosexual) or maybe I am like an ecconomy version of John von Neumann. I feel it is hard to blend in when you are a cut price version of Neumann or Turing.

Those cowrokers of mine who are accepting of me like having me around the place and sometimes come to pick my mind on various matters. But there are some of my coworkers who are unaccepting.

The man I saw is not sure when the second (and final stage will be). I am not looking forward to telling my work doctor. I have to maintain medical clearance to work and it is going to be an "interesting" conversation when I tell him.

Woodpecker, Good luck!

P.S. If I see your slippers I will tell you.

so excited for you! i asked my evaluators what their "success" rate or positivity rate is for inquiring participants.
waiting to hear back

I still have not found where they put my slippers.

I have been sent for a full evaulation, on Monday I will have the first meeting with one of the people who will doing the evaulation. I have no idea exactly what will happen.

I have to maintain medical clearance for the line of work I have, I was dreading mentioning the "A word" with my occupational health doctor. I have to go for a medical about every two years, I told the doctor that I was being investigated for autism and thankfully he did not hit the roof.

He signed me off as fit for work, and told me that I needed to take plenty of time off and use up my holiday entitlement. Well I am not going to argue with a doctor who tells me that I have to take time off from work, relax and enjoy myself.

I do not know if my autism has become an open secret at work, my former line manager knew that I tend to be able to recall things associated with my profession that a lot of people can not. He regards me as a human photocopy machine, he told me that he suspects that there is something out of the ordinary about me but does not know what it is.