Adult with suspected Aspergers/ASD -- Assessment process?

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Helllo! I'm an adult, relatively able to present 'normally' for at least some periods of time. Even do well in structured interaction or with geeky extraverts. Have a job (though definitely not using my talents/education) and long term relationship. So if I have it, it's probably mild. My therapist referred me to see a specialist for an ASD assessment.

I'm wondering if any of you adults on the spectrum could detail your experience with assessment on the ASD spectrum?

I was formally diagnosed a couple years back, but have been evaluated for a variety of psychological and psychiatric conditions since early adolescence. In high school I was considered prodromal for schizophrenia, then considered possibly schizoid (personality disorder). Later I was tested for seizures and after MRIs, EEGs and such was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. But an epilepsy specialist ruled out epilepsy as the cause of my "seizures" (which are not like epileptic seizures), and so at his recommendation I saw an autism specialist. That resulted in the AS diagnosis.

The AS diagnosis itself simply involved a few visits to a neurologist specializing in ASDs. Lots of questions, a full neuro workup, and some simple testing (not much need for testing since I'd had quite a lot of it already). The process was painless and fascinating, since I gained a lot of understanding about the issues and difficulties I have in various areas of life, from sensory problems to social dysfunction.

Hope that helps.

Thank you! I remember some of the testing I had when I was younger (before Asperger's was even recognized, actually...), but I am curious: what does a full neuro workup involve?

“Hello,” gina_is, and welcome to the Wrong Planet community.

Hi, welcoem to WP. I was diagnosed two years ago by a psychologist. The assessment involved a structured agree/disagree questionnaire (the AQ-test, which y ou can find online) as a screening tool (this test aloen cannot diangose or rule out AS), some unstructured discussions with me and my support workers (I received hoem support because I'd been given a semi-formal ASD diangosis by another agency already), a lengthey interview and set of questionnaires for my parents, and a DSM interview (when they walk you through the DSM criteria and ask you whether you think you meet them and why). The psychologist also had the reports from previous psych evals since childhood. The parent interview/questionnaires involved early development. If your parents are not alive anymore or are incapacitated or for another reason cannot be interviewed, you may be asked about early development yourself or someone else who remembers you as a child will be interviewed (eg. an older sibling). Other parets of testing may include IQ tests or personality tests, but I didn't get these cause I'd had them many times before. If you are assessed by a neuropsychologist, they may also do neuropsych evals (eg. attention, executive functioning, etc.), but I didn't get this type of evaluation.

To WrongPlanet!! !