The diagnostic process for AS in adults

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Noctua
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26 Oct 2015, 12:06 pm

Greetings everyone.

My own assessment regarding an Asperger diagnosis is coming up very soon and I'm getting a bit anxious about this whole thing.
Mostly because I have only a very general idea as to what to expect. The fact that I have zero experience regarding psychologists and am generally very wary of that profession might not be helpful either.

So my question is this: Can those of you who have experience with being diagnosed as an adult provide some insights into the process ?


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redrobin62
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26 Oct 2015, 12:37 pm

You know, from what I've been reading lately, there are as many types of psychological evaluations of Asperger's as their are Asperger's symptoms itself. Some people believe that to be on the spectrum you must stim, or avoid eye contact, or have a high IQ, or have an unusual gait, or have a monotone voice, or not understand sarcasm, or lack empathy, or have an interest in extremely narrow subjects like the serial numbers of Electrolux vacuum cleaners from 1946 - 1951 or the lengths of typewriter ribbons used in manual typewriters in the early 60's or the history of the fonts used in the letters of all trains on the BNSF lines from 1950 till today.



Ashariel
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26 Oct 2015, 1:05 pm

It seems that every psychologist has a different testing approach. The one I went to recommended an informal diagnosis for adults who just want an answer for themselves (as opposed to applying for disability benefits).

First she went through the actual DSM diagnostic criteria for Asperger's, and asked me whether I had each symptom, and how severely it affected my functioning (giving real-life examples from my own experience). Then we went through a bunch of personality tests, to rule out other potential diagnoses that might fit me better than Asperger's.

I appreciated her straightforward, logical approach. Instead of asking me a whole bunch of "what if" questions (though she did a bit of that too) - she focused on evaluating how my ASD symptoms actually affected me, in real life.

Her common-sense attitude was that if you have all the symptoms, they significantly affect your ability to function, and there isn't a better explanation for them... Well then, there's your answer.



iliketrees
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26 Oct 2015, 1:07 pm

I had to do a lot of tests, my parents had to as well. They also wanted to see school reports and know my complete developmental history.



Noctua
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26 Oct 2015, 1:22 pm

iliketrees wrote:
I had to do a lot of tests, my parents had to as well. They also wanted to see school reports and know my complete developmental history.


I have to admit that I kind of dread the prospect of involving my parents in this matter.
My mother knows that I'm going to be diagnosed but I haven't got the faintest idea what's her take on this. My father on the other hand is hopefully oblivious to the matter, at least regarding to me (my oldest nephew is diagnosed AS).


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