When your parents don't confirm your experiences

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They aren’t looking to get a professional opinion from your mom. They form their own opinions from a person’s assessment and then see if additional evidence coincides with the results of their assessments.

Parents are extremely biased. I think the psychologist will probably think it’s sweet that your mom thinks you were bullied so much just for making the other kids jealous. I would, actually.

But they take whatever they hear during family interviews with a grain of salt, and they form their own conclusions by reading in-between the lines. They might give more weight to a parent who has a degree in psychology. Sometimes they also like to observe parents to see if they might have any signs of autism as well. This is all just for the sake of thoroughness. The most important thing is how your assessment went.

Based on what you’ve said, I think that your mother might have confirmed your experiences more than anything else. They might feel wary of a parent who was trying to push for a specific diagnosis.

Like the others have said, get involved in a special interest to try to take your mind off of the wait. I found it difficult to wait for my results as well, but it’s best to find ways to distract yourself as much as you can. Good luck with that!

Thanks Twilightprincess. I have been focussing on doing lots of drawing the past couple of days but my anxiety is very high right now, I think because I know I'm not in control of the outcome. I guess I'm just going to have to deal with it.

I think I'm also worried that the psychologist might think it's PTSD instead because I went through a horrendous amount of bullying at a job a few years ago. But the bullying was caused because of me being useless at interpreting body language and I also tend to give off the wrong body language so people interpret me wrong. But my mum said she thinks I've only been like this the past few years since the bullying at work happened which would confirm the ptsd and not autism although there are other things she did confirm I did in childhood.

Sorry, I'm catastrophizing! I'm trying to think that it won't matter either way. I just want to know so that I can understand myself better really and try to know the best way to work with some behaviours that keep getting me into trouble.

Lots of people on this site have been diagnosed with autism and PTSD. I was actually diagnosed with PTSD first (a few years before my autism assessment) which the psychologist addressed in my report. I’ll get my report and maybe type what she said in that portion of it.

Okay. She said that a diagnosis of PTSD can complicate matters because often a person with PTSD will “exhibit social avoidance.” She went on to say: “In administering the ADOS [autism assessment], however, it became apparent that Ms.____ was not only having difficulty with social interactions but that she does not know how to read social cues.”

In other words, psychologists are pretty good at weeding out what’s what. Given the fact that you have sensory issues as well is probably a good sign that your problems aren’t just PTSD related.

Thank you, that's good to know. My assessment just included me answering several questionnaires. I think I did the RAADS 10, an ADHD one to rule that out then one called IDA (Interview for Diagnosing Autism) which he basically asked for examples for each of the DSM-V criteria. I think my sensory issues since childhood should hopefully be enough evidence but I do definitely have social avoidance at times too.

There is no reason not to be able to have autism and PTSD or other conditions comorbid with an ASD/autism diagnosis. Mental health issues and other conditions aren't exclusive of one another.

Some autistics' parents are, missing in action, in jail, dead, medically unfit to testify

How do they get diagnoses?

My diagnosis, involved only the psychiatrist and me