Diagnostic process

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Hi everybody,
I am a health care professional interested in the process of diagnosing Asperger's syndrome. If you don't mind, could each of you answer the following questions:
1) What was the specialty of the doctor or doctors who diagnosed you?
2) How many doctors did you visit to get a diagnosis? How many of them agreed/disagreed on the diagnosis of AS?
3) How did you first find out about AS? Was it from the doctor who diagnosed you or other sources?
4) Were you self-diagnosed before getting the "official" diagnosis? If so, what did you use to self-diagnose? Please give specific links if possible.
5) If you remember, could you let me know what specific tests were administered by the doctors? Or in general, did they ask questions or observe your behavior?

Thank you very much. I truly appreciate your responses. I may ask to clarify laater.

1. School psychologist.
2. Before that I went to a psychiatrist, who disagreed on the grounds that I wasn't obsessively talking about trains or something.
3. Parents.
4. No, but this might interest you: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt113459.html
5. IQ test, don't know anything else because my parents were asked things.

I'm guessing you're looking for responses from adults, sorry.

1. Psychiatrist with a specialty in diagnosing ASDs.
2. Visited a different psychiatrist first for depression/anxiety, then was referred to the psychiatrist with ASD specialty.
3. Learned about ASDs in a college level neurobiology course, then the psychiatrist noticed I fit the diagnosis fairly easily.
4. No.
5. Blood tests to measure TSH levels by the first psychiatrist to determine whether the depression/anxiety was somehow related to hypo/hyperthyroidism. Then an IQ test was subsequently performed by the second psychiatrist. The second psychiatrist spent 4 hours discussing my behavior with me and my mom, and questionnaires were sent to my former high school counsellor, my former teachers, etc. I was then diagnosed.

I was very happy with the work of both psychiatrists.

1) Psychologists and a speech pathologist, specialising in autism spectrum disorders
2) I saw an autism diagnostic team, and they all agreed that I have AS
3) I stumbled upon AS on the Internet
4) I was more 'self-suspected' than 'self-diagnosed'. I did a few online tests and read a lot about ASDs
5) The doctors interviewed my mother and I, and compared our answers to the DSM-IV and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale, Second Edition

Actually I am looking for responses from everyone but thanks for reminding me to ask one more question:
How old are you now and how old were you when you were diagnosed?

Thanks everyone for your responses. Please pass this on to other friends on the site.

do you want respocnes from people with no diagnosis of aspergers syndrome? I am diangosed with a diferent ASD from aspergers sydrome.

Absolutely, I would appreciate responses from everyone.

General psychiatrist. Then later on a neuropsychiatrist did a full battery of tests and confirmed it.

Nobody mentioned AS at first; I was "too old" to be diagnosed, and was mistakenly diagnosed with borderline personality disorder because of my self-injury problem. When my mom revealed to me that she (an OT who works with autistic kids) knew I was autistic but didn't want me "labeled", I mentioned it to my psychiatrist on my next visit and was almost immediately diagnosed. Since then, every psychiatrist/psychologist has agreed that I'm on the spectrum (I think I remember seven or eight of them, but I may be missing one or two.) The borderline personality disorder diagnosis was dropped pretty quickly, and I've had a couple of counselors actually laugh at the idea. It's not that BPD people can't have autism; it's just that I tend to have the polar-opposite traits from BPD...

I don't really remember when I first found out what autism was. I think I must've been about twelve or so, maybe. I just didn't really apply it to myself because all the media portrayals were too stereotyped for me to get a realistic picture.

I knew I had autistic traits because I'd read about autism in my psychology textbook and mentioned it to my mom who (see above) confirmed it. I didn't realize I was actually diagnosable, nor did I really know that self-diagnosis existed, until I met the psychiatrist to whom I mentioned my mom's statement, Turned out that not only did I have autism, but I have a case that's obvious to pretty much anyone who's interacted with enough autistics to have dumped the "kid in a corner" stereotype. I was once asked whether I had autism... by a cab driver (without a psychology degree). I can only kick myself when I think how oblivious I must've been. (Either that, or the cab driver was really perceptive. )

The psychiatrist who made the diagnosis to begin with just observed me and my stiff posture, unusual speech, and lack of eye contact. She asked about my childhood history and my social habits and communication style. Later on I had a neuropsych assessment with an IQ test, memory/attention tests, personality tests, and tests of physical coordination and sensory processing.

1) What was the specialty of the doctor or doctors who diagnosed you?
clinacal psycolgist and psyciatrist.

2) How many doctors did you visit to get a diagnosis? How many of them agreed/disagreed on the diagnosis of AS?
I did nto visit them to get a diagnosis. I was in the mental health system for many years at the begining I was in child and adilesent mental health. then the spech langage theripsit talked to the psycologist then the psycologist said to mum "have you considered autism". Mum said "yes". Then they said I was autism. then there was reports sayign the words "autistic specturm disorder" and "autistic disorder".

3) How did you first find out about AS? Was it from the doctor who diagnosed you or other sources?
I found out about AS becuase my cosin has AS. I have not been diagnosed with AS.

4) Were you self-diagnosed before getting the "official" diagnosis? If so, what did you use to self-diagnose? Please give specific links if possible.
no.

5) If you remember, could you let me know what specific tests were administered by the doctors? Or in general, did they ask questions or observe your behavior?
lots of tests and lots of questions. it was over years. IQ was one I remeber. there was tests by clinacal psycoligst and tests by spech langage and tests by ocupatioanl theripist and by educatioal psycoigist. and meetigns with lots of people all at one time talking abtou me and somtiems asking me questions.

1) What was the specialty of the doctor or doctors who diagnosed you?

Dx 1: Clinical psychologist (Asperger's)
Dx 2: Psychiatrist (Asperger's)
Dx 3: Psychiatrist (Autistic disorder)
Dx 4: Research specialists (Autistic disorder)
Dx 5: Neuropsych ("on the autism spectrum")

2) How many doctors did you visit to get a diagnosis? How many of them agreed/disagreed on the diagnosis of AS?

See above. I sought out the first diagnosis. I went in saying, "I think I have Asperger's" and he said, "Yes, you do." Then I saw a new psychiatrist who diagnosed me. Then the psychiatrist who is 'over' my therapist diagnosed me for the purposes of paperwork, and based on my therapist's interactions with me used 299.00. Then I wanted to participate in a research study at Pitt, for which I had to undergo various diagnostic tests. Then my psychiatrist wanted me to undergo various neuropsych tests, and they just settled that I'm ambiguously "on the spectrum."

3) How did you first find out about AS? Was it from the doctor who diagnosed you or other sources?

College educational psychology class; more information from my best friend, who was a psych major.

4) Were you self-diagnosed before getting the "official" diagnosis? If so, what did you use to self-diagnose? Please give specific links if possible.

Not really. I surmised that I was on the spectrum but left it to the professionals to decide for sure.

5) If you remember, could you let me know what specific tests were administered by the doctors? Or in general, did they ask questions or observe your behavior?

ADOS, ADI-R, AQ, EQ, WMS, WAIS. They also asked questions and observed behavior. It was a combination of things.

A team of people were involved in my daughter's diagnosis. The school nurse, the school doctor, the school counsellor, 4 psychologists in the hospital's children's psychiatric department and a doctor brought in especially because of his experience of Asperger's in girls.



Everyone at the hospital agreed, the ones at the school didn't know.

Previous visits to other professionals over the years in my home country produced nothing other than being told her problems were down to bad parenting. No assessments of her were ever carried out by any of them.



I was at my wits end and I posted on a parenting forum asking for advice. One of the mums said my daughter sounded just like hers, who had been diagnosed with Asperger's. I looked it up and everything I read was written about my daughter.



Yes. I read the book Parenting Your Asperger's Child by Alan T Sohn and Cathy Grayson. It has a self test included in it. The later hospital tests confirmed it all.



She had all sort of test to rule out physical causes of her problems, hormone inbalances, vitamin inbalances etc. They tested her movements, reflexes and that kind of stuff. We did many different paper tests where it lists a behaviour and you have to answer never, sometimes, always. She had extra ones of these designed specifically for girls. She had a computer test to see her attention levels. Face/emotion recognition tests. She had tests asking her which of 2 would she be more likely to choose, eg would you decide on something to do and then choose who to do it with or decide who you want to see and then choose what you're going to do. She had test revolving around problems that arise as a teenager, eg phone use, relationships.

A neuro psychologist



visited 1 doctor who figured out just from my first conversation with him that I had Aspergers



I watched a tv show which described the whole autism spectrum. I could not believe how many of the traits they described I had.



I self diagnosed myself after watching the show. I used wrong planet and talked to a friend who has HFA to ask if he thought if I showed the traits. He believed I did so he got me in contact with an autism group here in Buffalo.

Callista wrote (in part): ...Nobody mentioned AS at first; I was "too old" to be diagnosed...

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A major, very large, well known HMO health care plan in northern California will not test for adult ADHD or adult dyspraxia at all; also, they will not test for central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) either.

1. Psychologist primarily, with input from a psychiatrist in the same practice.

2. One. I have since switched counselors and the more recent one is in agreement also.

3. I first heard about AS when the psychologist mentioned it to me.

4. I was never self diagnosed for AS. I was diagnosed with OCD and GAD as a child and it was changed to AS when I was 26. AS wasn't in the DSM when I was a kid.

5. I don't remember any specific tests. It just came about during regular office sessions.

General adult psychiatry. I think he has a particular interest in mood disorders.



2. My GP for a referral, and a psychiatrist for a diagnosis.



I read about it; I'd had an interest in autism for years before my knowledge that people with autism seemed awfully like me solidified into a certainty that an ASD would explain my problems.



Yes, based on reading every book on ASDs that I could find, plus reading blogs and scholarly articles, and doing extensive research on conditions that have symptoms in common with ASDs to see if it could be anything else.



The psychiatrist asked questions and observed my behaviour.

I will answer with respect to my son, who is the family member who has a TENTATIVE diagnosis (we are not choosing to pursue a medical one, as the reasons for getting one all had to do with school and information for us, as parents; the one we have provides that).
1) Pediatric Psychiatrist working for the school district
2) He suggested it, we researched independently, by the time he reached his conclusions we felt it fit perfectly, and we went no further. Our questions were answered, we got the IEP my son needed, and we have no desire to give him a label that he may not want as an adult (so far, he's embraced it), or that could harm employment or other prospects (unknown if it would, by why take an unnecessary risk). We are lucky that the school has not needed medical confirmation to provide the services; that is rare.
3) Per above
4) No
5) Multiple observations and interviews, background questionnaires, and components of an IQ test (processing speed was one; don't recall all the others, except that what was astonishing to see were the high contrasts between areas of gifted ability and areas of impairment; "normal" people don't have components of IQ that range from 80 to 160).