Diagnosis of Autism ( AS, HFA, PDD-NOS )

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I am going for my diagnosis for AS/HFA in two weeks, and I am curious what is the standard procedure of diagnosis, I know that psychological disorders or neuro developmental*(edited) tends to be harder to analyse especially when the person is an adult and he/she has a own conscious mind of thinking.
I have seen and done plenty of online test for AS/HFA listed in this forum and I have scored way beyond normal threshold of NT scores for all.
I know that it is just a guideline.

Questions for those who went for official diagnosis:

1)What sort of tests/tools do psychologists use to diagnose and how many consultations it took to have an answer?
2)Do they vary for different countries/cultures?
3)How many different psychologists have you gone to get a firm conclusion of your AS/HFA?
4)Has anyone done online tests and went for diagnosis and was told that you are NT?
5)What help were you offered after you get diagnosed as AS/HFA?

Thank you.

1. Depends. Some go through a whole battery of tests, whereas others apply you and your life to whatever diagnostic criteria they use. Expect questions. One for an ASD specialist here
2. No idea
3. I've seen a two specifically for an ASD; I saw several more government ones who agreed. One should be more than enough though
4. Not me. However, I recall reading that 50% of those who score above the ASD line with the AQ test have a diagnosable ASD (Cohen)
5. There's really no help available for adults (apart from disability services, but they're there for all disorders), though when one knows what they have, they can then work with it

Applies to me, I guess. I'm going to request formal testing..

Sincerely,
Matt

1)What sort of tests/tools do psychologists use to diagnose and how many consultations it took to have an answer?

I had an IQ test, standard ADHD test things (he always evaluates for ADHD with an ASD), various generic mental health questions to either speak about or fill out forms about, AQ test, EQ test, stories I had to answer about how people acted awkwardly in the stories, matching emotions to faces and voices, matching voices and faces, that kind of thing, as well as asking me general questions and interviewing my parents.

I had three meetings total - a background meeting with both my parents and I, were he went through my background and interviewed my parents, and decided it was worth doing the rest of the evaluation. A 4 hour lots of tests meeting, and a meeting a week after that where he gave me the results.

At the bottom of this post I have more details about my diagnosis process (the rest of the post is how I got to that point).

2)Do they vary for different countries/cultures?

Don't know, I've only been evaluated in the US.

3)How many different psychologists have you gone to get a firm conclusion of your AS/HFA?

One psychologist thought I likely was autistic, but didn't feel qualified to test me.
One neuropsychologist, ten years later, did my evaluation and diagnosed me.

4)Has anyone done online tests and went for diagnosis and was told that you are NT?

I've heard of people on the forums mentioning this happened to them (while not "normal", not autistic, that is). Some of these were because of the professionals not taking the concept of autism in an adult seriously, others were because of them likely actually not being autistic, and those people have mentioned accepting that and understand how they're different but still involving themselves with this community.

5)What help were you offered after you get diagnosed as AS/HFA?

The person who diagnosed me also helped me get a therapist who specializes in ASDs who he knew was actually good. She required a diagnosis to see.

I've gotten reduced fare public transit tickets.

I'm slowly working on applying for SSI (slowly because of needing to figure things out with my parents before I can really do so).

I'm working with vocational rehab.

I've been explicitly told on my diagnosis that I should get accommodations in any work or school setting I end up in in the future.

My primary care doctor might be helping me get OT covered by insurance because of my diagnosis. Without the diagnosis my insurance would have rejected coverage of sensory integration therapy for me.

This is the blog post where I talk about this question.

1)What sort of tests/tools do psychologists use to diagnose and how many consultations it took to have an answer?
- An initial interview with me (primarily) and my parents to decide if we should go further with the evaluation. Before it, we had to complete a 45 page form at home.
- ADI-R interview administered to my parents (questions about my childhood and present symptoms).
- ADOS interview with me.
- WAIS-IV IQ test.
- Discussing the results.

2)Do they vary for different countries/cultures?
Yes, I think they do. According to a study, even within the USA diagnostic practices vary from clinic to clinic. They may diagnose the same person with all three ASDs, but they are pretty consistent in that they will give an ASD diagnosis if someone is on the spectrum. In the States it's more likely to get an AS diagnosis if you appear high functioning than in the rest of the world, in my opinion. In the UK they would probably give you PDD-NOS that they simply call "ASD" when you are an adult. In Europe AS and PDD-NOS are about equally "popular" labels. On a side note, I've just read somewhere that PDD-NOS had once been more "popular" before AS took its place in the diagnosing practice.

3)How many different psychologists have you gone to get a firm conclusion of your AS/HFA?
Two psychs, they work together.

4)Has anyone done online tests and went for diagnosis and was told that you are NT?
I was pretty sure I have an ASD, so it wasn't me (I feel fortunate to a degree).

5)What help were you offered after you get diagnosed as AS/HFA?
Help is not cheap, but available (in Hungary). Insurance only covers one hour per month consulting / counseling and help in e-mail or via phone call anytime if I need it.

Autism is not a psychological/psychiatric disorder. It's neuro developmental.

Just thought you should know.

Has anyone done any CT or MRI brain scan during their diagnosis to check if you fit in the autism criteria?

I have read that some studies has sort of proof that part of people with autism frontal lobes or something like that is different from NT