In interview w/ parents necessary for my diagnosis?

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Hi
I would like to know how important is the interview with friends/parents/relatives for the diagnosis?
As of now I do not have plans of telling anyone that I am getting tested.

I feel the same way. The only person who would be able to fulfil that role for me is not someone I am comfortable discussing the issue with at this time. It seems to depend upon a number of factors including the area you live and the particular practitioner you are seeing - I asked the same question here a while ago and there were varying answers but a number of people said they had been diagnosed without anyone else being involved.

The reason a parent or someone who has known you all your life is usually involved is because it is important for the diagnostician to have a clear idea of your childhood (our own recollections are helpful but not illustrative of the impression others have of our behaviour). If you have things from your childhood which supply this POV, such as school reports, photographs or videos of you interacting with other children, and so on, this will probably make them more willing to make the diagnosis without the involvement of parents.

However, even if you don't (I don't have anything like that, unfortunately) if you present the symptoms strongly and have consistently done so throughout your life I don't think you would be refused a diagnosis because of your personal circumstances.

I've been told many times (by diagnosed aspies as well as my support worker) that it's not absolutely necessary. Recounting stories others have told you rather than your own memories (for instance, a relative told me the other day that she always struggled to connect with me as a child and as a teacher, she found it strange because she'd never felt that before) is useful. Basically anything you can use to illustrate you as a child from someone else's point of view as opposed to just your own.

If your parents can't be there they can't be there. They wouldn't just say to someone whose parents had died that they couldn't diagnose them. They'd find a way around it. I think sometimes people are diagnosed with PDD-NOS which is essentially a diagnosis but based on little childhood information.

Depends on who you see.

-Basic adult psychiatrists and whatnot won't require it

-special autism institutes, the big names, often require it

Interviews with parents aren't even always helpful because they may not remember either or lie to try to make their kid seem better than they really were, especially if they are in denial.

Sometimes when I ask my mother things about my childhood she says she doesn't remember.

The psychologist who diagnosed me absolutely refused to do the ADIR without a parent present (OR someone else who has been around since birth and knew about my development). I was angry about it and fought it all the way, but NOW I understand why that was necessary: no matter how much we think we know ourselves, we actually DON'T know what we were like before our memories begin. This is important since it is something present since birth. We also don't always remember ourselves correctly in terms of what we do know.

Not too many people, because it might cause comfusion.
You can choose just one person to provide the collateral information.
You don't have to have more than that, and having someone like your mom or dad answering questions can help quite a bit with finding a diagnosis.

I wonder what they would do if there wasn't anyone like that available? The only people that were around me a lot since birth was my grandmother and mother. My grandmother is gone and my mother won't be around forever, plus if I ask her basic questions about things like when I started to walk or talk she doesn't remember.

She said that if I didn't bring a parent, she could give me an opinion based on the information I gave her, but it would not be a full/complete diagnosis because it is impossible for me to know my early childhood development. It is completely logical when she said put it that way.

I recently decided to get myself diagnosed as an adult. I am 17 now - fortunately one has to be only 18 years old to be considered an adult in Germany.
I am absolutely certain that I have AS, but despite noticing my symptoms themselves my parents appear to ignore the very possibility of me being autistic.
This is why I believe they would not be honest during an interview and could therefore reduce my chance of being diagnosed.

Am over 50. Got diagnosed only a couple years ago.

One parent is dead, the other is in a home for folks with alzheimers.
So niether were available.

So my parents are not available. But my sister and girlfriend were avaliable, and both (in the words of the doctor) were "very forthcoming"( I guess they both like to blab about what a wierdo I am).

So actual parents arent necessary. But in my case I did have other people who knew me a long time for the doc to interview.

But if you dont have ANY one - I dont know.

I have been told it's a very expensive and time consuming process after age 22 and yes, it absolutely requires a parental interview. These experts never seem to think that my parents might not exactly be honest because they wouldn't want to be seen as 'bad' parents. I already know I was a late talker and late walker because I've been told countless times growing up and meet all the DSM IV criteria to a T so why the heck do I need to waste my time to have that confirmed anyway?

I already made the mistake of telling my mother what I was up to so if I were to follow through and complete a formal dx she would just lie because as expected she went into 100% denial when I told her I was seeking confirmation that I have mild Autism because we all know Autistics are all just like Rain Man

My parents were abusive. Odds of them being honest: Zero.
This is one of my concerns in getting "officially tested" (I've already had two docs on board with my being autistic)

Well recently when I was obsessing about it I also asked my parents a lot of questions. So I could inform the psychiatrist based on that. Well I live alone away from my parents and the all the people (inc friends) who properly know me are not in the same city as I am. So I can't take them for this test anyway.
I think if I include them, they would think I am over reacting based on internet tests and may be biased when they answer questions.

My mother was a verry merry berry important part of my diagnostic evaluation, because she knew many many many details about my childhood that I did not know. Also, she had a different perspective on my behaviors, all of which I thought were purrrfurrrtly normal at all times, but she had considered them bizarro throughout my life. Also, she knew the timeline of my developmental milestones, and this was information that I could not have known myself.

I'm not really sure, since my mother was the only one the psychologist interviewed. But I imagine it's only to get a broad idea of your life events to help determine diagnosis (such as typical behavior, problems with certain things, etc. stuff that most probably wouldn't notice in themselves).