What does testing for ASD consist of?

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I think I am going to go through with the ASD testing... I have an appointment set for July 2nd. The psychologist's receptionist said this first appointment would be two hours and that my parents (in my case, my grandparents; they raised me) do not need to come. In fact, she said the doctor will not need to talk to them at all, because I am an adult. She then set up three more two hour appointments, for a psych-ed, and a final appointment to discuss all the results. I'm guessing the first, two hour appointment will the Autism assessment.

I was just wondering... What can I expect? Should I be alarmed that it's going to be that short, and only one appointment? That they don't want to talk to my grandparents? Do I really need the psych-ed? I had one done when I was 16, I am 20 now. I think they are giving me one again because I said that I needed accommodations for college... But is it necessary to diagnose Autism, as I'm not sure much would have changed since I last had a psych-ed done. I'm wondering because the Autism assessment itself is only $300, whereas including the psych-ed is much more expensive.

Seems to depend on the psychologist doing the eval, how they go about it.

My first appointment was just for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, which is basically just to screen for the presence of any other type of psychosis. They told me to expect 3 hours for that, but they must be used to people who don't read very well, because it took way less than that. The MMPI is a whole lot of multiple choice questions designed to see if you're a completely 'round-the-bend looney.

Then there was a second appointment which did take a couple of hours or more, meeting with the Psychologist, being interviewed by him, then undergoing all sorts of psyche tests - The Rorschach, a standard Free Association (which I cannot do at all), some timed thing where you have these puzzles with red bits and white bits and you're given a picture of what it's supposed to look like when it's finished and you have to figure out how to put it together and make it look like that (which is harder than it sounds, especially when there's somebody sitting there watching you), and I don't remember all the rest, but there was more...

Then the results meeting came almost two weeks after that, between which I think he went over my files from the previous two years with my therapist.

But others' experiences seem to have been a bit different, so it's hard to say exactly what to expect. I wouldn't worry about it, even though some of the testing made me feel like a moron, because I couldn't do some of the simplest things with the psychologist sitting there watching me, I understand that that was the whole point - he was testing my abilities to process under social pressure, and true to my nature, I bungled the whole thing.

It is different.
Some have had 1-2 hours with a psyciatrist, some more.
Some are examined by a neuropsychologist.
I had eight sessions: 3 screening talks and five sessions going through the Wais-IV with a clinical psycologist.

i got to play with blocks and point to pictures. i chose the red star

and some maths

My testing was divided into 3 – 2 hour sessions, plus a 45 minute follow-up.

The testing included:
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV)
- Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test (IVA+Plus)
- Brown ADD Scales
- Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST-R)
- Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRiEF-A)
- Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS-IV)
- Vineland-II Adaptive Behavior Scales
- Advanced Clinical Solutions (ACS)
- Adult Asperger Assessment (AAA)
- Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2)
- Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III)
- Multidimensional Anxiety Questionnaire (MAQ)
- Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS)
- Rorschach Psychodiagnostic Test

Plus an interview (the discussion mostly focused around an intake questionnaire I completed which documented my history including early childhood development).

Some of the above tests were questionnaires (completed by myself and my wife outside the sessions). Some were administered by the psychologist.

Do I really need the psycho-educational assessment again, along with the Autism test, if I already had one when I was 16? Is it necessary to diagnose ASD? When I was given the psych-ed, it consisted of most of those tests... Except for an Autism screening test. I was diagnosed with NVLD instead, because of my "severe social deficits", among other things.

My tests were for ADHD, Asperger's, and IQ. I think they have to test your IQ when testing for Asperger's too, because they look at two separate IQ scores, one that's verbal, and one that's not. One of the things that I know is that the pattern blocks are difficult, but a little fun, and the matrix reasoning is fun. I don't know what parts of my tests were particularly the IQ test and what parts weren't.

I was curious about this myself. I went through just one two-hour evaluation with the Autism Specialist and a psychiatrist. Even though I'm WAY an adult, the doctors still had my mom sit in on the evaluation (I wish she hadn't, in that she is part of my problem.) That was back in February, and although the doctor is confident that I am on the spectrum, she wants me to go through the testing to make it legit. She said the testing -- I'm going on May 9 -- would last approximately 4 hours, and would take a few weeks to analyze. She didn't give me any kind of idea what the testing consists of though. I would be a lot more comfortable if I knew what to expect.

This is making me crazy.

So many different methods, numbers of meetings, different lengths of time...

After my botched evaluation by the guy who thought all Autisics were Rain Man, I've been AFRAID of what a legit evaluation will consist of. Now, again and again, I hear of differing methods used even in different parts of the U.S., meaning there's apparently no consistency.

No way for me to know what to expect.

Oh...

The thought just hit me. I should either phone or e-mail the Autism Center I'm dealing with and just plain ASK THEM.

Duh.

Nope, the way your appointment is set up is identical to how mine was done: I had a two-hour intake eval, and three testing periods, two that were two hours each for the WAIS-IV and WIAT-III (you probably won't take that since it was used to test me for dyscalculia at the same time as my autism eval) and one that was an hour long during which I was given the ADOS-2, the autism observation. After all that, I was given my results, the examiner and I discussed them for an hour, and I walked out with diagnosis in hand. Because I took my tests one to two weeks apart, and it took five weeks for the examiner to calculate and draw up a report of my results, the entire test took about two months, but your sessions may be more efficiently performed. I was also given at least three different self-reports to fill out on my own time, and you may find they do the same to you; mine covered any symptoms of depression, anxiety or abnormal psychological functioning I was experiencing.

The examiner didn't really talk to my parents either; my mom filled out the BASC-2 which described my developmental history and childhood, but it was only a few pages long, and she never came to any of the sessions with me; my dad was never even involved. Overall, I wouldn't be too worried, everything you've described so far sounds legitimate.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "psych-ed" but if that's the IQ stuff, I think that's generally kind of useful; autistics present with a very split IQ profile most of the time in a way that NTs seem not to; aspies generally have higher verbal than performance IQ's, and autistics have higher performance than verbal IQs. Not sure how reliable it is, but I think they can get a sense of whether or not you're on the spectrum by looking at your IQ subscores. My verbal IQ came out at 134 and my performance IQ is 94, so that gives you an example of the kind of split they see. If you've already taken an IQ test, I would bring the results in to your intake eval and show them to the doctor, then ask if you need to do it again. Or if you're paying up front, you could call and ask the receptionist if you need to retake them.

I am in the process of being tested, so far I have taken quizzes and have seen a psychologist where they determined if I have strong ASD traits (which I do) according to the test result and examination, now I will be sent to a specialist in ASD behaviors who will give me a series of sessions which are 2 to 3 hours long in which they will evaluate me. Afterwords you get the final decision/diagnosis.

For my son, he saw a doctor once and that doctor confirmed it right away, but my son's traits are very predominate.

Wow, some of this stuff looks complicated!

I went to a psychologist who specializes in autistic spectrum disorders. We talked for an hour about my history and why I'd sought her out (lots of questions from her laptop computer). She sent me home with a 200 question quiz which I dropped off the next day, and in a week there was another appointment, when she discussed the results of both the test and her personal observations. She said that I had very good self-awareness; maybe that was part of the reason stuff happened so quickly?

I just had one session with a neuropsychiatrist which lasted just over one hour. No tests or evaluations, nothing apart from a lot of questions. About 20 minutes in he decided that I had mild AS, and at the end of the session he confirmed the diagnosis and sent an official diagnosis and report about 2 weeks later. I know that other people have had similar diagnostic assessments, but it seemed too short and easy - the exception rather than the norm, and I worry about the validity of this diagnosis without testing.

I did IQ testing already, yes. When I was 16. The psychologist called it a psycho-educational test. I just remember it stating a big difference between my verbal and nonverbal scores, which is why I was diagnosed with a Nonverbal Learning Disorder. That and because of what the psychologist called "severe social deficits" and an inability to do mental math. Although I get 90%'s on testing and my final grades in school when I can use a calculator. The psychologist said there was no point in doing an assessment for an ASD as NVLD was so similar to AS, in his opinion. Anyway, I've lost that testing, I have to request it be mailed to me from my high school's school board so I can show it to the psychologist doing this evaluation. I can't really remember anything about my performance scores versus verbal.

Diagnosed as an adult.

For me it was 2 hours of questions about my life from a consultant clinical psychologist and a consultant nurse.
The nurse consultant asked almost all the questions the other guy just took a lot of notes.

I googled their names after and found the they are both heavily involved with ASD.
The nurse consultant works at an autism specialist diagnostic unit.