Evaluation anxiety

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Like the other user I may also be getting re evaluated soon and actually from someone other than the school other than the state and even though I'm not too worried about it this evaluation might fall greatly or my family's opinion. I keep thinking maybe if she or he or whatever says I'm Autistic they will finally except it. But if they don't it will be the final blow that makes them never believe me. I'm afraid they won't understand me or be deluded by what my family says. Or some other therapists of had to deal with. Have a very hard time especially expressing and explaining my feelings or even recognizing them in myself or other people. Or what if they do get the diagnosis and I feel he thinks I was acting but if I don't understand some of the questions or know how to answer them. What if I am diagnosed with Asperger's because I can talk.

The promise I don't know what to do or act in the evaluation should I tell the person that I have trouble speaking things and expressing things and explaining them? What if I am the getting diagnosed with something else or nothing at all? what if they decide that I only that I "want to be Autistic"like my family says.


I heard one comment about the label who to them label doesn't matter

In a way I kind of agree with you but it another way it's like saying your black when you're white.Or like saying your hair is black but it's clearly blonde.

Jen, not sure what to say, but I wish you the best.

jen,
if were diagnosed classic autism in the past,they woudnt change it to aspergers because if had met classic autism criteria that woud disqualify from meeting aspergers criteria, ie; significant language and speech delay.
if were diagnosed PDDNOS its possible to be changed to either aspergers or classic autism,and some of us have had multiple ASD diagnoses,its all just a bunch of labels and doesnt really matter especialy in any country that uses the DSM manual.

a lot of people with aspergers have mutism its very common, as being verbal is an incredibly tiring process which will shut down when brain needs that power for more taxing things.

because are living in america,its the DSM they use which means its all under ASD and there are no specific forms of autism there anymore,so that means shoud be able to get better understood when older...hopefuly.

a dublin,ireland based cousin of mine has just been diagnosed with autism under the DSM, finaly at age twenty two,we have always got on so am not surprised to be honest,she has been special school educated her entire life and was diagnosed with mild intelectual disability,her brother has high functioning classic autism but he doesnt act any different to a mildish aspie,hes learnt to overcome a lot with meds and coping skills.

I hope you get the answer and closure you want. I got my closure recently and feel a bit better for it.

It's not a job interview, or college admissions interview.

You're not there to impress anyone.

Just be yourself, and the therapist will figure it all out for you.

And it sounds like you're worried about contradictory things anyway- being judged as too functioning, and as not functioning enough at the same time.

If you're not articulate enough that in itsself will clue them in into how to assess you.

Well if it's any comfort at all, I was so anxious on my evaluation a couple of years ago that it brought out literally all of my traits and I had a minor meltdown in the office. I was subsequently diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (which I completely believe I have/had), ADHD (I've had this since I was 6), and Asperger's syndrome.

If they do learning tests on you, your performance differences usually diagnose autism, they did for me, I had a huge difference between verbal IQ and the rest, as in, verbal IQ was around 130 and performance/working memory 95. There are some tests you take at a clinical psychiatrist's office that are especially good at detecting learning disabilities, like the Wisconsin Card sorting test and the trail-making test.

Is this the kind of evaluation you're receiving? IF so just take it like a test, try to do well on it, the best you can, because if you're autistic, not saying for certain, but there is a chance you excel at very narrow things and are kinda bad at most other stuff. So this will show up and has nothing to do with the opinions of the staff.

AH interviewing your parents. Mhmm, well one thing for sure is that they probably can't pass their BS off on professionals as well as they think they can? I mean, it's going to be a red flag if they are openly in denial-- Denial is a defense mechanism, the professionals would be trained to see that and would consider it a negative against your parents, not against you.

My parents deny my autism as well, they even went so far as to pass my neuropsychological evaluation off to their friend the forensic psychologist. Over the past couple of years I just keep doing things and saying things like I always did but now I go 'well since I'm autistic, this is WHY I do blah blah blah' so it forces them in a way (not a good way) to have that dialog with me. Of course I'm obsessed with autism and learning everything I can about it (along with my own pet theories as to why, etc. ) so I try to resist talking about it to my parents as I know it's a special interest rather than what they want to talk about.

I've had several upsetting visits where I've overloaded and yelled at my Mom or Dad, so I'm working very hard at getting them to understand me, though I know I'm tiring I just have to understand, need to know, etc. to the point of $##$%@..

If I may say so, sometimes people just can't accept reality, they don't want to, for some reason. I feel like this is the way it is with my parents. They adopted me, I was always troubled, they agree with all the stuff I point out that's autistic, they want to help....

but they just can't accept that their daughter is autistic. And that's on them. Not on me. So think about that too, I know it's hard tho, really I do. I struggle with this every day, I so wish I could be understood without being thought of as "less than".

You should print out some of your more memorable posts from here and bring them with you, just in case they can't get the full picture from talking to you. You might know which ones I mean.