An Assessment?

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Ok, I am freaking out!

Rachael, my peer support person has booked an appointment with my GP in order to try and arrange an assessment.

I don't know how to prepare. It's on Wednesday and I feel like it's going to be part one of pleading my case and hoping someone understands.

I think I'm just going to briefly go over the assessment things with my GP and just beg. So things like;

I struggle to understand facial expressions and some gestures [although my knowledge in sign language gives me some inside on the gesture front and the expressions but it is still limited. Like I know 'happy', 'sad' and 'confused' but people aren't that expression-full].

I never know when I should talk so I tend to stay quiet because it's easier. When I do talk I tend to talk about things I find interesting [cannot stand things like small talk, it makes me insanely nervous and stuff].

I struggle with jokes and understanding sarcasm [although I use sarcasm all the time, I just can't acknowledge it that easily in other people].

Since a young age I used 'strange' words according to my parents. [My mother likes to bring up that I called my father 'father' since I started to talk despite both of my sisters calling him 'dad', they haven't a clue where I picked it up].

I don't know how the hell anyone is supposed to make friends, ok I do know. People talk, they like each other and they are friends. I cannot do that though! It doesn't feel right, it feels fake, then I never know when to class someone as my 'friend'. I don't like socialising when I don't need to so friends that I made in school stayed in school and when school finished I lost these friends because we never met up afterwards.

I have trouble understanding why people do some of the things that they do. People lie a lot as well, it annoys me because they are almost never honest and you never know if they are being honest! It is easier to just stay away from people.

I find it hard to predict what will happen, which I have only just become aware of. I will go to extremes when trying to think of an outcome but a 'realistic' one is always out of reach.

I have my routines that I like to stick to.

I also flicker between intense interests. Whilst most of these interest focus on Psychology based topics [DID, self harm, eating disorders, bipolar disorder] they do vary, lately I've been interested in orcas and I like to collect as much information as I can about these topics.

...

I do have a list of things that I have had my parents confirm that might be slightly 'not normal', would it be an idea to print that off? Or would it be better to wait until the actual assessment? Does it look bad to be walking in to an assessment or an appointment with paper reminding me what to say?

Does all that sound ok? Gosh, I might need to print this out before it all runs from my mind. Can you tell I'm worried? I want answers and if I do have aspergers... well it explains a lot and it would be great [in terms of me getting support that I could really do with having at the moment].

I think it's fine to bring in a list of things you want to remember: when I went in for my assessment intake interview, I had a list of traits from childhood to present I'd typed out that was ten pages long. I gave it to the psych along with my printed results of the RAADS-R test, (and a link to where she could get more information if she'd never heard of it), and a sheet delineating the primary differences between male and female aspies in case she'd never dealt with a female on the spectrum before. The things you wrote about will all be useful for him to know, especially the examples, which make what you're describing more concrete and less like you're just reciting things from the internet. Good luck, let us know how it goes

Buffy., I may not be the best one to advise you because I have not had a clinical assessment yet, just an informal one. But like Startrekker said, bring whatever you can think of and I would say don't worry, Just relax. They know what to look for and just answer the questions as honestly as you can. Hopefully it will go well.

Buffy I totally understand the freaking out! I have my assessment next Thursday and Friday and I'm freaking out too. I am most scared of being told I am being ridiculous or that I am making it all up, so I have a huge list of things that I want to mention. I have to put this massive list into some sort of order before next Thursday.

I also have to write a developmental history of myself which is really difficult because I feel like I'm manipulating the evidence to fit my case.

Good luck with your assessment. I hope we both get the answers that we are looking for.

Thank you all for giving me some reassurance, my GP has sent my referral (or is going to now-ish) for a screening.