What to expect during first evaluation appointment?

Post Reply New Topic

I FINALLY have an assessment appointment, but honestly I'm terrified. I don't know what I should expect.
I've heard horror stories of doctors saying rude and nasty things or just dumb things.

What should I expect?

Please share your experiences, or just send me good vibes.
I definitely need it.

I assume that this is for autism/aspergers

Afraid?

What are you afraid of?

Its not like a job interview. Its not like you have to impress them.

What bad thing do you think is gonna happen?

Just relax, and let them interview you, and be as honest as you can be. The more you bare your soul the better it will be for them to accurately assess you. The worse you look the better you will look (in a sense). The more they know about any difficulties you have in life the better.

For me it was a several day battery of interviews and aptitude tests administured by a one nice old gentleman (who took the data to a panel to assess) that was actually a rather interesting little journey into the self. The result was a nice little booklet- an inventory of my aptitudes (positives as well as negatives). Interesting for anyone to have.

I honestly don't know why I'm scared. I really don't understand my feelings most of the time. I'm bad at communicating, so that could be why.

Like you said, I just need to relax. I'm very happy I finally can get the answers I've been very badly wanting.
Thank you so much!

It's different for everyone, for me it was just an interview form of evaluation and they also interviewed my dad. I can't remember much because of the fact that i wasn't aware that my evaluation was an evaluation at all, i was pretty dazed through the whole thing.

Just keep calm, clear your mind and answer the questions as honestly as possible. If a doctor says "i dont think you have aspergers/ autism" don't take it as a ignorant statement, ask the doctor why they may think this and ask what they may suspect could be the cause of your symptoms.

This happened to me, i was hospitalized and there i was talking to a psychologist, i mentioned my diagnoses and she said " i dont think your autistic, aspegers maybe but not autistic" i was a bit thrown off and even paniked but i kept calm and asked what makes her think this and what else could cause my symptoms, she stated that i was too aware of my symptoms to be aspergers and that she suspects severe ADHD, OCD, GAD and Nonverbal Learning Disability. So i took her words with a grain of salt and got tested for Nonverbal Learning Disability, i didn't have it and another psychologist said further testing isn't needed and aspergers diagnoses is a best fit.

If a doctor judges you try not to take it personally, they may not mean to sound judgemental.

Remember these doctors went to school for a long time, they know more than us, but they are human and can make mistakes. always ask for a second opinion if your not entirely sure about the doctors diagnoses.

Do you think if the doctor says no, but gives me ridiculous reasons as to why, I should try and look for a second opinion?

you're very welcome.


Hope it goes well for you.

They also try to interview folks in your life like parents (as the other poster said). Being an oldster neither of my parents were available for that, but the doc did interview my sis, and my gf. He thanked me later for both of them being "quite forthcoming!".

Geeze! I guess they both had a lot to say about what a wierdo I am! Lol! But thats a good thing because the doc needs to know that kinda stuff.

I already know I want to bring my mom, because she's, well, my mom. She knows.
I was thinking about bringing my boyfriend, but he's only been around for a few short years. I don't think he'll know how to answer some of the more in depth questions.

Absolutely, like if he says that because you can talk you're not autistic or says something overly ignorant.

It depends on what sector your Medical Consultation is coming from.

Doctors working in the public sector (state hospitals) run the entire sliding scale between good and nice. However, there is a special kind of weariness that comes from working in the public sector, and though few Doctors will ever admit to it (at least during their career), they often find it difficult not to view their patients as just another number. It's not that they don't care, it's just that they often have too many patients and not enough patience.

Doctors working in the private sector (private hospitals) tend to start at around neutral, and then slowly trail off towards nice. They earn more money than state Doctors, but their customer base is much less secure, and a mean Doctor can quickly find himself short on patients, regardless of how good he is. As to what you can expect from them, well that depends on what you signed up for. The most accurate and successful Autism diagnostic procedures employed in my day, involved almost excessive degrees of mental and physical stress testing that were so severe, that anyone could have made a successful assault and battery case. Nowadays, the process is more psychological, almost surgical in it's precision. If it's anything like here, then you'll have to sign certain wavers that will allow the Doctor to get physical with you. The option to sign is entirely up to you, but without the presence of physical stress exertion your evaluation results could be severely impacted.

I know of a lot of people with Autism who decided to forgo the physical part of their evaluation, and even though they still got identified as being on the spectrum, their placement is often completely off. This has severely impacted their efforts to straighten out their life as they were effectively following reasonably sound advice and procedure for their diagnosed form of Autism, only didn't actually have that kind of Autism. So they pretty much wasted a great deal time, effort, and money chasing a red herring. They eventually did get re-diagnosed, and with the proper employment of some kind of physical straining methods, were able to get themselves more accurately diagnosed. And as a result, they were able to make significant use of the the proper resources to improve, and eventually conquer/control some parts of their condition.


Additional Information: Most people with Autism that I know well enough to have been told/learned about their evaluation, received a non-stressful, relaxed evaluation, with roughly half of them being satisfied with the results, and moving on peacefully. The other half ended up going back for re-evaluation, as was previously stated in the paragraph above this one. Of those, some were only slightly off, and though many did use this new information to improve upon themselves, there were those whose re-evaluation outlined some very hard truths about their unique brand of Autism. Most of those unlucky few I wish I could comment on, but I never see them, I think I may have seen one or two on the passing, but for the most part it's as though they erased themselves from existence.