Should I volunteer info that would be helpful in diagnosis?

Post Reply New Topic

I've started seeing a new dr., who specializes in developmental delays. I told him that I had a preliminary diagnosis at a hospital 8 years ago, and he's now making sure it's right. We keep meeting, and he says he's not ready yet to decide on a diagnosis.

The thing is, he hasn't asked anything about my childhood history or my mother, who was also suspected to have ASD. There are other things that I find line up with the criteria too, that he has never asked about. Should I volunteer this information?

I went to a different dr. before him, and she asked me all sorts of questions he hasn't asked. (I didn't go back to her though.)

Fluter,

I just finished my evaluation process. I'll share my take on it with the hopes that you can gain something that might help you on your end.

Prior to my evaluation I had seen five therapist over a six year time frame. One said I had Bi Polar, another dysthymic depression, another thought I had PTSD and one actually gave me a diagnosis of ADHD. (but I never fully agreed with it) When my son was diagnosed I knew nothing about AS or ASD for that matter. But in my research I found out so many things that I related to, I knew that this had to be my answer.

As for the evaluation process, I made it very clear from the beginning that I wanted to put EVERYTHING on the table. The main reason being, that in my mind anything short of looking at my whole life story would not allow for a diagnosis that I would accept, regardless of what that was. After two appointments we covered IQ tests, memory tests, history, depression and anxiety questionnaires, and a list of things that I had written down that I related to that pertained to AS with examples of each. I can't imagine my assessment coming back with anything other than ASD HFA, but if it does, I know that I will have provided every piece of information that I could and left nothing to chance.

I think if you are fortunate enough to be with a clinician that understands ASD then you owe it to yourself to make as much information available for him to make an educated diagnosis. Best of luck with the process. I hope it gives the answers you seek. Kind Regards. Shark

I gave the clinician who diagnosed me several sheets of paper containing my recollections about childhood incidents and other information from my life that directly related to autistic criteria. My clinician thanked me and said that any information I could give her, no matter how insignificant it might seem to me, was always very useful.

In revisiting this thread I had an afterthought... no evaluation is going to be able to capture 100% of the individual. If there is something that you can provide to fill in as many gaps as possible...why not.