What diagnostic tests were used to diagnose you as an adult

Post Reply New Topic

When you got your official diagnosis, what test(s) did your psychiatrist/ psychologist/ psychometrician administer?

What were the actual test names? And was there a specific test for autism itself?

Am in middle of diagnostic process, but not sure I trust the person administering the tests is using the right ones (note I am in Southeast Asia, so generally they default to using American standards for medical testing)

As far as tests are concern there are a few that they could administer. Everyone of the tests available as with any test has it's pros and cons. There doesn't exists a test that is 100% fool proof for anything nor one agreed upon "gold standard". If you have questions about the diagnostic procedure they are using I would ask them to explain it to you. I asked a lot of questions of my evaluator and they were happy to answer. If they weren't clear enough I asked for clarification until they were.

The diagnostic process doesn't just rely on the written test. It requires observation, presentation, history, communication and the written tests. So your standardized tests are only a small part of it. Again if you have questions about what they are using ask for clarification from your evaluator as they would be best to answer why they use the particular ones they are.

I just finished up the second portion of my assessment for autism and several different types of tests were used. I don't know the name of them but I can describe them if you want...

Sadly I think I am wsting my time with the psych I am working with. The person administering the battery of tests said "the IQ test will tell us if you have autism".

So even if the right battery of tests are being used, the person administering them has zero understanding of autism

For the record, the battery of tests included a test where I had to draw the patterns they showed me, a test where I had to interpret what was happening, what the people were thinking and feeling and how the scene ended: the scene being a hand drawn illustration (rather than actual photographs or videos)... this test was recorded. then there was a test with blocks where i had to identify which of several blocks was closest to the original block I was shown, Another tests where I had to use blocks of different shapes (circles, half circles, triangles, squares, rectangles etc) to reproduce a picture I was shown of the block assembled into a shape, there was a multiple choice test on personality (strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree), tests where I had to look at a picture and describe how to get from the starting point in the picture to the destination (go straight until corner, turn left etc), a test where I was asked to fill in blanks ( blank is to blade as salt is to blank, and blank is to coast as state is to blank ), a test where I had to say what a word meant (for example define halcyon or achromatic), a test where I had to say what was wrong with a picture (for example a boy sawing branch of a tree, but he is on the wrong side of the branch the side that will fall), and a brief math test and a couple of others.

I was diagnosed using the autism quotient, empathy quotient, 2 ASD specific informer reports that I can't remember the names of (one done by partner and the other by my mother), the Adult Aspergers Assesment (diagnostic interview), and a separate psychiatrist who often works with ASD spoke with me and took me through the RAADS-r test.

As people have mentioned, there are a number if there diagnostic tools. From your description, the test asking you to describe characters thoughts and feelings sounds like a theory of mind test. The other tasks you describe may be the same as, or similar to, cognitive tasks where ASD participants tend to perform differently. However, it doesn't sound as if they are asking about developmental history or assessing you in the core domains of ASD (according to the DSM-5) so you're not wrong to be concerned. Would it be possible for you to speak to them about this issue?

Yeah I am going to speak to them on my next appointment with the psych in 2 weeks.

But the basic problem here is autism just isn't on their radar when it comes to adults. My psych first tried to diagnose me on my very first visit as having hyper vigilance and anxiety despite me upfront saying it was autism. She got stuck on some abuses I suffered as a child and just stopped thinking or listening after that.

It took a 16 page email(if printed) detailing the 80 different traits I identified through self observation, feedback from my wife, family and friends. Than she said "there is no way you're not autistic".

But she has been resistant to actually doing a proper analysis/tests etc.

After months of badgering she finally relented and had her partner who is a psychometrician administer the tests I described. And he obviously is clueless about autism.

All in my signature.

Thanks.

Anyone else can provide guidance on what specific tests/test names were used, it's appreciated. The more I can tell them the tools to use the better the chance I have at getting this done right

I'm going to have an assessment in a few days. I can let you know what happens there.

So far, I have been given a form to fill out which is the AQ test.

I had the same sort of issue you did when I went to get diagnosed. (I'm in rural US)

The lady basically told me from the get-go that because I can make eye contact and I have "friends," there's no way I could be autistic. But when she finally administered tests, there were only two of them, and it almost seemed as if they were designed for small children, not high-functioning adults.

The first one was very similar to what you described. I was asked to look at a cartoon scenario where she told me a story of what was happening and all I had to do was repeat the story back to her, including the characters' emotions and reactions. The second one was those puzzle shape things I used to play with in kindergarten where you have to arrange different shaped/colored blocks in a certain way in order to make a picture or pattern (ex: mywoodentoys.com.au/images/build-picture-puzzle.jpg).

After administering those tests she told me I definitely wasn't autistic and sent me on my way. She did ask my grandma a bunch of questions about my childhood previous to the testing, but I'm not sure how my grandma answered all of them or how accurate her answers were. She didn't remember a lot of day to day details like how I played with toys and stuff.

ADOS and social responsiveness scale

SRS Social Responsiveness Scale
Adult Aspergers Assesment
Brief-A for Executive Functioning.

None. But I was diagnosed as a kid.

My doctor asked me questions from the Adult Aspergers Assessment (AAA): A Diagnostic Method. It goes by the DSM-IV criteria.

The diagnostician started with the ADOS module 4 (adult. By the way, those damned blocks drove me crazy), followed by WAIS IV.