Going for an assessment tomorrow!

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Well... I have an assessment scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. It was sort of a spur of the moment thing, but I guess that is how they do it here in Canada. I went to a place called The Learning Disabilites Association of Saskatchewan and a lady filed for a grant for the assessment on my behalf. She said that once the grant is approved that things mover really fast. I think that was accurate...

I am nervous because I don't know what to expect. The place seems to deal mostly in learning disabilites, but they do see people for "developmental disorders". I was refered to this place by my doctor who refered me to an autism specialist who in turn suggested that my doctor refer me to this learning disabilites outfit. I guess the specialist isn't permitted to see adults for some reason.

The thing that has me concerned is the intake lady. She also happens to be the director of the place. She was asking me questions for this grant application and when it was more or less finished she looked at me and said, "Sounds like you have nonverbal learning disability to me. Not Asperger's". I then responded that there was considerable overlap between AS and NVLD. Then the lady said, "They are totally different. You go and read about it. You'll see that they are very different conditions.". WHAT?? I'm no doctor, but I can read. I have read a lot of stuff that says that it can be tricky to tell one from the other. I have not read anything saying that they are radically different from one another. Rather, I have read that the largest differences are in the areas of stimming behaviors, special interests and visual learning. I'm sure there are even more differences, but I am just trying to hit the high points. How can someone, after five minutes of random questions, determine that they know exactly what I "have"?? If it were that easy, my family doctor could have just diagnosed me right there on the spot instead of writing a boat load of refereals trying to find someone to diagnose me!!

Well.... I have just finished "fleshing out" the DSM-IV criteria for Asperger's with relavent examples and information about myself to give to the doctor. I have also included the elements from the Gillberg scale that apply to me and have tossed in my EQ, AQ and FQ results from Simon Baron-Cohen's assessment forms for Asperger's and High Functioning Autism. Maybe that will help..... afterall.... I will be seeing a psychologist fort he assessment. Not the intake lady....

I just get worked up easily, I guess.....

Good luck with that assessment, I am in the same boat.

Premise: I know next to nothing about AS and similar conditions yet, and I plan to schedule an assessment with a psychologist specialized in these issues on Monday [among those I found in my area via google].

The description you make of that place seems a little bit strange to me.
You say that the intake lady is also the director, which seems peculiar in itself to me.
And shouldn't she restrain from making a diagnosis? Her behavior seems unprofessional, even if hers were only comments, since she could confuse you in a moment when you need clear information.

Did you do some checks on this LDAS? Did you find this association via google too? Was it maybe recommended to you?

I am interested since I haven't come up with a good plan myself about how to find the right place. I live alone abroad, and have no one that can really advise me at the moment.

I googled for hours trying to back-check professionals and associations, but eventually I could not get enough information to be able to trust any of them, so I'll probably need to just try and hope [and rely on my intuition].

I live in Canada, so you generally don't just go to whatever doctor you would like to go to. There are wait lists for most specialist doctors. My family doctor had recommended me to a specialist working out of the University Hospital. This lady was unable to see me because she only sees children. She checked about seeing me outside of regular hours and was told that she was not allowed to do private work. This lady is the one who then asked my doctor to refer me to the Learning Disabilities Association. They are a network that is all over Canada. I guess that lots of folks go there. I tend to think that this intake lady was just being unprofessional. I also think that I ended up in her office because she was applying for a grant for me. That made me different from the usual client, I guess. I agree that it is a scary prospect, however. My family doctor said that if the outcome was unsatisfactory or if I wanted a second oppinion she could refer me to a psychiatrist at a later time. That is nice, but it takes about a year to get an appointment. A private assessment costs about $2500 and I don't have that kind of money.

Good luck in your search, as well. Where are you living?

You have to make allowances - if her organisation makes its grant income out of learning disabilities then that's what you have to have to be any use to them.

And - having been through a fair amount of it - I agree with you. The preconceptions of the assessor have as much to do with the outcomes of the assessment as what's "wrong" does. You can't tell them that, though. Well, you can, but in my experience it doesn't help.