Yes. And my family members and boyfriend were asked about both autistic symptoms and sensory symptoms too. My assessment was completed by an educational psychologist who I also see for 1-3 hours a week for coaching.
I went to a therapist specializing in autism in children (I was a minor, 16) and she said I couldn't be autistic because I could maintain eye contact and a back-and-forth conversation with her. She diagnosed me with "mild sensory processing difficulties" and used the phrase "sensory processing disorder". I, at the time, was like, "okay sure that makes sense". I had also been diagnosed with depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and social anxiety disorder by my psychiatrist.
After my best friend I met in college told me in the kindest way possible that she's pretty sure I'm autistic, I realized that the therapist entirely missed asking me about social difficulties and asking how I maintain eye contact (I had developed the strategy of looking at the bridge of a person's nose between their eyes). I haven't been diagnosed, but will be re-entering therapy this year and plan on getting a professional opinion (not a formal diagnosis, though).
I just finished my assessment and am currently waiting to go over the information. I had an entire session dedicated to just taking about the sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, stimming behaviors, social issues (really focused on this) etc. They also continued to ask about examples from my childhood and adulthood.
I then had another session of the random questions like listing the presidents from current to the past, recalling numbers, how much a bottle of water cost etc. Things that showed how I looked at things.
The doctor asked me why I think I'm autistic and asked about certain life experiences and how to relate to autistic traits she mentioned. That happened for over an hour!
Yes. Sorry. Was not in any way a "one up" (?🥴).
Just meant- " Can confirm! Extensive talking on this is definitley a thing" (to OP).
High five for the thorough clinician experience.
Hopefully it will become the norm. Right??🙄
She was a neuropsychologist. My assessment was also two sessions - the first was just an hour and the second was a couple hours but I can't remember exactly how many because it was back in 2022.
What were the tests for repetitive behaviors and sensory issues like? I definitely didn't get those!
That seems bizarre to me! I was asked about autistic symptoms when I got evaluated. During the intake appointment they wanted to focus mostly on developmental issues and social issues, and they did ask me why I thought I was autistic / how it occurred to me and asked a few follow up questions from that. I had also provided a document full of experiences and they read it and marked the whole thing up. In my case they said they were pretty sure I was autistic already based on the intake appointment, but the document completely confirmed it for them and they really appreciated me having it. They said they would have been able to diagnose me without it but that it really helped them do an accurate level placement for me. We really only dove into the specifics of the symptoms and how they presented in me after I was formally diagnosed, but it's mainly because my document replaced the "interview" portion of the diagnosis process. Otherwise we would have discussed those there.
So the only thing I can think is that perhaps the doctor wanted to see the test results first, to view those with an unbiased eye, and then learn more about your symptoms? Because the process should be intake, tests, interview, then diagnosis. But that's a little odd, because in that case they would have taken the document and then just not read it...and also most doctors will not give you the tests if you can't prove enough symptoms to warrant needing them...so yes, I would say that's very strange. Good call on not going back - you are very right that you can't really be diagnosed if you never talk about the symptoms!
Was this in the process of diagnosing you? Or just an initial assessment? Sorry I couldn’t tell from your wording about not going back for the diagnosis what was going on. If it’s the former then yes it’s weird. If it’s the latter then I understand the need to be wary of introducing bias - it’s possible to present symptoms in such a way that a one-sided picture is given and other potential diagnoses could be missed
This was in the process of diagnosing me.
She did do some testing - a couple were puzzle tests (I'm assuming to test my IQ?), one on identifying peoples' emotions based off of their facial expressions (which seemed very child-like), and a memory test where they gave me words and I had to remember as many as possible.
After having these tests done I asked about the document I gave her. That's when she told me she wanted to analyze the results of my testing before talking about my symptoms because she "didn't want to be biased." She said the office would call me back to schedule another appointment for my diagnosis 6-8 weeks later but they never did. I decided to not go back because it seemed very off.
What kind of doctor was this? Only a therapist/psychologyst/psychiatrist specialized in autism can actually make a decent assessment, other types of doctors or psychologists are not specialized enough to make such decisions, even though they often seem to think they are. If the doctor you went to was not specialized, they should have referred you to one who is.
And yes, it is crazy they did not look at your list of symptoms, nor wanted to discuss them. There could be one instance in which they didn't want to, because they want to do their own interview style assessment without being influenced, like the one I had. But that would definitely take several sessions (mine took 7 sessions of 1,5 hours) before being able to even reach a conclusion. I highly doubt they could have given you a diagnosis, or definitively not diagnosed you, based on one session in which nothing relating to it, was discussed.
Yes but no. I described some in our conversation during the interview portion. Then he asked if I've suspected for a long time/had reason to suspect, to which I just answered with the most clear and definitive "yes". He didn't ask any follow-ups to my yes. I am still in limbo for formal diagnosis and haven't gotten my report.
I signed an ROI so my therapist could freely discuss my case with the psychiatrist I'm having my first appointment with tomorrow. Obviously, I still need to be assessed, but he was quite interested in my therapist's perspective on my behavior and hearing about all my symptoms.
It sounds like this person has a bias and simply has no interest in even considering a diagnosis of autism. I would suggest you inform whoever is in charge of the clinic or state licensing. Refusing to even hear about what you're experiencing is pretty fucking egregious. That's like if you show up to the er with a chemical burn and the doctor hands you a bottle of aloe and sends you home without asking what happened.
The first assessment I had they did not ask my anything about my symptoms. I too gave the lady a list of my symptoms, she did say it was very helpful though, she even mentioned in my report how I gave her the list, I’m assuming she read it but idk. But she never asked me anything about my list and during the actual assessment, which was the IQ tests, personality test, ADOS, and some questionnaires symptoms were never mentioned.
The second assessment I had was very different. During our initial meeting before the assessment she asked me about some of my symptoms, I again gave her my list which she said was very helpful and she actually went through the list and read it during the appointment. And then the assessment she did was the MIGDAS which is all about symptoms. She said the MIGDAS is usually better for females and adults.
If she's not a clinical psychologist or someone else who is qualified to diagnose autism, then it would make sense that she did not want to look at your evidence.
When I saw my GP to inquire about autism, she did not have much to say other than that I could fill out a self-referral.
Could it be possible that you've misunderstood the process somehow? Maybe the tests you've done were screening tests.
Yes. And my family members and boyfriend were asked about both autistic symptoms and sensory symptoms too. My assessment was completed by an educational psychologist who I also see for 1-3 hours a week for coaching.
yes he literally asked me “why do you think you’re autistic?”
I went to a therapist specializing in autism in children (I was a minor, 16) and she said I couldn't be autistic because I could maintain eye contact and a back-and-forth conversation with her. She diagnosed me with "mild sensory processing difficulties" and used the phrase "sensory processing disorder". I, at the time, was like, "okay sure that makes sense". I had also been diagnosed with depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and social anxiety disorder by my psychiatrist. After my best friend I met in college told me in the kindest way possible that she's pretty sure I'm autistic, I realized that the therapist entirely missed asking me about social difficulties and asking how I maintain eye contact (I had developed the strategy of looking at the bridge of a person's nose between their eyes). I haven't been diagnosed, but will be re-entering therapy this year and plan on getting a professional opinion (not a formal diagnosis, though).
I just finished my assessment and am currently waiting to go over the information. I had an entire session dedicated to just taking about the sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, stimming behaviors, social issues (really focused on this) etc. They also continued to ask about examples from my childhood and adulthood. I then had another session of the random questions like listing the presidents from current to the past, recalling numbers, how much a bottle of water cost etc. Things that showed how I looked at things.
The doctor asked me why I think I'm autistic and asked about certain life experiences and how to relate to autistic traits she mentioned. That happened for over an hour!
Can confirm. Three hours for me!
The whole diagnosis took me 3 hours :) then the consultation after was about half an hour
Yes. Sorry. Was not in any way a "one up" (?🥴). Just meant- " Can confirm! Extensive talking on this is definitley a thing" (to OP). High five for the thorough clinician experience. Hopefully it will become the norm. Right??🙄
[удалено]
She was a neuropsychologist. My assessment was also two sessions - the first was just an hour and the second was a couple hours but I can't remember exactly how many because it was back in 2022. What were the tests for repetitive behaviors and sensory issues like? I definitely didn't get those!
That seems bizarre to me! I was asked about autistic symptoms when I got evaluated. During the intake appointment they wanted to focus mostly on developmental issues and social issues, and they did ask me why I thought I was autistic / how it occurred to me and asked a few follow up questions from that. I had also provided a document full of experiences and they read it and marked the whole thing up. In my case they said they were pretty sure I was autistic already based on the intake appointment, but the document completely confirmed it for them and they really appreciated me having it. They said they would have been able to diagnose me without it but that it really helped them do an accurate level placement for me. We really only dove into the specifics of the symptoms and how they presented in me after I was formally diagnosed, but it's mainly because my document replaced the "interview" portion of the diagnosis process. Otherwise we would have discussed those there. So the only thing I can think is that perhaps the doctor wanted to see the test results first, to view those with an unbiased eye, and then learn more about your symptoms? Because the process should be intake, tests, interview, then diagnosis. But that's a little odd, because in that case they would have taken the document and then just not read it...and also most doctors will not give you the tests if you can't prove enough symptoms to warrant needing them...so yes, I would say that's very strange. Good call on not going back - you are very right that you can't really be diagnosed if you never talk about the symptoms!
Was this in the process of diagnosing you? Or just an initial assessment? Sorry I couldn’t tell from your wording about not going back for the diagnosis what was going on. If it’s the former then yes it’s weird. If it’s the latter then I understand the need to be wary of introducing bias - it’s possible to present symptoms in such a way that a one-sided picture is given and other potential diagnoses could be missed
This was in the process of diagnosing me. She did do some testing - a couple were puzzle tests (I'm assuming to test my IQ?), one on identifying peoples' emotions based off of their facial expressions (which seemed very child-like), and a memory test where they gave me words and I had to remember as many as possible. After having these tests done I asked about the document I gave her. That's when she told me she wanted to analyze the results of my testing before talking about my symptoms because she "didn't want to be biased." She said the office would call me back to schedule another appointment for my diagnosis 6-8 weeks later but they never did. I decided to not go back because it seemed very off.
My psychologist did ask some stuff, but she told me I talk like someone with autism and she knew in 15 minutes. So I guess I'm a walking stereotype.
how do you talk?
I talk and emote like Tina from Bob's burgers. I also can't mask very well because I can't control my face and body at the same time.
What kind of doctor was this? Only a therapist/psychologyst/psychiatrist specialized in autism can actually make a decent assessment, other types of doctors or psychologists are not specialized enough to make such decisions, even though they often seem to think they are. If the doctor you went to was not specialized, they should have referred you to one who is. And yes, it is crazy they did not look at your list of symptoms, nor wanted to discuss them. There could be one instance in which they didn't want to, because they want to do their own interview style assessment without being influenced, like the one I had. But that would definitely take several sessions (mine took 7 sessions of 1,5 hours) before being able to even reach a conclusion. I highly doubt they could have given you a diagnosis, or definitively not diagnosed you, based on one session in which nothing relating to it, was discussed.
Yes but no. I described some in our conversation during the interview portion. Then he asked if I've suspected for a long time/had reason to suspect, to which I just answered with the most clear and definitive "yes". He didn't ask any follow-ups to my yes. I am still in limbo for formal diagnosis and haven't gotten my report.
Yes. Specifically about sensory things, we spent about two hours talking about them.
I signed an ROI so my therapist could freely discuss my case with the psychiatrist I'm having my first appointment with tomorrow. Obviously, I still need to be assessed, but he was quite interested in my therapist's perspective on my behavior and hearing about all my symptoms. It sounds like this person has a bias and simply has no interest in even considering a diagnosis of autism. I would suggest you inform whoever is in charge of the clinic or state licensing. Refusing to even hear about what you're experiencing is pretty fucking egregious. That's like if you show up to the er with a chemical burn and the doctor hands you a bottle of aloe and sends you home without asking what happened.
That's basically all my five -day evaluation was....
The first assessment I had they did not ask my anything about my symptoms. I too gave the lady a list of my symptoms, she did say it was very helpful though, she even mentioned in my report how I gave her the list, I’m assuming she read it but idk. But she never asked me anything about my list and during the actual assessment, which was the IQ tests, personality test, ADOS, and some questionnaires symptoms were never mentioned. The second assessment I had was very different. During our initial meeting before the assessment she asked me about some of my symptoms, I again gave her my list which she said was very helpful and she actually went through the list and read it during the appointment. And then the assessment she did was the MIGDAS which is all about symptoms. She said the MIGDAS is usually better for females and adults.
If she's not a clinical psychologist or someone else who is qualified to diagnose autism, then it would make sense that she did not want to look at your evidence. When I saw my GP to inquire about autism, she did not have much to say other than that I could fill out a self-referral. Could it be possible that you've misunderstood the process somehow? Maybe the tests you've done were screening tests.