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Evaluation

star.stuff

star.stuff

Active Member
Hi All,

I had the first part of my evaluation over the phone last night. Wow I feel drained! I consider myself very intelligent. I never had to study in school, always got straight A’s, I’m very good at understanding scientific concepts, etc. But that evaluation was so hard for me. The psychologist said two words and I had to come up with something they had in common. I literally could not think of anything to say for “anchor” and “fence.”

I also bombed a section where the psychologist said a string of numbers and I had to put them in the correct order while saying them back to her. For example, she would said “7, 9, 2, 9, 1” and I would have to say back “1, 2, 7, 9, 9.” I kept forgetting what she said

I also know I did horrible on the math test. There was a word question “if Tom has 99 pies, and Chris has half as many pies, how many pies does Chris have?” I panicked for some reason and could not figure it out. I said 44.5 :sweatsmile:

As soon as I hung up, I was like “oh duh, half of 100 is 50 so just take away .5 from that - 49.5." But she was throwing so many word problems at me, and I’m really not good with verbal instructions. I kept forgetting what she said, and was getting so frustrated that i just couldn’t make sense of anything.

I’m so nervous for this whole process

Can anyone share some insight? What was the evaluation process like for you? What can I expect when I go to see the psychologist in person? I feel really overwhelmed. I'm nervous that she will say, "no, there's no sign of autism and all of these differences and feelings of being an alien you're whole life are for no reason at all. This thing you've felt so sure of for so long is disproven now that you've seen a professional."
 
The question part of the evaluation was in person for me. I didn't know how I had performed, which sort of irked me. I couldn't tell by my psychologist's face what she thought either. I just had to wait for the final evaluation.

The part you just did is done, nothing to change about that. Ruminating won't help you and will only feed your nerves.
The next part of the evaluation for me was a conversation about my childhood, my (social) life growing up and my current life. There were a lot of questions about social difficulties, interests and obsessions, basically the DSM-V criteria for autism in extended interview form.
To wrap it all up, my mom was interviewed, without me present, about my childhood and development.
I wouldn't worry too much about the evaluation. Yes, that's easy for me to say. But in the end there are two possible outcomes, either you'll be diagnosed as having ASD, or you won't. Whether or not you'll have the label slapped on you doesn't change who you are or what you're struggling with.
 
I was tested in person too and she is a neurophychologist. I was with her for 2 hours, in two slots and it was via paper.

I did do a bit of numbering and it was quickly noted that I have a blockage there, but my overall score came out as typical for aspies oh and I did an online one test too, which is what I had done before, on my own.

I then was seen by an expert in autism and he just asked several questions and wrote tons of things down and said that it all pointed to autism, but he wanted to do further testing, so went again and it was via point system on how bad I was and the higher the points, the more likely autistic and I came out at 2-3 and 3 being severe.

It was petrifying, but actually, my natural aspie traits came out and was noted.

If I had done it via phone, I would have failed, because I hate talking on the phone anyway.
 
There is nothing in common with those words? They both exist in the physical universe?

OMG, I also immediately thought 44.5! Why! :eek:
 
Fino said:
There is nothing in common with those words? They both exist in the physical universe?

OMG, I also immediately thought 44.5! Why! :eek:
Click to expand...


I googled the answer after I hung up the phone, and apparently the answer is "they both contain things." For example, an anchor could contain a boat and a fence could contain something in a yard. I never would have been able to think of that myself - it is too abstract
 
I understand being nervous waiting to find out. But I wouldn't be too concerned over responses in the sense of being right or wrong. I don't think that is the point in a mental health evaluation.
 
The thing about the testing portion of the neuropsych evaluation is that it gives a glimpse of the person's mind processes only at the time of evaluation. How a person is on the day they take the tests could differ from how they were just a couple days prior. We change from day to day. Our moods aren't the same every day. Perhaps the person taking the test is in the middle of a depressive episode. Depression can cause serious brain fog. Maybe just prior to the test, something happened and the person couldn't get it out of their mind and it affected their performance. Perhaps the person wasn't in the best health at the time of the evaluation. Perhaps the person just hates any kind of test in general.

It can't be taken into consideration alone. And I think that any good, experienced neuropsychologist would take everything into consideration, including the person's family history, health history, mental health history, their day-to-day, their relationships with others, habits, behaviors, etc.
 
This kind of test is not about getting a high score based on your knowledge. The fact that you worry about the math mishap shows that you took the test seriously and put honest effort into your answers. In tests such as these, you are expected to show limitations and strengths, which are part of the overall assessment. Exactly where, how, and to what degree you exhibited these skills all factor into the test results. Two people on the spectrum won't have identical skill sets, though there are categories of skills that arise as common problem areas for people on the spectrum. One answer to one question isn't sufficient data on its own. The assessment is about comparing all the variations that suggest ASD, or any other condition for diagnosis.

I hope you will be able to discuss your answers with the doctor when you speak next. I know I would be very curious to know what my answers meant. I'm prone to making math errors, even on paper, but I love compare and contrast activities. The anchor/fence question would have become a fun game for me, but I don't know how the assessors view either a short list or a long list of similarities. You got through step one, and I hope it results in something positive for you. You did the right thing by answering spontaneously and honestly. I hope you share your results on the forum when you have the assessment completed.
 
star.stuff said:
The psychologist said two words and I had to come up with something they had in common. I literally could not think of anything to say for “anchor” and “fence.”
Click to expand...

o.O I could not answer this, either. Best I could come up with was that they're both metal. (Husband reminded me that not all fences are metal.) Autistic son also could not answer this.

But my husband and second son both answered correctly and immediately. That weirds me out.
 
I also don't think you should worry about this for all the reasons others have stated. :D I just got fixated on the anchor and fence thing.
 
Ugggh, that sounds like the IQ test I took. I did decently well, but nothing like I can do on paper because my brain likes to randomly decide that spoken words are meaningless background noise that can float away without leaving any information behind, and the stress of someone waiting on my answer makes it much worse. Who can think under those circumstances?

As for talking to the psychologist, it might help to have examples of your autistic traits written down before you go in there. When I had my evaluation I completely blanked and couldn't think of a single example of why I was there or think of the answers to any of his questions, but I could easily refer to the document where I had already written that information to jog my memory. Maybe don't go to the extreme that I went to of writing 58 pages of examples and analysis, though :) (although I certainly successfully showed off my latest obsession).
 
Hey, there! It is completely normal to feel nervous while waiting for your results. Chances are, if you think you have autism, you probably do. Also, how were you able to do your evaluation over the phone? I sat down in person with a psychologist.

I remember the two words test, where you have to find something in common between the two, and also the numbers test, and the word math-problems test (which I was awful at). Anchor and fence: they both go into the ground... They are both heavy... They both have points...
 
star.stuff said:
I googled the answer after I hung up the phone, and apparently the answer is "they both contain things." For example, an anchor could contain a boat and a fence could contain something in a yard. I never would have been able to think of that myself - it is too abstract
Click to expand...

But an anchor doesn't contain a boat. You can't place a boat inside of an anchor, unless you hollowed out the anchor and placed a toy boat inside. That just doesn't make sense. My answer to the question is: They are both plunged into the ground.
 
Anarkitty said:
o_O I could not answer this, either. Best I could come up with was that they're both metal. (Husband reminded me that not all fences are metal.) Autistic son also could not answer this.

But my husband and second son both answered correctly and immediately. That weirds me out.
Click to expand...

Do you think autistic people (in general) have trouble relating two seemingly unrelatable objects? I didn't have any trouble with that portion of the test. But then again, my brain seems to make really weird and random connections between pretty much everything. This can lead to me blurting out seemingly random things out of the blue.
 
@inkfingers, I have no clue. :D I just found it weird that the autistic people in the household were flummoxed while the ADHDers thought it was simple and obvious.

I've read that autistic people often have problems connecting multiple examples of the same type. ? I have not previously seen examples of this in my own thinking, but I wondered if this could be something like that?

I also have associative thinking, so I'm familiar with the odd looks that come after seemingly rrandom comments. :)
 
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