• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

Grateful no questionnaires in my diagnosis

2

22222

Member
Seems like quite a few people have had a lot of paperwork to do to get diagnosed - form after form with questions. That would have driven me nuts. Wouldn't it seem that simply meeting with a person a few times should provide enough info?

Just glad I didn't have to go thru the paperwork diagnosis. I would be thinking...well what about this and what about that and does this question mean this or maybe that and maybe I would answer one way today and another way tomorrow.

It would have been overwhelming - complete overload.
 
The paperwork for me isn't great anyway...it doesn't provide enough info, or provides misleading info (I got passed over for an autism diagnosis...told I have traits but I'm "too high functioning for a diagnosis"...in part because I took some of the questions on the form too literally. For example, they asked if "the tag in my shirt bothers me" and I said no, because my shirts don't have tags. It never occurred to me to extrapolate from that question and tell the Dr. about all of my other sensory issues. They didn't ask about them, they asked about the tag in my shirt.)

It would be better if they would spend a day with me and see me "in the wild" as it were. Filling out forms and answering scripted questions in a quiet office with no distractions really doesn't give them a good picture of me at all.
 
I agree with @SDRSpark that questionnaires have limited usefulness. They over-simplify, giving you a limited range of options over something that might be a lot more complicated than a simple yes or no answer. And if the answer is 'sometimes,' then that needs to be expanded upon. It would be more useful if the questions took the form of an interview, giving the interviewer a chance to clarify and the interviewee the chance to explain.

I wasn't given any tests or paperwork at all in my diagnostic assessment, though I did provide results of the AQ test and Aspie Quiz, on my own initiative. I sometimes worry that this assessment wasn't thorough enough, that I should have been given tests to support the diagnosis. He seemed to have decided on my diagnosis about 20 minutes in, is that really enough? Though I think that a clinician with enough experience gets a feel for it and can tell fairly quickly.

I'm glad I didn't get an IQ test, that would have really stressed me out!
 
I had to go through many quizes, which truly did not do much good for my anxiety levels, thinking each one that was put in front of me, would come out as negative, but, happily, on the second, which was the last visit with that person, she said my score was typical for someone on the spectrum.

I even did the online aspie quiz, which did make me chuckle inside.

I asked that they do not reveal my IQ to me, because ok, if it was high, then that is great, but what if it were low? I would feel an inner persecution for many years, since I heard so many times, as a child that I am backward and stupid.
 
Suzanne said:
I asked that they do not reveal my IQ to me, because ok, if it was high, then that is great, but what if it were low? I would feel an inner persecution for many years, since I heard so many times, as a child that I am backward and stupid.
Click to expand...
Yes, this is why I wouldn't want to take it - I'm afraid of getting a low score and then feeling bad about myself.
 
I was seeing a psychologist for stress issues and got my autism diagnosis after he saw me weekly for a couple of months. It allowed me time to just randomly come up with things in session that annoyed me - like how I don't like the tactile sensation of changing clothes or sensation of taking a shower. But if paperwork had asked me about tags on my clothes - I probably would have said "no" because some tags do and some don't and if they do, I simply cut them off.

My dad constantly told me how stupid I was as a child. I don't like IQ tests either.
 
Last edited:
It would appear also, that there are inconsistencies in how folks are interviewed and tested for autism. People have noted that I had a very comprehensive testing and interview process, even my wife was involved,...and others, it seems, didn't really go through testing at all and were diagnosed,...or not. On the other hand, I received a 6 page report with all my testing scores, summary, and diagnosis.
 
I wonder how the diagnostic interview and paperwork varies from location to location. Maybe the shorter the interview period, the more paperwork there is.
 
Last edited:
I was diagnosed in 2008 with the criteria from the DSM-4. The diagnosis was Asperger's Syndrome. Not much paperwork, but I spent a lot of time answering questions that the doctor was asking me. The questions got harder as we went along. This continued until I could not answer the the questions anymore. We also spent a lot of time just talking about things in general. I had three appointments. Out of all this, he figured out my IQ, 16PF personality measure and diagnosis.
 
22222 said:
Seems like quite a few people have had a lot of paperwork to do to get diagnosed - form after form with questions. That would have driven me nuts. Wouldn't it seem that simply meeting with a person a few times should provide enough info?

Just glad I didn't have to go thru the paperwork diagnosis. I would be thinking...well what about this and what about that and does this question mean this or maybe that and maybe I would answer one way today and another way tomorrow.

It would have been overwhelming - complete overload.
Click to expand...
Well, I'd prefer the paperwork only because, when I'm face to face I cannot think. My answers are cloudy. So a detailed assessment with pages and pages would be preferable to me. I don't even like talking on the phone lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Threads

Top Bottom