This is Part 8 in the I Think I Might Be Autistic series
The morning of my appointment, I was incredibly nervous. My biggest fear was that I would go through this process and be told that I was officially not autistic–that I wouldn’t come across as “autistic enough” for a clinical diagnosis.
Fortunately, it turned out that I’d found a doctor who has worked with adults enough to know that we have many coping mechanisms and workarounds. He didn’t expect me to present the way a five-year-old boy would. He acknowledged that being an adult autistic doesn’t necessarily mean not attending your cousin’s baby shower; it can mean going to the baby shower and spending a good part of the afternoon hiding out in the kitchen (one of his examples).
The Diagnostic Interview
The first part of my evaluation was a diagnostic interview. I turned in my questionnaire to the receptionist and when Dr. H called me into his office, he’d obviously reviewed it. He started off by asking me to talk about why I suspected I have Asperger’s. I was nervous so I rambled around a lot. Looking back, I probably should have looked at my notes and used them as a guide, but my brain was going a hundred miles an hour.
Once my initial thoughts fizzled out, Dr. H. started working through the questionnaire, confirming symptoms I’d answered positively and asking clarifying questions. As I relaxed a little, the conversation became less structured. We talked a lot about my childhood, with the doctor encouraging me to give examples or tell stories to illustrate certain points. Gradually, he began inserting comments about Asperger’s, explaining how some of my symptoms were typical and how they fit into the diagnostic picture.
The interview lasted about an hour. By the end of it, I felt like we’d hit on all of the key points I wanted to talk about as well as some that I hadn’t considered important. Dr. H concluded the interview by explaining that he wanted to evaluate me for ASD, ADHD and Social Anxiety Disorder. The second one was a surprise but I was glad that he was forming his own hypotheses in addition to the one I’d presented.
He then explained a little about how cognitive testing works and about the qualifications of B, the ASD testing specialist who would administer the tests.
The Part Where I Provide Plenty of Autistic Behavior for Observation
When we moved to B’s office, I got a chance to demonstrate two of the symptoms I’d described in the interview: face blindness and delayed auditory processing. Dr. H introduced me to B and she cheerfully said, “Yes, we already met–you asked me where the restroom was when you came in.”
Completely thrown by the fact that I didn’t recognize her, I said “Really? Okay.”
As I was kicking myself for that useless reply, Dr. H asked, “Got plurdled gabbleblotchits on a lurgid zoo?”
I reflexively replied, as I always do when I have no idea what someone has said, “Sorry?”
“What would you like to be called?” he repeated.
I probably could have gone home at that point because not recognizing that I’d already met B, not being able to smooth over the awkwardness that followed, not greeting her with my name, not understanding what Dr. H was saying, being more focused on orienting myself in the room than connecting with the person I was going to work with–in less than 60 seconds, I’d exhibited a boatload classic autistic behavior, much of it as a result of struggling to switch activities/environments, which is in itself textbook.
To her credit, B quickly put me at ease. She spent about ten minutes “getting ready” while I sat, mostly silent, and studied the colorful barcode prints on her wall. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the time she’d spent puttering around with her supplies was more for my benefit than hers. By the time we started on the cognitive testing, I was feeling reasonably focused again.
Musings of an Aspie 