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AIBU?

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Original poster

Autism / ADHD diagnosis via Zoom?!

103 replies

WhatEh · 09/06/2025 08:23

I had heard this was happening on the news, but to be honest, I thought it must be a small, isolated amount of people…

However, upon speaking to my friend yesterday, it turns out it’s very common for the NHS to refer people for ‘remote’ diagnosis - her own DC just did their autism assessment over Zoom and was diagnosed!

I understand needing to reduce the waiting list and burden on the NHS. I can’t help feel this is totally inappropriate.

When my own DC was diagnosed with dual ASD and ADHD, so many things the psychologist picked up on were from physically seeing them. Differences in body language, eye contact, sensory differences (one of the things that alerted her was them taking their shoes off when they came in the room).

I just don’t understand how something as complex as ASD can be diagnosed over Zoom, especially when lots of the criteria relate to differences in body language and communication. I am not autistic and I communicate differently when doing a meeting in person vs online. They haven’t even met the person who they are diagnosing.

OP posts:
Onceuponatimethen · 09/06/2025 08:29

On ASD I’m in two minds. I would not choose to take my dc for an online ASD dx, because I think diagnosing social difference is harder to do accurately online. A clinic setting IRL would be far better and always be my preference.

But one of my dc has ASD which is so significant and obvious that even strangers seeing him in a shop can tell he’s disabled and stand aside for us. His questionnaires for school and us for ASD contained very high scorings for the traits that make up the diagnosis. An online diagnosis would definitely have been possible for him tbh as his ASD is very obvious.

Graters · 09/06/2025 08:29

I expect money saving is a big reason why. It's less than half the price of an IRL assessment (I've been looking into it for one of my children as NHS assessments just aren't available here even if you're accepted onto the waiting list, as he was, it's decades long). I am able to pay the difference as I'd rather get him seen irl but not everyone has that choice. If the NHS are paying that want to save money too. But I agree it's not a good way to do things.

Onceuponatimethen · 09/06/2025 08:26

I think yabu with ADHD. The adhd diagnosis is very heavily based on consistent reported behaviours over time reported both at home and school in settings on Connors type questionnaires, not really just on what’s seen in clinic as a snapshot and so I have complete confidence in an adhd diagnosis over zoom as the actual input data in the questionnaires is obtained IRL and over an extended period of time.

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