Initial Face to face autism appointment.

[ChalkOutlines]

What happens at one of these ? It’s for DD(14). Not sure whether to prepare in any way or will they be asking questions and go from there. Will they be able to tell if she’s masking? I wonder if I should leave the room(is that even allowed) in case it makes her more comfortable?

They will take a ‘history’ - starting with your pregnancy and up to current day. They may have questionnaires to fill in, or ask you to do these in advance and maybe ask school to do one too. Given her age they may want to talk to her on her own. Depending on the set up your DD might be asked to come back for further tests, like ADOS. Remember the aim here is not to determine just whether or not she has autism (or shouldn’t be) but rather if there is something and if so what is it, with autism just one possibility.

In addition to the things mentioned in @Borrowerdale‘s post, they will be observing DD. They may want to do a physical examination and/or tests such as bloods.

Good assessors will see masking for what it is.

Really? Don’t know if to mention this now as a possibility and prepare her (after she freaks out) or say nothing and deal with it on the day if it comes up.

Thank you, we already sent in the parent and school questionnaires, filled in an online and I guess it would be a good idea if I print them out to have on hand too. It’s all very short notice (got the call yesterday, appointment is Tuesday) and I’m just trying to get my head around it all.

If it turns out it isn’t autism that’s fine, but I also don’t want to fuck it up if that’s a possibility.

Yes. Not in all cases, but in some. Part of the assessment is considering differential diagnoses so sometimes things like a physical examination and bloods are required. Same as sometimes DC are referred for an MRI scan.

Oh ok, fair enough. That actually makes sense.
It was really difficult to answer some of her questions from when she was a baby as it’s been so long.

from birth to now
struggles
what are they good at
special interests
friendships
family
school life
home life
how would they react in certain situations

Thank you, that’s perfect . I have a long list/examples/issues for all of those.

Might bullet point (mostly for myself) so I don’t ramble.