Autism Assessment - Part 4

It wasn’t long after we submitted the last form before I got the appointments for the assessments. There were two assessments. Before the two assessments, I asked two of my friends about what I should expect because I was anxious about them. The first one was face-to-face in Havant, and the second one was over the phone.

The day before the face-to-face assessment came, and I was absolutely bricking it. I was aware that the assessment may have changed days, because, after all, the phone call did; the phone call was the day after, on Saturday, 07/02. It changed to the Wednesday after, on 11th. I know that it can’t be helped if the person is unavailable for whatever reason, but it really bothers me when things change. It’s ironic, don’t you think?

I kept thinking, what if they don’t have enough evidence to make a definitive diagnosis? What if I automatically mask and they don’t see through? I know that they have done multiple assessments with hundreds of different people, but that was still a worry for me. One of my friends said that it could be difficult for them to differentiate between the characteristics of CP and the characteristics of Autism. She also said not to worry because they wouldn’t see me if they thought it would not be worth it.

Another friend said they shouldn’t have a problem with picking out autistic traits among the CP. I understand that speech delays and difficulties can be attributed to both CP and Autism but they are different from each other. I’m not saying that this is textbook correct, but I think it’s more understanding of words with Autism, and with CP, it can be a mixture of having the muscle control to formulate the words and understanding.

The morning of the face-to-face assessment finally arrived. I’m pleased to say that they didn’t postpone this appointment, luckily. I don’t know how I would react if they had. I felt relatively calm compared to how I felt with other recent events, but I was still anxious. I was hoping that my mum wouldn’t be held up when she came to pick me up. Before the appointment, I looked at how long it would take to get to our destination on Google Maps, and the journey wasn’t that long; it said that it would take 27 minutes in the car.

Before the assessment, my mum said to try not to mask and just be myself. I think I was myself, and I don't think I masked, but I'm not sure. As I said, that was one of the things that I was worried about. After god knows how many years of masking, it is difficult to break that habit.

The place I went to was a Basepoint building, like the one in Gosport but the room I went into wasn't connected to the main reception. I went to the reception and sat in the waiting room, and there was a small dog, like a Frenchie, in the glass room next to it, and, of course, I had to say hello.

Come back tomorrow to find out what happened in the assessment.