Autism Assessment - Part 6: The Phone Assessment

On 11 February, I had the phone call assessment. I haven't really got much to say about this, but I will tell you what was spoken about…

On the phone, my mum and I spoke about my childhood. Although I knew how many friends I had at primary school, it sounded quite sad because I didn't have many.  We also spoke about bullies. I was bullied at primary school and senior school, and we spoke about why it might have happened, and then a thought-provoking comment came up: what if I was bullied by said pupil because I pushed them out of my friendship group without realising? If I did, they sure had a funny way of trying to be my friend.

We talked about my friends at senior school and I said I had two or three. I said that they slowly disappeared when I left school, and that was difficult to accept and why we broke up, however, I still have one friend who I met at pre-school. I mentioned my best friend and how I can get confused about people’s intentions.

We also spoke about my eating habits. I said that I eat simple food and spoke about how I don't like certain food textures, and I only eat food that I know I like and have a meal plan on rotation. I eat the same lunch food every day in one specific order, and I eat my evening snack in a specific order. If that order is messed up, it bothers me.

My mum pointed out that I never have different food, even if someone cooks a new meal; it is always made of the same ingredients. This was quite a wake-up call for me because I didn't realise how fussy I can be with food. I rarely saw myself as a fussy eater but now it has dawned on me that I am.

Another thing that we spoke about is not liking crowds and busy or loud environments. I explained to the lady on the phone that when I am in a busy environment, it sounds like I'm underwater. I also said that the only reason I went to Comicon was because I wanted to meet a few actors.

Clothing also came up. I said that I only wear cotton and don't like silky material. I should have mentioned not liking the feel of denim as well, but I forgot.

During the phone call, I was trying to think of any relevant information about myself that could help with the diagnosing process, so I also mentioned how I sleep in the same position with my quilt and weighted blanket right up my back, even in the summer. I also need to have my trousers tight around my waist. I like my wheelchair lapbelt tight too.

My mum helped with telling the person a lot of things about my traits. I’m going to explain some of them in Part 7.