Autism/Testing

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Expert: - 6/16/2008


Question
My 12 year old daughter is schedule for testing in the next few weeks. This
round will focus on Autism Spectrum, Bipolar and OCD. She has been tested &
diagnosed with ADHD (depression, explosive disorder, oppositional defeint
disorder). She has high language scores but low pragmatic skill, she has an
average IQ and is quite bright.  I have never agreed with the ADHD diagnoses,
I believe the anger issues are a result of her environment (school).

What I need to brace myself for is what will this next round of testing look
and feel like. I'm assuming a lot of paper work & hoping a detailed history of
her behaviors since birth.  I'm hoping this will be the last testing she will have
to endure.

Thanks
Vicki

Answer
Hi Vicky,

sorry I can't give you details on what the testing will be like. I guess that's different from country to county and probably even from doctor to doctor. I'm not a professional myself so I don't know much about this.
The diagnostic process is likely (I'm drawing here on my own experiences and of what I have heard from others) to consist of one or several interviews, either with both you and your daughter, or just your daughter alone where they will go through the DSM IV with you/her and ask you about your daughter's current situation and her past. They might send you questionnaires beforehand to fill them out or ask you to write a few pages about your daughter's development from birth until today. Maybe they'll also do an IQ test or test your daughter's Theory Of Mind   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_mind).

Hope this helps !

C.  

Autism

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*DISCLAIMER*

Please note I am not a healthcare professional or a doctor.
I cannot provide a diagnosis or give any medical advice.
Therefore I cannot answer questions like "is my child autistic ?" other than by telling you to go and see a specialist
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Please be aware that if you are in the US it will usually take at least 24 hours until I can answer your question, as I'm in Europe and don't have access to my email during the day. I also cannot answer questions concerning the US educational or law system (other than by looking up things on google, but that's probably not the expertise you need), as I'm not in the US.
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Please also be aware that I'm a person with autism. My answers may sometimes be very blunt and direct and I may tell you things you won't like to hear. Diplomacy is certainly not among my talents. I'm never being rude on purpose, and I always try not to hurt or offend people, but it has happened before and may happen again. It's NEVER on purpose. I just want to help.
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What I *can* do for you is gather information on any aspect of autism and therapy of autism you're interested in and give you my personal oppinion about it (if you want to hear it) or, if it applies, tell you about my personal experience. I can answer all questions about what life is like for an autistic person.

I can also answer questions asked in German or French (but will have to answer in English to questions asked in French as my French is a bit rusty).

Ich beantworte gerne auch Fragen auf Deutsch.

Vous pouvez poser des questions en Francais, si cela ne vous dérange pas que je responds en anglais.

Experience


As I'm not doing well right now and am not in the shape of answering questions well - I recieved a few low ratings lately - I'll take a break from AllExperts for the next few weeks/until I'm doing better

I am an adult diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism and ADD.

In the past years I have also read a lot about autism and its comorbid conditions and related subjects (as I am experiencing symptoms of most of these or know others who do) , so I have accumulated a lot of layman knowledge in this area (AD(H)D, Tourette's Syndrome, OCD, sleep disorders, allergies, sensory integration dysfunction, learning difficulties, left/right-brain, giftedness, Irlen Syndrome, prism glasses, executive dysfunction (aka. "inertia"), "special" diets).

Education/Credentials
None in the field of autism, apart from being autistic myself !

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