Adult utism Diagnosis

[FriendsTogether]

Hi,

Does anyone know how you go about getting an autism diagnosis for an adult with Learning disabilities who is 63 years old?

[flaounes4T]

Hi there, My son was diagnosed at 50, [Previously said to have Unspecified Learning Diff's] I was advised by NAS to see my GP. HE checked 'sons' noted and sent a referral to NAS local center, who arranged the Assessment. There is long waiting list [years in some areas] so dont delay. Good Luck.

[FriendsTogether in reply to flaounes4T]

Thank you for the reply. I was wondering whether to pay to have it done privately. Any thoughts?

[CoyoteU]

They have to diagnosed by Professional mine was done in a special learning centre in Northampton but I was not actually diagnosised via an assessment until I was 16 there is not enough known about Autistic spectrum and Dyspraxia some people are able to communicate well enough that it remains undiagnosed for a while I had to be assessed to go to college.

[FriendsTogether in reply to CoyoteU]

I agree, there isn't enough known. My relative has unspecified learning disability and bipolar affective disorder noted on the care notes. There is a family history of autism and associated conditions which is why I felt a formal diagnosis was needed.

[flaounes4T in reply to FriendsTogether]

Hi Friends Together, Yes you can go Private for NAS assessment [Yes it is expensive] but I was advised that not all Local Authorities accept a Private one and tell you to do another one with specialists who are registered with them. In Manchester the waiting time was 5-7 yrs[in 2018]. but I went back to our GP who did another referral to our next Borough, They did it within 2yrs with no problems. This was a NAS Specialist group who were registerd with Greater Manchester. It's hard going--- but persevere. flaounis 4T

[LDAutie in reply to flaounes4T]

hi flaounes4T theres a charity that may be of use to you or someone else you know post diagnosis- its a specialist counseling charity for autism and/or learning disability (they dont include learning difficulties only-in this i have just checked the website and theyve also changed it to say theyre not able to take anyone else on right now but id ask about that because there site isnt kept really up to date) theyre called: respect for all.

im not sure if they can diagnose autism as such but for people who have just gone threw diagnosis it may be very helpful? they do work with children to adult autistics of any age and verbal or non verbal-as i communicate with proloquo2go and got longer sessions -right up to fully verbal people) but you can get refered to them threw your GP as long as yuo live in a manchester borough and no amount of money gets you a quicker waiting time (its something my staff asksed on my behaf as they want everyone to have the same fair chances which i actualy love the idea of). i had two full blocks? of sessions unlike most people because i also have learning disability and due to my verbal communication.

hi FriendsTogether

if you or the person is a service user of the local social services community learning disability team,they shoud have a pyscologist who can diagnose howver ive been threw two differrntt manchester boroughs i think and you can really tell the difference between the experience of the pyscologists.

however,if the person is under this service it is probably quicker to see one of them.

another way is to do what my auntie did before she died, she phoned the national autistic society, asked for a list of NHS and/or private specialists who can diagnose ASD in that region (i dont even know where they were in england),and the NAS mailed out a list of doctors/therapists.

you need to highlight the ones you woud really like to be refered to (making sure to keep them as close as possible because there can be long funding fights if you go out of the borough),take this to the GP, and also take a long all history.

ive since heard the NAS have made it more modern since then but ive not met anyone whose gone threw this way yet.

one posible down side is i have been told doctors (GPs and so on) do not acept diagnoses from a private specialist, this may have changed since i last heard that.

[FriendsTogether in reply to LDAutie]

Thanks for the information. I really appreciate it.