I've been trying to get Autism testing. For my reasoning as a self diagnosed, she believes that it's not anything more than my Auditory Processing Disorder. When I explained to her about invisible illness, she wrote it off as "a 7 year old wouldn't be smart enough to know how to hide that." I'd either have to pay out of pocket for my testing or get her referral for my local university. I don't know how to face her again with a stronger argument as I am terrible at explaining myself. Any advice?
Hey, sorry this has been in the inbox for so long, I was hoping out US mod would answer.
7 year olds are incredibly smart and know when to hide things if they think they’ll get a bad reaction: look how many little kids hide the fact they did something naughty. I certainly know 7 year old me was good at hiding my discomfort, because I knew I’d be punished for it
Would it be possible to get a referral from someone else, such as a different GP (sorry I don’t know how easy it is to see a different to usual one in the US)
Additionally, autistic diagnostic criteria not explained by auditory processing disorder:
- Lack of conversational skills, including difficulty with turn-taking
- Stimming
- Adherence to rules/routine
- Difficulty reading/displaying body language correctly
- Difficulty with eye contact
- Sensory processing issues with the other 4 senses
- Difficulty forming/maintaining relationships
- Special interests
Perhaps you could make a list of how you fit the diagnostic criteria (DSM 5 criteria available here so you don’t have to think of what to say on the spot
Hope this helps
Liz