ProblemShared
Early concerns
As a family, we had always wondered if our eldest son was neurodivergent. We picked up on a few early signs, but we were never certain, as we often thought his behaviour was typical of boys - especially one who had endured the challenges of COVID-19 lockdowns.
ADHD was first suggested as a possibility by my son’s teacher when he was six years old. He had trouble sitting still in the classroom, was easily distracted, found it difficult to follow instructions, and fidgeted often. He would also steal Blu-tack from classroom displays so that he had something to fiddle with!
We also noticed similar challenges at home, with my son finding it difficult to concentrate on daily tasks, showing frequent hyperactive behaviour, and having difficulty with regulating his emotions. However, we could not pursue a formal diagnosis until he turned seven years old.
Making this stage easier:
- During this time, I found it helpful to have an initial meeting with my son’s school. Together, we discussed his challenges at school and implemented some strategies to help him as we waited for a formal assessment. For instance, he was allowed to have fidget toys to play with in the classroom to channel his excess energy more productively.
- I also wrote down as much information as I could about my son’s strengths, challenges, and neurodiverse traits so that I had these ready for the assessment process.
The assessment process
When we first started the screening and assessment journey, I felt relieved that we may finally get access to the appropriate support for my son and have a greater understanding of his daily needs. When filling out the initial screening questionnaire, I had much greater clarity about how my son's brain worked. With each recognisable statement, things became clearer.
My child's school also filled out the screening questionnaire, and together, these results enabled us to pursue a formal assessment. During the next stage of my son's assessment, we provided greater detail about his childhood and developmental background, as well as the daily challenges and signs of ADHD that he faced. Receiving a diagnosis of ADHD has enabled us to put the support mechanisms into place that our son requires.
Tips for navigating this stage:
- Be open and honest with the medical professionals conducting the assessment, and don't be afraid to ask questions or voice any concerns you may have.
- Remember that you know your child best, and your input is invaluable in forming an accurate diagnosis and support plan.
- Find out as much as you can about ADHD and the assessment process. By staying informed, you will be better equipped to advocate for your child and make important decisions about their treatment.
- Be accurate and honest when filling out assessment questionnaires, and use past documentation, if required, to jog your memory about developmental milestones.
- Speak to other parents who have been through a similar experience for practical and emotional support.
- Work closely with your child’s school during the assessment process. Keep the school updated on the progress and any diagnosis or support plans that are put into place.
Talking to your child about their ADHD assessment
Explaining the ADHD assessment process to my son proved challenging, but we had always felt that it was important to keep him fully informed along the way. We had a conversation with him about what was happening and used age-appropriate and neuroaffirming language. We focused on the strengths and positives of his characteristics rather than highlighting any perceived weaknesses.
Based on my experience, here are some practical tips to consider when talking to your child about their ADHD assessment:
- Start by creating a safe and non-judgmental space for your child to talk to you about their thoughts and feelings.
- Use simple and plain language to explain ADHD and the assessment process to your child. The language you use must be appropriate for the age of your child.
- Always use neuroaffirming language when speaking to your child, focusing on their strengths and abilities instead of talking about “symptoms” and “deficits.”
- Encourage your child to ask any questions and express any concerns they may have about the ADHD assessment process, and practice active listening as they talk to you.
- Remind your child that you are there to support them every step of the way and that they can always come to you with any questions or concerns.
In my experience, speaking to my son openly about his ADHD has enabled him to become an advocate for both himself and his neurodivergent peers!
Final thoughts
Going through the ADHD assessment process has given me the opportunity to learn more about neurodivergence and the strengths and challenges that come with it. It has also helped me to better understand my son, and shown me how to adapt my parenting style to suit his unique needs. Remember that the assessment process is designed to help your child receive the support they need, so try to approach it with an open mind and a willingness to learn.
What does a Right To Choose adult ADHD assessment look like?
Pursuing a diagnosis for ADHD can be a validating experience, but the thought of navigating the assessment process might feel overwhelming. In this article, we explain the ProblemShared ADHD assessment process in detail, and provide you with some tips for getting prepared.
What to expect during your ADHD assessment with ProblemShared
After being referred to our service by your GP, getting an ADHD assessment with ProblemShared is simple. Here are the steps you can expect to take on your assessment journey:
- Pre-Assessment Questionnaires
You will receive an email confirming that your referral to our service has been accepted, and asking you to complete some pre-assessment forms.
To be completed by you:
- A Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale (WFIRS-S)
- A self-report questionnaire
- A physical health questionnaire
To be completed by your informant:
- Informant Questionnaire
Please note that you need to download the Informant Questionnaire from your client dashboard and send it to your informant to complete. When they are finished, they can send it back to you to re-upload onto your client dashboard with the rest of your pre-assessment forms.
An informant is someone who has known you since early childhood, like a parent or carer.
- Assessment date given
Once both your pre-assessment questionnaire and informant questionnaire have been completed and returned to us, you will receive another email with the date and time of your ADHD assessment.
- Assessment occurs
Your assessment will take place via our secure video conferencing platform and will last up to 2 hours. We aim to give you the outcome of your ADHD assessment on the same day.
- Report
A full report of your ADHD assessment will be sent to you via email within 4 weeks.
How to prepare for your ADHD assessment with ProblemShared
Seeking a formal assessment can be a daunting process. However, ensuring you are well-prepared for your ADHD assessment can help ease some of the anxiety surrounding it.
Here are some tips on how to best prepare for your assessment with ProblemShared:
1. Do some research. Before embarking on an ADHD assessment journey, you could take some time to familiarise yourself with the common traits and behaviours associated with ADHD, to gain a better understanding of the condition.
2. Gather relevant information. Before your assessment, you could gather any previous evaluations or reports related to your symptoms or academic performance to support your assessment. This isn’t crucial, but it could provide valuable insights for our clinical team.
3. Keep a symptom log. Track the way that your ADHD shows up in your daily life leading up to the assessment, noting its intensity and impact. This record will give our clinicians a clearer picture of your experiences.
4. Prepare some questions. Write down any questions or concerns you have about ADHD or the assessment process beforehand so that you can ask your clinician when the time comes.
5. Be open and honest. During the assessment, be candid about your experiences without second-guessing yourself or trying to present yourself in a certain way - this will help to ensure an accurate diagnosis. Remember that it’s not a test – you can’t “fail”.
Ongoing care and support for clients who are diagnosed with ADHD
If you receive an ADHD diagnosis following your assessment with us, we offer a range of ongoing support options to our clients. We can prescribe ADHD medication where appropriate, and provide psychoeducation workshops where you can learn more about your diagnosis with our team of expert clinicians.
In the meantime, if you have any questions about Right to Choose, referral, or the assessment process in general, you can head to the support resources section of our homepage, or explore our FAQs.
How to choose the best informant for an autism assessment
What is an informant?
If you’re preparing for an autism assessment, it’s important that you choose a reliable informant to support you through the process.
An informant is someone who can share important context about you and your childhood with our clinicians. This will help our clinical team to gain a wider understanding of how you experience the world. Your informant’s knowledge of your early development can contribute to an accurate autism diagnosis. They can also provide you with encouragement and solidarity as you navigate the assessment process.
Who can be an informant in an autism assessment?
Choosing the right informant is a crucial step in ensuring that your assessment runs as smoothly as possible. To ensure that the information provided is accurate and relevant, an informant should be somebody who has known you since early childhood. Informants will be asked to do two things during the autism assessment process:
- Complete an Informant Questionnaire
- Attend an Informant Interview
If you like, you can ask two different people to be your informants; one person to complete the Informant Questionnaire, and another person to attend the Informant Interview. Or you can ask the same person to do both things, as long as they fit the below criteria:
Who can complete the Informant Questionnaire?
Ideally, this should be a parent or caregiver that has known you during childhood. In the absence of a parent or caregiver, the Informant Questionnaire may be completed by a sibling, a long-term spouse or partner, or a long-term friend.
Who can attend the Informant Interview?
Ideally, this should be a parent or caregiver that has known you during childhood. If this is not possible, your long-term spouse or partner may attend the Informant Interview.
In the absence of any of these options, please let us know as soon as possible, and a member of our clinical team will be in touch to discuss alternative options. Please note that in the interest of clinical best practice, it is not possible for a sibling or long-term friend to attend the Informant Interview.
How does the process work?
Your chosen informant(s) will be your companion(s) throughout the assessment process, providing valuable insights and perspectives to your clinician. Here is a brief overview of what they will be required to do:
- Firstly, they need to complete a detailed Informant Questionnaire. This questionnaire will gather important details about your early childhood, developmental milestones, medical and educational history, social characteristics, and neurodivergent traits. You will need to download the Informant Questionnaire from your client dashboard and send it to your informant to complete. When they are finished, they can send it back to you to re-upload onto your client dashboard with the rest of your pre-assessment forms.
- Secondly, they need to attend an Informant Interview, which will last approximately 3 hours. This interview will take place via our secure online platform. You can attend this interview alongside your informant if you wish to. This session is an opportunity for your clinician to gather more detailed information about your childhood, developmental history, and daily challenges, helping to guide their diagnosis.
Making the right choice
Here are some factors to consider as you choose an appropriate informant:
- If you can, choose somebody who has a basic understanding of neurodiversity or is willing to learn more. This will ensure that they share their insights in an empathetic and well-informed manner.
- Make sure that the person you choose is willing to commit to helping you through the entire assessment process.
- Your chosen informant should be somebody that you feel comfortable with and can trust. During the assessment process, you will be sharing personal and often sensitive information, so it's important that the dynamic between yourself and your informant is a safe space where everybody feels comfortable and respected.
- A well-chosen informant will approach your assessment with respect for you and your individual experiences.
- Ensure that your chosen informant understands the importance of confidentiality and respecting your privacy. All information shared during the assessment process should be treated as confidential.
How to ask someone to be your informant
The idea of asking someone to be your informant might feel a bit overwhelming. Here are a few things to consider when initiating this conversation:
- Choose a suitable time and location to have this conversation. You should talk to your potential informant in a comfortable and private setting when neither of you is in a rush.
- Before starting this conversation, learn as much as possible about the ProblemShared autism assessment process. You will then be able to explain to your potential informant what their specific role will be.
- Emphasise the important role of an informant in the assessment process and ensure your potential informant realises how valuable their support is to the outcome.
- Give your potential informant plenty of time to consider your request.
What to do if you don’t have a suitable informant for your autism assessment
If you do not have a suitable informant for your autism assessment, please inform a member of our team at your earliest opportunity. A clinician will be in touch to discuss alternative options with you.
While this isn’t ideal, we endeavour to make the process of accessing a ProblemShared autism assessment as inclusive as possible. Therefore, although involving an informant is an important part of ensuring a clinically robust assessment, our team will never turn a client away for being unable to source an informant.
We may be able to come to an arrangement whereby you act as your own informant, or something similar. The sooner you communicate your situation to us, the more efficiently we will be able to find a solution.
How to be the best informant possible for an autism assessment
What is an informant?
An important part of the assessment process for a neurodevelopmental condition involves gathering valuable information from a reliable informant.
If you’ve been asked to be an informant for a loved one or a long-term friend seeking an autism assessment, you may be wondering what the process involves, and how you can be the best informant possible.
What is the purpose of an informant in an autism assessment?
Firstly, let’s consider the purpose of an informant in an autism assessment. An informant provides valuable information to the clinicians overseeing the assessment about the early childhood and development of the client. They can offer first-hand accounts of the individual's behaviour, experiences, developmental history, and strengths, providing a broader context for our team to understand their neurodivergent traits. An informant is also there to offer moral support throughout the process to the individual being assessed.
Who can be an informant in an autism assessment?
To be eligible to act as an informant for an autism assessment, you need to have known the individual being assessed since their early childhood. Informants will be asked to do two things during the autism assessment process:
- Complete an Informant Questionnaire
- Attend an Informant Interview
The individual being assessed can ask two different people to be their informants; one person to complete the Informant Questionnaire, and another person to attend the Informant Interview. Or they can ask the same person to do both things, as long as they fit the below criteria:
Who can complete the Informant Questionnaire?
Ideally, this should be a parent or caregiver who has known the individual during childhood. In the absence of a parent or caregiver, the Informant Questionnaire may be completed by a sibling, a long-term spouse or partner, or a long-term friend.
Who can attend the Informant Interview?
Ideally, this should be a parent or caregiver that has known the individual during childhood. If this is not possible, a long-term spouse or partner may attend the Informant Interview.
In the absence of any of these options, a member of our clinical team will be in touch to discuss alternative options. Please note that in the interest of clinical best practice, it is not possible for a sibling or long-term friend to attend the Informant Interview.
How does the process work?
As we have established, there are two key things that you will be required to do as an informant in an autism assessment. Let’s take a closer look at both tasks:
- Complete the Informant Questionnaire
You first task as an informant is to complete the informant questionnaire, which helps clinicians gather information about the individual being assessed and identify areas to explore further. This should be completed by yourself, as the informant. Here is an overview of how to do it:
- The Informant Questionnaire will be made available to the individual being assessed, and they will be able to forward this to you via email.
- As an informant, you should then complete the Informant Questionnaire and return it to the individual being assessed so that they can upload it back onto their client dashboard. Alternatively, you can submit it directly to ProblemShared via email at ndassessments@problemshared.net.
The Informant Questionnaire allows you to provide details to our team about the individual’s early childhood, developmental milestones, medical and educational history, social characteristics, and neurodivergent traits.
- Attend the Informant Interview
You will then receive an email inviting you to attend an Informant Interview. This interview will last approximately 3 hours, and the individual being assessed can also be present if they wish. The information gathered during this interview will enable our clinicians to build a clear picture of the individual's childhood, developmental history, and daily challenges, helping to guide their diagnosis.
How to prepare for the Informant Interview
You may be wondering if there is anything that you can do to prepare for your Informant Interview. Here are a few suggestions:
- Spend some time finding out more about neurodiversity and the assessment process. This will help you better understand what to expect during your interview and give you an idea of the questions you may be asked.
- Reflect on your observations of the individual being assessed. Think about their unique characteristics, strengths, and behaviours. This will help you to provide more detailed and accurate information during your interview.
- Gather relevant information that will help you to provide the most accurate responses. For example, revisit early childhood memories (looking at old photographs can help to jog your memory), developmental milestone trackers, and educational records.
- Consider potential questions the clinician may ask and prepare thoughtful responses to these. Practice articulating your insights in a clear, concise, and informative manner.
- If possible, consult with the individual being assessed before your Informant Interview. Find out what they are comfortable with you discussing and what they would prefer you to keep private. This could include information about their personal life, medical history, or any sensitive topics that they may not want to discuss.
- Finally, remember that by acting as an informant, you are helping to support your friend or loved one's journey toward understanding and embracing their neurodiversity. By providing accurate and reliable insights, you can help them to receive the support they need to thrive.
