Asperger's Syndrome No Longer Recognised

skooterblue2

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

Maybe it is. The HSE is operating under different money-saving rules for the last few years. Write to the Minister - or do you think complaining on boards.ie does the same job?

Any time you ever complain to someone in the civil/public service, you get the same line "Its the ministers responsibility". This is an old line from the foundation of the State. hence no one can be sacked from a government job.

Honestly I feel I get more bang for my buck from boards.ie than government/public/civil service combined.

There are two different groups on here commenting. There are the people who are well heeled with money telling you this is the way it is and if you dont like it push off and then there are the people who get told you are on medical card, "its not aspergers, take your meds" , "your seven minutes are up" and "well if you cant go private there is a long waiting list but we will see you ... eventually"

skooterblue2

Reventon93 wrote: »

And from what i found, i'm looking for an educational/clinical psychologist, right?

Right on. The guy I got was right on the ball. He was about 50-ish and worked 4 days a week (professionally) with an Autism charity in west Cork. We got his name from the Irish Autism foundation in Cork. He did one day a week private consultancy. Word of mouth is usually a great way. If you dont have a psychologist/psychiatrists report, you can't access the National Learning Network. I am working with a great guy in Waterford.

The faster you get a report and get working with the NLN the easier your life will become. Oh and Reventon93, you need to get a GP to fill out your disability report. You can go back to your doctor and get her to write a report for your disability or get a competent GP of your own choosing. You are old enough to choose and decide for yourself. I was told my Aspergers was my "own charming personality" by my GP who claimed she was a mental health expert.

Reventon93

skooterblue2 wrote: »

Right on. The guy I got was right on the ball. He was about 50-ish and worked 4 days a week (professionally) with an Autism charity in west Cork. We got his name from the Irish Autism foundation in Cork. He did one day a week private consultancy. Word of mouth is usually a great way. If you dont have a psychologist/psychiatrists report, you can't access the National Learning Network. I am working with a great guy in Waterford.

The faster you get a report and get working with the NLN the easier your life will become. Oh and Reventon93, you need to get a GP to fill out your disability report. You can go back to your doctor and get her to write a report for your disability or get a competent GP of your own choosing. You are old enough to choose and decide for yourself. I was told my Aspergers was my "own charming personality" by my GP who claimed she was a mental health expert.

Thanks so much skooterblue2! At this point, i'm just looking for anyone who can assess me, even if i need to travel. I often do for other medical issues.

So i'm guessing that the person i see, will give me a psychologist report, and that the current psychologist i'm seeing wouldn't be able to, as she doesn't specialise in the Autism Spectrum.

The GP i saw was actually not my regular GP, and i know that my regular GP will undoubtedly help me with whatever report needs to be filled out. Unlike the other doctor i saw, she is incredibly competent with important things.

Well the more that i find on the subject, and the more the people around me do too, the more likely it seems that i'm somewhere on the spectrum. And this doctor completely shot down any symptoms/behaviours with incredible ridiculous answers as to why i dont show any signs of having it. I had to try hard not to ask her frustratingly to show me her credentials that shows she has even a basic grasp of dealing with people who have Aspergers, but i just wanted to get out of there.

And thanks again for all the help!

skooterblue2

Dont settle for "anyone". My parents did and tried to set up with this right quack, faith healer /priest/commune leader.

A real psychologist should see you coming with Aspergers a mile off. Aspergers should be bread and butter work for these people. I was with my "supervisor" you need the Tony Attwood book. My supervisor knows him. There is a lot of reading but it is all easy to understand stuff and if you have problem it is all referenced. Shouldnt cost more than £20 including post and packaging. Which is very very cheap. Super visor was saying the ratio of Aspergers to Neuro typicals has dropped from 1:100 to 1:88. I thought it was 1:1000 when I started.

Be a big boy and change doctor. there is that thing if you ever upset the doctor in the local area it can be hard to change doctor. In the city you can walk down the street and just get another one.

Reventon93

skooterblue2 wrote: »

Dont settle for "anyone". My parents did and tried to set up with this right quack, faith healer /priest/commune leader.

A real psychologist should see you coming with Aspergers a mile off. Aspergers should be bread and butter work for these people. I was with my "supervisor" you need the Tony Attwood book. My supervisor knows him. There is a lot of reading but it is all easy to understand stuff and if you have problem it is all referenced. Shouldnt cost more than £20 including post and packaging. Which is very very cheap. Super visor was saying the ratio of Aspergers to Neuro typicals has dropped from 1:100 to 1:88. I thought it was 1:1000 when I started.

Be a big boy and change doctor. there is that thing if you ever upset the doctor in the local area it can be hard to change doctor. In the city you can walk down the street and just get another one.

Yeah, i think its just the fact that im kind of in limbo thats bothering me, but i definitely wont just go for the first person i find. That doesn't sound like fun at all!

Definitely going to see if i can get that book. Sounds really good, and seems that it would be helpful! That's actually surprised me a bit. First because i thought the ratio would have been a lot bigger, and second because the number has fallen 1/5th.

Yup, usually no one goes to see that doctor, but because mine was away and she had no replacement, i said id go, just because i wanted her help and advice. Big mistake though! Like i said, my regular GP should be fine

DM addict

http://www.psychologicalsociety.ie/find-a-psychologist/ - a good place to find a clinical or educational psychologist locally, who should be able to help with diagnosis. As someone said earlier, getting a few names from local autism agencies should also help.

Best of luck. Diagnosis is a tricky process, hopefully your regular GP will be some help as well.

skooterblue2

Kind of in Limbo? you are going to be in that way for a while yet. Any good psychologist will take a few weeks to see you privately. Its the same as a GP or a Barber, the good guy will always have a waiting list. I had to wait 6 weeks for my appointment (recommended by Aspergers society) and another 3 weeks for the report to be compiled. I have found waiting on the "professional" services of family to be a waste of time. You want it you pay for it. I asked a cousin who was a GP could it be Aspergers, he said now. Should have seen the eyes pop out of his head when I told him.

I hope you are on the medical card, NLN sessions cost €180 an hour (I am not joking), this is the Health board billing Private insurance costs. See if this was caught earlier it would be easier to deal with. Thanks be to god the school managed to save on the cash. You have your leaving cert?

here is a major indicator.
"During adolesence, a teenager with Aspergers Syndrome is likely to have increasingly conspicuous difficulties with planning and organisational skills and completing assignments on time. This can lead to a deterioration of school grades that comes to the attention of teachers and parents. The teenagers intellectual abilities have not deteriorated, but the methods of assessment used by teachers have changed".

The complete guide to Aspergers, Tony Attwood, P.19 Paragraph 4
In short the results from your Junior Cert never materialised into similar results for the Leaving cert. This is the last stage It should have been caught at, alarm bells should have been ringing, because it wont be caught at college. When you arrive at college they are all set up (... well some of them are UCD and UCC are supposed to be Aspergers friendly. Cork and Carlow IT have appalling attitudes in my experience and others). You will crash and burn at college without these life skills.

Your lecturers at college may actually have Aspergers my estimate is about (20-30%). They may have had private coaching, so it never really happened. This is the difference between Aspergers with money and without.

Reventon93

skooterblue2 wrote: »

Kind of in Limbo? you are going to be in that way for a while yet. Any good psychologist will take a few weeks to see you privately. Its the same as a GP or a Barber, the good guy will always have a waiting list. I had to wait 6 weeks for my appointment (recommended by Aspergers society) and another 3 weeks for the report to be compiled. I have found waiting on the "professional" services of family to be a waste of time. You want it you pay for it. I asked a cousin who was a GP could it be Aspergers, he said now. Should have seen the eyes pop out of his head when I told him.

I hope you are on the medical card, NLN sessions cost €180 an hour (I am not joking), this is the Health board billing Private insurance costs. See if this was caught earlier it would be easier to deal with. Thanks be to god the school managed to save on the cash. You have your leaving cert?

here is a major indicator.
"During adolesence, a teenager with Aspergers Syndrome is likely to have increasingly conspicuous difficulties with planning and organisational skills and completing assignments on time. This can lead to a deterioration of school grades that comes to the attention of teachers and parents. The teenagers intellectual abilities have not deteriorated, but the methods of assessment used by teachers have changed".

The complete guide to Aspergers, Tony Attwood, P.19 Paragraph 4
In short the results from your Junior Cert never materialised into similar results for the Leaving cert. This is the last stage It should have been caught at, alarm bells should have been ringing, because it wont be caught at college. When you arrive at college they are all set up (... well some of them are UCD and UCC are supposed to be Aspergers friendly. Cork and Carlow IT have appalling attitudes in my experience and others). You will crash and burn at college without these life skills.

Your lecturers at college may actually have Aspergers my estimate is about (20-30%). They may have had private coaching, so it never really happened. This is the difference between Aspergers with money and without.

Yeah, i've been through the system for other medical issues, so i know what its like. I think that even having a date as to when i'll be seen is what would make me a lot less anxious about the whole thing, to be honest.

I do, as like i said i have another medical condition. I actually have 2 ,since i repeated, and im repeating 1st year in NUIG.

I seem to be doing a lot better in college, i think its because im actually doing something logically based and something im interested in, so im not exactly sure if thats good or bad

skooterblue2

Anything logic based you will excel at. Linear equations will be handy. Algebra is the only tricky question.

Reventon93

skooterblue2 wrote: »

Anything logic based you will excel at. Linear equations will be handy. Algebra is the only tricky question.

Yeah, i've always found maths and anything with numbers to be something i'm strong at. I'm the only one in my family who can do anything maths based, with ease. I've always been pretty good at algebra actually and not so good with linear equations

Semele

I think people have understandable worries about being 'fobbed off' with psychiatrists and psychologists in training, however this more represents a lack of understanding of the training schemes involved in these professions. No mental health professional is let loose to practice on clients without being suitably qualified to do so. To explain from my experience- I am a Trainee Clinical Psychologist (in the UK, but it's essentially the same training). My clients sometimes query the 'trainee' label, and they are entirely justified in doing so. However, as I explain, I have an undergraduate degree, and MSc and am currently halfway through a rigorous doctoral training course. I am paid according to my level of expertise and autonomy, which for a trainee psychologist is equivalent to that of a senior nurse, or occupational therapist. I am not an inexperienced student using them as a guinea pig!

To be seen by me, or a psychiatry registrar, is not to receive an inferior service. In fact, we work under close supervision, and as my supervisor points out- when clients are seen by me they essentially have 2 professionals on their case rather than one!

skooterblue2

Semele wrote: »

To be seen by me, or a psychiatry registrar, is not to receive an inferior service. In fact, we work under close supervision, and as my supervisor points out- when clients are seen by me they essentially have 2 professionals on their case rather than one!

So then I was probably seen by no less than 9 and no more than 16 psychiatrists and they all came to the same conclusion? "General Anxiety Disorder! There, there, shall we continue with Effexor for another 3 months?". The private, experienced psychiatrist saw it in 10 minutes. My impression is that you dont have the life experience he has.

JuliusCaesar

hotbabe1992 wrote: »

I just see the same person each time,the way it should be for the public health service too..But its not for some strange reason.

The strange reason is economic and also to do with the training of specialists.

1. It's expensive to be seen by a consultant each time.

2. Registrars (non-consultant hospital doctors, training in a speciality) change placement every 6 months in January and July to further their training.

BUT

Vision for Change and other HSE policies are that there should be more consultants, and that (in psychiatry anyway) these consultants should specialise in different areas of psychiatry, rather than all consultants be general psychiatrists serving a particular smallish geographical area. So the Personality Disorder Consultant and the AS Consultant and the Bipolar Consultant Psychiatrists will all serve the same larger area.

But seriously lads, this is the PSYCHOLOGY forum, not Psychiatry. I will not explain our medical colleagues any further. Take it over to Health Science.