Testing for an ASD.

I've posted on a few other sites, just trying to find some different opinions

Hello everyone! I was diagnosed with NVLD when I was 16 (I am now 20), via a psych-ed test I was given by a child psychologist at the children's hospital... It said I did not have ADHD, as well. My current psychiatrist has diagnosed me with Schizoaffective disorder, a combination of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Illness, and ADHD. I start college in September, and am worried that the disability services will not accept one of the opinions because they kind of cancel each other out, and the psych-ed is kind of old. My grandma has always thought I have AS instead of NVLD (my grandparents are my caregivers), and she said we might want to ask my psychiatrist about testing me for an ASD, as it would probably get me more services in college, as well as long term, as we worry about housing and possible group homes for when my grandparents can no longer care for me... There are not a lot of group homes for the mentally ill here, but there are more for adults with ASDs. I had a psychiatrist that once said it was likely I had AS, but that she did not have the time it would take to test me for it. I made an appointment with a psychologist to have a psych-ed done again, and testing for an ASD... For those of you who don't know what NVLD is, it stands for Nonverbal Learning Disorder. It's very similar to AS, with the differences of no restricted interest, no stimming, and no real problems with eye contact. The only thing is, I do have problems with eye contact, I play with my hair or fingers when nervous or excited (not sure if that counts as stimming), and I am totally obsessed with the minions from Despicable Me.. Lol. Everything in my room is minions, every movie I watch is minions, if someone will listen, I will talk about minions. Before that it was Law and Order: SVU.. I still have all the DVDs to almost the whole series, up until I lost interest. And before that, American Idol. I talked about it so much at school, people would draw pictures of me and American Idol people.. In a mocking sort of way, but I had no idea then, my grandma had to point it out. When I was little it was always some Disney movie. I'd watch the movie until it broke, have all the plush dolls and toys for it.. But I'd just rein act the movie or line up the toys the way I wanted to.

I have problems with people touching me, but I bite myself or scratch myself when upset because I don't know how else to communicate how I feel, and I feel no real pain from it. I don't understand sayings, although I can be sarcastic at times. I have no idea how to read facial expressions, the psychologist that did my original psych-ed said I tested at a very low level for that. I only have two friends, and they both know about my.. erm.. "problem", and even then we sometimes clash and I question the need to even have them as friends. But the psychologist said these can all be because I have NVLD (they never tested me for AS/Autism...)

I'm just wondering... I live in Canada, and because I am now an adult, I have to pay for these assessments from the psychologist. Do you think it's worth paying for the Autism testing? It's about $3,100... I did the math... :P My grandma seems to think I may have Autism, what used to be known as AS, but I thought I'd ask, does any of this sound like you or your children, or should I not bother with the testing?

Hi,

I also live in Canada. The place I was referred to initially wanted $3000 and there is just no way I was going to pay that. In the end I found a psychologist who specialized in Autism/Asperger's and he only charged me $1200. The association which psychologists register with in my province has a search engine on their website which you can easily find psychologists who do assessments for Asperger's, and then ask them how much it would cost. The association for your province likely has a similar feature. When I told my Doctor it was going to be $3000 he said I shouldn't have to pay that and tried to find a psychiatrist to do it for free, but that would have had a very long wait.

I consulted the psychologist whom I was looking into's receptionist, and she gave me some appointments. I just wanted to consult the people of the great interwebs before actually going to the appointments, because I can always cancel them. The Autism test itself is going to cost $300. It's the psych-ed that is going to be expensive.. And as soon as I mentioned that I needed services for college, the receptionist said I am going to need a psych-ed. I kind of disagree, but I didn't really have the courage to tell her otherwise... I am very shy..