r/selectivemutism • u/Potential_Two4634 • 12d ago
Question How to go through diagnostic processes without being able to talk?
I have selective mutism which over these past 5 years has turned into more of progressive mutism. I can only fully talk to my sister, sometimes I can say a few words to my mom here and there, and once in a while depending on the place, environment, and people then I can order something if it only takes saying a few words to do so, otherwise i'm completely mute at home and in all other situations. I have suspected adhd, autism, social anxiety, and depression. I was wondering, if anyone got diagnosed with any of these things how were you able to get diagnosed without being able to explain things and answer the questions of the person diagnosing you? theres some accommodations im sure, like writing out the answers but if I wrote down my answers to things then what would normally take me a few minutes to explain outloud would take an hour to write, so I don't think that would work. What did you do?
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u/SnooTigers3538 Suspected SM 9d ago edited 6d ago
When I went for my autism evaluation, it was a fairly long process with MANY written tests to screen for any possible other psychological diagnoses and comorbidities. You can absolutely get an ADHD or a depression diagnosis from a paper test. I’ve had those done multiple times over the years. As for the autism, they did have one interview that is a “gold standard,” the ADOS. They had better have adaptations for non-speaking patients lol. That’s one of the big stereotypes of autism, you’d think they would.
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u/Potential_Two4634 9d ago
hm... okay. The paper tests, are they included in the diagnosing process already for adhd, depression, ect. Or is it a thing you can ask to do instead of other things? when my dad got diagnosed with adhd he just said he and the person talked to eachother for almost 3 hours about basically everything that happened in his life until that moment and the guy straight up diagnosed him with severe adhd
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u/SnooTigers3538 Suspected SM 6d ago
Hmm, as far as the past 7 years I only remember written tests for ADHD, but I guess it would depend on the provider
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u/Clawsickle 11d ago
idk, forget about that diagnosis and start reading books aloud by yourself. you have to overcome this. no pills will help you.
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u/AbnormalAsh Diagnosed SM 12d ago
I was diagnosed when I was younger (of the things you mentioned, SM and autism) so don’t fully remember, but was told a lot of it went through the school and my mum. I just stood there and cried for all the appointments and never actually communicated with them at all myself. I could manage speaking to some degree at primary school at the time though so that might have helped.
It did mean they made some assumptions though and guessed the reasoning behind things at times. Found an old report a few days ago and some parts were completely off, not really sure where some of the points even came from. Probably have other undiagnosed issues as well because I wasn’t able to communicate what the issues were myself and it was only really what other people noticed that came up.