I recently had a full NP eval completed. It came back as clinically significant for autism and ADHD. I’ve had the ADHD diagnosis for five years. The autism Dx is new. I’m now 45.

The doctor said one of the tests was invalidated because I scored too low. It was the one where she read me lists of random words and I had to recall them.

During the test, I knew I was struggling but it was no surprise as this is a constant area of challenge in my daily life. It always has been but has probably gotten worse with perimenopause. I had to keep repeating the first three words so that I didn’t lose them and therefore couldn’t process any other words on her list.

Anyway, she said my results were at the levels of someone with severe dementia and therefore the test guidelines invalidated them. But like, if that’s what my working memory is actually like, shouldn’t that be valid?

How concerned should I be? Is this a sign of early dementia or is this just a dumb test?

I use strategies in my daily life like writing EVERYTHING down. I can definitely learn and reading new info if it is meaningful or if I use memory strategies like flash cards. It’s just random, mundane info doesn’t stick without lots of external supports. Which strikes me as super typical of ADHD, so again, not sure why that got invalidated.

Should I ask for another test?

Any advice is appreciated!