My COD is coming up in 2 months and my LTD insurer is scheduling a virtual (online) Vocational/Psychometric Assessment to see if I can do any type of work. This virtual assessment is 1-2 days in length. Just wondering if there are any big pitfalls when taking the assessment and how to avoid them. I have rheumatoid arthritis, spinal and cervical stenosis, osteoarthritis, anxiety and depression so in pain all the time, chronic fatigue, hardly any sleep so my cognitive ability is not good and very stressed out about this test and any information that can be given would be most appreciated to help with my stress. Insurer has sent me to numerous different treatment providers including an occupational therapist and cut off the treatments before the provider recommended.
Sounds incredibly stressful. Sorry you have to go through it. All I can say is that, if it were me, I probably would make it very clear how fatigued I was. If you can’t answer their questions due to fatigue, then say that. “Sorry, I don’t know. I am not feeling well. What did you want to know? I don’t know. I need to lay down”. etc. Just my two cents. That’s really all the advice I can give. You do not need to put on your “A-game” for the assessments. I made that mistake when I was in the beginnings of my disability. I would show up to assessments with physio and try and put on a tough face and it made it look like my abilities were more than they actually were. Then I’d walk through my front door and collapse in a state of anxiety and physical exhaustion. Once I stopped “hiding” that version of myself from everyone then people got the message. I don’t “hide the crazy” anymore, as I put it lol. Good luck friend.
Thanks Adam. I have been trying to do the same thing, trying to go to every treatment appointment my insurer scheduled for me and doing my absolute best, but just like you, that was a detriment because they didn’t see how much I suffered in doing that. I dont’ think I have an “A-game” anymore, ha ha!
My A-game is long gone too. I am working on my Z-game and even that’s a struggle lol. Good luck to you, I am sure it will go fine!
I think David’s video about how to fill out update forms will have some useful advice - things like describing your range including bad days and not just your good days, saying sometimes/often rather than always /never. It sounds like you are dealing with a lot and I’m sorry for that, just do what you can…
stalance, I have received notice of COD coming up as well, so I am very interested to know what the virtual assessment will be like. You wrote it’s 1-2 days long?? That’s insane. Did they give any more information on how it will be conducted? I would only be able to stay on my computer about 1hr for a virtual appointment before needing to rest for a few hours. Wishing you all the best.
It’s happening tomorrow so pretty anxious. It’s apparently 4-6 hours but since I’ll need lots of breaks it could be a 2 or maybe 3 day ordeal. I’ll report back once it’s done so you’ll have an idea of what to expect.
That sounds nerve-wracking. Definitely take lots of breaks. According to this website , a psychological vocational assessment " identifies cognitive abilities, aptitudes, personality-profile, interests and academic skills". So it sounds like it would be lots of different tests, but I’m wondering how they would test cognitive ability and academic skills.
Best of luck for tomorrow and please do let us know how your assessment goes.
Let us know how it went. Good luck!
I looked at mine as a win-win opportunity. If there in fact is another job I’m able to do I would have been thrilled to find out what it was because I was and am so sick of this unproductive life. So just do what you can, don’t be a hero, and be kind to yourself.
I agree, I am really interested in seeing what they recommend that I could possibly do, I’ve been trying to figure that out for 2 years. I’m just worried my insurer will cut me off which is scary.
So I thought I would update on my psycho-metric vocational assessment. I was only able to do about 1/3 of it last week which took me about 3 hours. There were about 400 questions I had to answer. The assessor read them out to me so I could move around to try to alleviate my pain. She was very nice and very accommodating. I wasn’t able to do anything with the assessment the day after because I was in too much pain and didn’t get any sleep so rescheduled for this Thursday. Assessor has also given me some parts that I can try to do on my own before our next appointment so I can do it in chunks which was very nice of her (I don’t think they are supposed to do that as they watch your reactions when answering questions so I’m thinking this might be a good sign that she believes that I’m in alot of pain). They have a few different segments of questions and I did the ones related to anxiety/depressionpain scale and personality so far. There were career-type questions on stuff that might interest you but the jobs being asked about I wouldn’t be able to do without retraining and more mobility/less pain, which is something they also look at. There’s an education & work history portion as well. Not sure what the online questions are going to be yet, going to work on part of that today, but I do know that they are timed.
Sounds like a horrible job TBH. Sorry to hear you are in pain but glad your assessor is being reasonable. Thanks for the update!
Thanks for the info it’s interesting to hear your experiences. I was worried you’d be completely wiped out, I’m glad you got partway through!