Pediatrician not at all educated about autism

[Anonymous]

Over the last few years I've brought up that I thought my child was showing autistic traits and/or ADHD to our pediatrician. Our pediatrician would dismiss them because my child made great eye contact, and they would even go as far to tell me that I have anxiety and overanalyzing everything, and that parents in this area worry too much. When we asked about occupational therapy for sensory issues they told us they didn't believe in it or understand it and to just put our child in martial arts.

Fast forward to the present and we have put our child in OT, therapy and we also now have an autism and ADHD diagnosis. Since receiving the diagnosis, our pediatrician has frankly acted like autism is something really scary and that we need to help our child by removing all autistic-like behaviors through interventions I don't agree with. I feel like I am teaching the pediatrician about things they should really be aware of on their own. I realize pediatricians are generalists and cover so many different areas, but I've been so disappointed in their lack of ND knowledge and support.

Our child LOVES our pediatrician and is very comfortable there. I'm struggling to decide if we should keep going to them for this reason or switch to find someone who is more comfortable with ND patients, but risk our child not connecting with a new doctor or office. Change is hard enough for them! What would you do and if you have a doctor who you love for your autistic child, please let me know!

[Anonymous]

Pediatricians' bread and butter is ear infections, etc.

They have limitations. No need to switch-- just don't rely on their opinion for more specialized things.

[Anonymous]

Why go see someone for medical advice if you don't trust their opinion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why go see someone for medical advice if you don't trust their opinion?

This seems invalidating and unhelpful. My child's 4th grade teacher may know little about teaching kindergarteners. People can be strong with X but weaker with Y.

[Anonymous]

I used our ped for medical issues only -- illnesses, yearly checkups, shots -- because by the time my DS got his autism diagnosis both kids were familiar with him and he was convenient. He doesn't know a thing about autism and missed all the signs. We just added in other specialists as needed to deal with the autism. This kept us from having to go longer distances for routine care and enabled us to get the expertise we needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pediatricians' bread and butter is ear infections, etc.

They have limitations. No need to switch-- just don't rely on their opinion for more specialized things.

We use the ped for annual checkups and completing school forms. Med mgmt is handled by psych. I use DCUM for recommendations for providers and understanding what outcomes I should expect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used our ped for medical issues only -- illnesses, yearly checkups, shots -- because by the time my DS got his autism diagnosis both kids were familiar with him and he was convenient. He doesn't know a thing about autism and missed all the signs. We just added in other specialists as needed to deal with the autism. This kept us from having to go longer distances for routine care and enabled us to get the expertise we needed.

NP. Same. Our pediatrician is familiar with ADHD and handles the stimulant meds but is dismissive of autism. That's fine, we see other specialists for that. Our pediatrician is excellent for medical issues, common and rare, and knows our children and vice versa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Over the last few years I've brought up that I thought my child was showing autistic traits and/or ADHD to our pediatrician. Our pediatrician would dismiss them because my child made great eye contact, and they would even go as far to tell me that I have anxiety and overanalyzing everything, and that parents in this area worry too much. When we asked about occupational therapy for sensory issues they told us they didn't believe in it or understand it and to just put our child in martial arts.

Fast forward to the present and we have put our child in OT, therapy and we also now have an autism and ADHD diagnosis. Since receiving the diagnosis, our pediatrician has frankly acted like autism is something really scary and that we need to help our child by removing all autistic-like behaviors through interventions I don't agree with. I feel like I am teaching the pediatrician about things they should really be aware of on their own. I realize pediatricians are generalists and cover so many different areas, but I've been so disappointed in their lack of ND knowledge and support.

Our child LOVES our pediatrician and is very comfortable there. I'm struggling to decide if we should keep going to them for this reason or switch to find someone who is more comfortable with ND patients, but risk our child not connecting with a new doctor or office. Change is hard enough for them! What would you do and if you have a doctor who you love for your autistic child, please let me know!

What kind of support, specifically, are you looking for from ped in regard to autism/ADHD? My child (10) has ADHD and anxiety. We do med management through a psychiatrist. ADHD and anxiety dx were given by a psychologist. Therapy through a therapist, obviously. She doesn't go to OT anymore, but obviously that was done through an...occupational therapist. Our ped gave the referrals for the specialists, but other than that I never really expected specialized support from them in regard to the ND-specific issues. If I have questions about those things, I talk to the folks who specialize in those domains- which is not the ped. We just see the ped for sports physicals/well-child checkups, vaccines, and garden-variety illnesses (ear infections, strep, etc.)

I guess I'm not entirely sure what you are looking for or expecting.

[Anonymous]

My DS with ASD/ADHD is now a young adult. His pediatrician never picked up on the signs of autism, and we only sought a diagnosis on the recommendation of his preschool teacher who recognized his symptoms. Thank goodness for his teacher because early intervention is so beneficial.

I’m not sure what’s going on in med schools these days, but it seems doctors are missing out on important training.

[Anonymous]

OP here- my disappointment is in their dismissiveness followed by their discomfort of the diagnosis. They also made a comment about boys with adhd being part of the reason for aggressive masculinity in our world. I’m not looking for total expertise but I’m disappointed in the ignorance and I worry about other patients who take their recommendations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Over the last few years I've brought up that I thought my child was showing autistic traits and/or ADHD to our pediatrician. Our pediatrician would dismiss them because my child made great eye contact, and they would even go as far to tell me that I have anxiety and overanalyzing everything, and that parents in this area worry too much. When we asked about occupational therapy for sensory issues they told us they didn't believe in it or understand it and to just put our child in martial arts.

Fast forward to the present and we have put our child in OT, therapy and we also now have an autism and ADHD diagnosis. Since receiving the diagnosis, our pediatrician has frankly acted like autism is something really scary and that we need to help our child by removing all autistic-like behaviors through interventions I don't agree with. I feel like I am teaching the pediatrician about things they should really be aware of on their own. I realize pediatricians are generalists and cover so many different areas, but I've been so disappointed in their lack of ND knowledge and support.

Our child LOVES our pediatrician and is very comfortable there. I'm struggling to decide if we should keep going to them for this reason or switch to find someone who is more comfortable with ND patients, but risk our child not connecting with a new doctor or office. Change is hard enough for them! What would you do and if you have a doctor who you love for your autistic child, please let me know!

What kind of support, specifically, are you looking for from ped in regard to autism/ADHD? My child (10) has ADHD and anxiety. We do med management through a psychiatrist. ADHD and anxiety dx were given by a psychologist. Therapy through a therapist, obviously. She doesn't go to OT anymore, but obviously that was done through an...occupational therapist. Our ped gave the referrals for the specialists, but other than that I never really expected specialized support from them in regard to the ND-specific issues. If I have questions about those things, I talk to the folks who specialize in those domains- which is not the ped. We just see the ped for sports physicals/well-child checkups, vaccines, and garden-variety illnesses (ear infections, strep, etc.)

I guess I'm not entirely sure what you are looking for or expecting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS with ASD/ADHD is now a young adult. His pediatrician never picked up on the signs of autism, and we only sought a diagnosis on the recommendation of his preschool teacher who recognized his symptoms. Thank goodness for his teacher because early intervention is so beneficial.

I’m not sure what’s going on in med schools these days, but it seems doctors are missing out on important training.

This our pediatrician missed all the signs even whenI pointed them out. I was too new at mothering to know that what my kids needed was a developmental pediatrician, although we did see one recommended by our regular pediatrician but she "assessed" DS in less than 45 minutes and took five months to write a report that said nothing.

So what I've learned is that regular pediatricians aren't good at this and that if you have concerns you need to have a full neuro-psych done. I had it done on my daughter five times (this was about 15 years ago when testing wasn't as good as it is today) and it was only on the fifth time, just before entering high school that the cormorbiity of Aspergers/ASD, was added to "perhaps ADHD or executive function" and "perhaps anxiety disorder". DS was similar but less testing because we figured out the system. Do yourself a favor and take your child to a great developmental pediatrician. If they have concerns they should refer you to an excellent tester. The test should span over three days (not consecutive). By running many tests you will get back all (hopefully) of the cormorbidities which in my kids' cases included extremely high I.Q.s, gradations of ADHD, Anxiety for both (still true to this day) and, unfortunately, autism for one child.

[Anonymous]

There's a difference between not having sufficient expertise/familiarity with illness/disorders and having misinformation or dismissiveness. From the OP's posts, I'd change because the pediatrician would not be a trusted resource for me. For ear infections/run of the mill illnesses, I could always take the kids to the minute-clinic. When I need advice or a referral for a medical specialist/provider/counselor/therapist, I'd be skeptical of recommendations I received from OP's pediatrician.

Pre-COVID, we didn't use our pediatrician for medication management. We worked with psychiatrists. Yet, during COVID, the psychiatrists were so swamped we couldn't get into see them. Couldn't even get them to return phone calls. I had to ask the pediatrician for refills. It wasn't a problem for his office but if he had the attitude OP's pediatrician does, I don't know if it would have been a positive experience.

As far as OP's DS not liking a different provider, well, she won't know until she tries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS with ASD/ADHD is now a young adult. His pediatrician never picked up on the signs of autism, and we only sought a diagnosis on the recommendation of his preschool teacher who recognized his symptoms. Thank goodness for his teacher because early intervention is so beneficial.

I’m not sure what’s going on in med schools these days, but it seems doctors are missing out on important training.

This our pediatrician missed all the signs even whenI pointed them out. I was too new at mothering to know that what my kids needed was a developmental pediatrician, although we did see one recommended by our regular pediatrician but she "assessed" DS in less than 45 minutes and took five months to write a report that said nothing.

So what I've learned is that regular pediatricians aren't good at this and that if you have concerns you need to have a full neuro-psych done. I had it done on my daughter five times (this was about 15 years ago when testing wasn't as good as it is today) and it was only on the fifth time, just before entering high school that the cormorbiity of Aspergers/ASD, was added to "perhaps ADHD or executive function" and "perhaps anxiety disorder". DS was similar but less testing because we figured out the system. Do yourself a favor and take your child to a great developmental pediatrician. If they have concerns they should refer you to an excellent tester. The test should span over three days (not consecutive). By running many tests you will get back all (hopefully) of the cormorbidities which in my kids' cases included extremely high I.Q.s, gradations of ADHD, Anxiety for both (still true to this day) and, unfortunately, autism for one child.

If it took 5 evaluations (short or long) to diagnose autism, then it may not be debilitating diagnosis for your DC.

Three non-consecutive days is not a reasonable or necessary form of testing. Listen to the experts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS with ASD/ADHD is now a young adult. His pediatrician never picked up on the signs of autism, and we only sought a diagnosis on the recommendation of his preschool teacher who recognized his symptoms. Thank goodness for his teacher because early intervention is so beneficial.

I’m not sure what’s going on in med schools these days, but it seems doctors are missing out on important training.

Did your kids preschool teacher recognize symptoms in the first 20 minutes of meeting your kid? That seems to be what you expect of your pediatrician.

[Anonymous]

You need to see a developmental pediatrician, OP.