Do you ever question your kid's ASD diagnosis?

[Anonymous]

DD is in high school and has an ADHD and AD diagnosis. DD very clearly has ADHD (slow processing speed and mediocre working memory but above average to superior in the other categories). DD also has an ASD diagnosis. Both diagnoses were made in middle school.

Has anyone ever questioned their kid's ASD diagnosis? What made you question it, and what happened?

[Anonymous]

Tell us about her. Why are you questioning it?

[Anonymous]

No. My kid was diagnosed at age 4, now age 7. I know some people who meet DC question it as DC has very low support needs at this time. However, multiple therapists suspected ASD before the diagnosis. The recommended services have been really helpful. DC does not have ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tell us about her. Why are you questioning it?

The question isn't whether or not she is ASD; I'm interested in knowing whether others have questioned the ASD diagnosis, and what led them to do so.

[Anonymous]

When my DD was dx autistic when she was 5, I didn't know much about autism and I questioned it because she seemed "fine." In retrospect, she in fact had all the signs and characteristics. She's 19 now and there is zero doubt that she's autistic and it impacts her (positively and negatively) every single day.

[Anonymous]

I always felt like ASD didn't totally explain how she zoned out so deeply. Eventually she had a seizure and then was diagnosed with absence seizures as well. But she always obviously had ASD.

Sometimes when I look back at videos of her as a toddler I see what might be absence seizures, but they were so brief that they were unrecognizable at the time.

[Anonymous]

No

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is in high school and has an ADHD and AD diagnosis. DD very clearly has ADHD (slow processing speed and mediocre working memory but above average to superior in the other categories). DD also has an ASD diagnosis. Both diagnoses were made in middle school.

Has anyone ever questioned their kid's ASD diagnosis? What made you question it, and what happened?

Sure, lots of people who know nothing about nothing have question both my spouse’s asd and my daughter’s.

So what.

They don’t live with either of them 24/7 to see them unmask or get emotionally dysregulated or shut down.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I do frequently. Almost no symptoms until middle school other than being very independent. Very cuddly, social child with lots of friends, good eye contact, and tremendous empathy. Still has a lot of friends now, though almost all the middle school friends now are wonderfully "quirky" versus the whole class in the smaller elementary.

Diagnosed in 6th grade after the ADHD assessor suggested it was a possibility, now in 8th.

[Anonymous]

No. They're in line with the new, lower thresholds for diagnosis. My husband and son have more classic autistic traits, with socio-communicative impacts, and my daughter and I have the so-called "girl autism", which means we have a greater capacity for social integration and communication and major social anxiety, and fit the other ASD criteria at a minimal level.

Which is not to say my daughter's recent diagnosis, at 15, didn't come as a surprise - I didn't think her symptoms were sufficient to cross the threshold, because I was stuck on my son's earlier diagnosis from years ago. But when the psychologist explained all the criteria, I was convinced. And it was very apparent during that meeting that I, too, am on the mild end of the spectrum.

[Anonymous]

My DD was flagged by her preschool teacher as potentially ASD-1. I thought there was something to it, but never pursued it because her K teacher didn't agree and DD was not struggling or falling behind in any way. She did have a very obvious stim of bicycle kicking her legs as a baby and toddler, as well as pervasive sensory under-sensitivity, which most people don't notice or think is a good thing. She also had neonatal seizures. Those things are not officially part of the diagnostic criteria, I know, but still they're flags I noticed. Some social anxiety but not outside the norm. Some social obliviousness and avoidance, reading alone at recess, etc. Anyway I stayed concerned through 5th grade and worked very hard to teach her social skills, and now at 14 she seems totally fine.

Anyway since she was never actually diagnosed I'm not sure PP would count this. But that's what happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. They're in line with the new, lower thresholds for diagnosis. My husband and son have more classic autistic traits, with socio-communicative impacts, and my daughter and I have the so-called "girl autism", which means we have a greater capacity for social integration and communication and major social anxiety, and fit the other ASD criteria at a minimal level.

Which is not to say my daughter's recent diagnosis, at 15, didn't come as a surprise - I didn't think her symptoms were sufficient to cross the threshold, because I was stuck on my son's earlier diagnosis from years ago. But when the psychologist explained all the criteria, I was convinced. And it was very apparent during that meeting that I, too, am on the mild end of the spectrum.

Do you feel like your and your daughter's "girl-autism" requires professional intervention, or is it something that you both can manage without outside support?

I wonder if the diagnosis bar has been set so low that anyone who falls outside one standard deviation of the mean for social skills ability gets an ASD diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

I think people don’t understand a lot about diagnosis. For example ADHD isn’t diagnosed with the metrics OP cited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I do frequently. Almost no symptoms until middle school other than being very independent. Very cuddly, social child with lots of friends, good eye contact, and tremendous empathy. Still has a lot of friends now, though almost all the middle school friends now are wonderfully "quirky" versus the whole class in the smaller elementary.

Diagnosed in 6th grade after the ADHD assessor suggested it was a possibility, now in 8th.

Oh boy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. They're in line with the new, lower thresholds for diagnosis. My husband and son have more classic autistic traits, with socio-communicative impacts, and my daughter and I have the so-called "girl autism", which means we have a greater capacity for social integration and communication and major social anxiety, and fit the other ASD criteria at a minimal level.

Which is not to say my daughter's recent diagnosis, at 15, didn't come as a surprise - I didn't think her symptoms were sufficient to cross the threshold, because I was stuck on my son's earlier diagnosis from years ago. But when the psychologist explained all the criteria, I was convinced. And it was very apparent during that meeting that I, too, am on the mild end of the spectrum.

Oh ffs.