Pediatrician not at all educated about autism

[Anonymous]

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

Would you go see a neurosurgeon if you had hemorrhoids?

[Anonymous]

I'm OP. Yes, this is exactly it.

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

Would you go see a neurosurgeon if you had hemorrhoids?

This doesn't make any sense. The pediatrician screens for autism. OP had concerns and OP said that they were dismissed and she was told she had anxiety. It's not invalidating to ask why someone would go to a doctor if they don't trust their opinion. OP has a pretty good reason not to trust their opinion, so why continue to go to that doctor? I don't understand.

[Anonymous]

A lot of peds still think kids need cows milk too… u gotta do your own research.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Would you go see a neurosurgeon if you had hemorrhoids?

This doesn't make any sense. The pediatrician screens for autism. OP had concerns and OP said that they were dismissed and she was told she had anxiety. It's not invalidating to ask why someone would go to a doctor if they don't trust their opinion. OP has a pretty good reason not to trust their opinion, so why continue to go to that doctor? I don't understand.

The pediatrician does the M-CHAT screen but they are not experts in ASD. Their primary job is to make sure your child is physically healthy. Some take parental concerns more lightly than the others. When we had concerns we contacted early intervention and immediately got ourselves on a waitlist for a developmental pediatrician. Our regular pediatrician was telling us we could wait and see but we didn’t want to waste time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of peds still think kids need cows milk too… u gotta do your own research.

Depends on how tall you want your kid to be, I guess.

[Anonymous]

I would just add one thing to the responses that others haven't mentioned. Don't underestimate the importance of your child being comfortable with the pediatrician. As they get older, this may end up being the most important factor.

Like others, our DD was diagnosed with ADHD at 5 and ASD at 7, and the pediatrician didn't see any signs (not sure if there were any that even a skilled clinician would have picked up on). Even a developmental pediatrician we went to after the ADHD diagnosis looked me in the eye and said "I see a lot of Autistic kids, and yours is not one of them, so get that idea out of your mind." Fast forward one year, and a therapist running a group she was in suggested we get ADOS testing, which we did and resulted in a diagnosis.

We use the pediatrician for annual visits, strep tests, ear infections and blood work. Otherwise we have a psychiatrist and therapist that are much more involved in our daily life. Our pediatrician visits are difficult because our DD hates it there. If she loved it when she was little and grew up there, it would be so much easier.

[Anonymous]

I’m a special education teacher who works with lots of kids with autism (in the gen ed setting so generally high-functioning). You seem to be seeking a neurodiversity-affirming provider. That’s a fairly new approach, one I have only been learning about the past 2 years or so. There are still many parents even who take the approach that they want their kids to learn to behave as (what they see as) “normal” as possible and use ABA etc as well as ask me for IEP goals that their child will approach peers on the playground to initiate play and start conversation (when their child very clearly does not have any interest in doing so). So I don’t know that your pediatrician is wrong persay but it isn’t the currently thought of best approach. But their approach is still a very common practice and viewpoint among parents and professionals. You have to decide if you can work around it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a special education teacher who works with lots of kids with autism (in the gen ed setting so generally high-functioning). You seem to be seeking a neurodiversity-affirming provider. That’s a fairly new approach, one I have only been learning about the past 2 years or so. There are still many parents even who take the approach that they want their kids to learn to behave as (what they see as) “normal” as possible and use ABA etc as well as ask me for IEP goals that their child will approach peers on the playground to initiate play and start conversation (when their child very clearly does not have any interest in doing so). So I don’t know that your pediatrician is wrong persay but it isn’t the currently thought of best approach. But their approach is still a very common practice and viewpoint among parents and professionals. You have to decide if you can work around it.

NP. The child has no interest then but may in the future and may see the benefit after doing it successfully. That's why parents continue to ask for those IEP goals rather than support their DC in their preferred social avoidance.

[Anonymous]

I would stop talking to your pediatrician about autism. I only ask mine about strep and fevers.

[Anonymous]

I would stay because your child has a connection but I would use some time to educate your pediatrician. I work in early intervention and we see plenty of Dr.'s that miss the signs unless it is super obvious. Does your office give the MCHAT? If not, maybe suggest that as well.

[Anonymous]

I have been very lucky, OP, in that the only 2 peds my dd has seen (2 due to a move) both flagged her for developmental delays. In fact it was her first ped who referred her for EI at 12 mo when she wasn't babbling, she pointed it out to ME. I'm so glad that Dr did that (she also did the mchat that day and dd was flagged).

After we moved when dd was 2-so before her ASD dx-I was lucky enough to find a ped also noticed her delays and gave me referrals for ST, OT and a dev. ped. As it turns out, the Dr has a dc just a bit older than my dc who also is dx ASD.

After hearing other moms' stories about struggling to get the dr to be concerned and dr refusing referrals-I am so glad to have drs that are informed, and I think you should look for one too OP. I would ask around, maybe in a facebook group or something locally, where other kids' with the same dx go. Word of mouth works well for this.

[Anonymous]

PP here-to add, going to the ped we do, the Dr and the staff are SO patient with my dd when she has an autism moment! They know how to handle a scared, melting down sensory overload kiddo. And my kid is now so comfortable at the dr that last time we went (for strep) dd was calm and did not shriek or cry once!

We also go to a SN dentist, that people where I live (not local) travel an hour or more to go to because they GET our kids. My dd is actually excited to go next week! Versus 3 years ago when we were 'exited' from our local dentist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Would you go see a neurosurgeon if you had hemorrhoids?

This doesn't make any sense. The pediatrician screens for autism. OP had concerns and OP said that they were dismissed and she was told she had anxiety. It's not invalidating to ask why someone would go to a doctor if they don't trust their opinion. OP has a pretty good reason not to trust their opinion, so why continue to go to that doctor? I don't understand.

The pediatrician does the M-CHAT screen but they are not experts in ASD. Their primary job is to make sure your child is physically healthy. Some take parental concerns more lightly than the others. When we had concerns we contacted early intervention and immediately got ourselves on a waitlist for a developmental pediatrician. Our regular pediatrician was telling us we could wait and see but we didn’t want to waste time.

DP. Except, OP's pediatrician didn't just take her concerns lightly, they were dismissive and judgmental. They actually told her she had anxiety, was overanalyzing and, in directly, being influenced by the norms of this area. They were dismissive of sensory issues, didn't understand them and didn't believe in OT! I also disagree that the pediatrician's primary job is physical health. It's health, period.

Why would you waste time with someone who is so dismissive, close minded and, frankly, not looking good compared to all the other pediatricians out there. We have choices in this area. Why not try and find someone who might actually be a good partner? I understand what it's like to have a kid who doesn't like a provider even if OP stayed with this pediatrician, there are going to be times her DC will have to be seen by someone else. May as well try and get him used to going somewhere else. I wouldn't waste any more time with someone who was so dismissive to me.

[Anonymous]

My GP doesn't engage on autism at all. We got an eval from a specialist and did speech therapy and a little OT and got a school IEP.