Cooking the books: Now 1 in 45 said to have autism in the U.S.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here we go again...

My child has Asperger's and ADHD and I am glad that he has a diagnosis and gets help and supports including an IEP for social communication issues. He does not need supports for academics. The "label" has only been a win-win for us.

He gets all his services, speech/social skills and OT, at school where he needs it for free so no insurance issues.

This does not disprove that "money follows diagnosis." He is getting the extra free services because you got a diagnosis. The questions is, if there were no free services or treatments, would you and your doctor have gotten him a diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is mis-diagnosed. Kids should be able to get services if they need them without the diagnosis, but they don't. The diagnosis is very subjective.

Your child can always get a developmental delay label for an IEP when young. My DS who already had an Asperger's diagnosis got his IEP under "developmental delays" until he was in K.

Ok, but we don't have an IEP, so that doesn't work for us. We are doing all services privately.

But the point is that young children usually get an IEP under "developmental delay" not "autism" so a diagnosis of autism is not necessary to get free services.

But, you are missing the point. Not everyone gets "free" services or wants them through the school system. Our insurance will pay for a variety of diagnosis but we are stuck with a developmental ped who says it is autism (now autism by history as there are no signs). We cannot get rid of the label. Other regular docs have tried as they disagree with how he is using the diagnosis.

Why don't you change doctors? We did. I fired our dev ped over something a lot less than a wrong diagnosis. It's easy.

No its not easy. We are in managed care and we can get an outside 2nd opinion but we are stuck with this developmental ped. How the system works is he is the only one who can get us services. The regular ped. tried to get us services and its always denied. We have several 2nd opinions and all disagree but ultimately he has chosen autism, refuses to remove it and we are stuck. Its a nightmare as when we go to new doctors, they all initially treat my child like he is not verbal/cannot understand anything till they realize something is not right, then I get the comments of what is going on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here we go again...

My child has Asperger's and ADHD and I am glad that he has a diagnosis and gets help and supports including an IEP for social communication issues. He does not need supports for academics. The "label" has only been a win-win for us.

He gets all his services, speech/social skills and OT, at school where he needs it for free so no insurance issues.

This does not disprove that "money follows diagnosis." He is getting the extra free services because you got a diagnosis. The questions is, if there were no free services or treatments, would you and your doctor have gotten him a diagnosis.

They aren't free services, and yes, our insurance technically pays for speech and OT under other diagnosis. I did not get him the diagnosis. I have actively fought with this guy that he is incorrect and he either needs to do a lot more testing or look at the other eval's. He insists he is correct so we are stuck.

[Anonymous]

The problem I see is that the services are not keeping pace with the number of children who have needs. Schools offer minimal services. Insurance has caps ( for my plan). Private schools are prohibitively expensive and hard to get into.

I wish it were as simple as diagnosis= free services. But that's just not the case. I didn't pursue a diagnosis for free services but to get the help we need for my child to be a productive and happy member of our society.

The "free" school services suck. The Autism Waiver through our state gov has a seven year wait list or longer. If there is something else that is free, please let me know so I can go get it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is mis-diagnosed. Kids should be able to get services if they need them without the diagnosis, but they don't. The diagnosis is very subjective.

Your child can always get a developmental delay label for an IEP when young. My DS who already had an Asperger's diagnosis got his IEP under "developmental delays" until he was in K.

Ok, but we don't have an IEP, so that doesn't work for us. We are doing all services privately.

But the point is that young children usually get an IEP under "developmental delay" not "autism" so a diagnosis of autism is not necessary to get free services.

But, you are missing the point. Not everyone gets "free" services or wants them through the school system. Our insurance will pay for a variety of diagnosis but we are stuck with a developmental ped who says it is autism (now autism by history as there are no signs). We cannot get rid of the label. Other regular docs have tried as they disagree with how he is using the diagnosis.

OP, did you ever think that your obsession with the label and the over/misdiagnosis of autism is a sign of perseveration? Maybe your kid isn't autistic, but you certainly show signs of it in your repeated postings. I think you need more help than your kid. Please get some.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here we go again...

My child has Asperger's and ADHD and I am glad that he has a diagnosis and gets help and supports including an IEP for social communication issues. He does not need supports for academics. The "label" has only been a win-win for us.

He gets all his services, speech/social skills and OT, at school where he needs it for free so no insurance issues.

This does not disprove that "money follows diagnosis." He is getting the extra free services because you got a diagnosis. The questions is, if there were no free services or treatments, would you and your doctor have gotten him a diagnosis.

His school is the one who first indicated there maybe a problem. The school evaluated first and gave the IEP. We followed up with private evaluations. Happy with school services so we don't do private.

[Anonymous]

As the parent of a SN kid who's on the ASD spectrum, I can't help but notice that these threads seem to started by a poster with an anti-funding chip on his shoulder.

Get over yourself!

My ASD kid will pay taxes for your Medicare so just wait. Your medical bills will take far more out of the system than my kid's therapies will.

Don't be anti-child or anti-special education. We're all in this together. Providing SN therapies and classes works to ensure that as many people join the workforce as possible. That benefits you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is mis-diagnosed. Kids should be able to get services if they need them without the diagnosis, but they don't. The diagnosis is very subjective.

Your child can always get a developmental delay label for an IEP when young. My DS who already had an Asperger's diagnosis got his IEP under "developmental delays" until he was in K.

Ok, but we don't have an IEP, so that doesn't work for us. We are doing all services privately.

But the point is that young children usually get an IEP under "developmental delay" not "autism" so a diagnosis of autism is not necessary to get free services.

But, you are missing the point. Not everyone gets "free" services or wants them through the school system. Our insurance will pay for a variety of diagnosis but we are stuck with a developmental ped who says it is autism (now autism by history as there are no signs). We cannot get rid of the label. Other regular docs have tried as they disagree with how he is using the diagnosis.

OP, did you ever think that your obsession with the label and the over/misdiagnosis of autism is a sign of perseveration? Maybe your kid isn't autistic, but you certainly show signs of it in your repeated postings. I think you need more help than your kid. Please get some.

So she and her child have been done a grave injustice, and is angry about it, and you try to claim it's a "sign of perseveration?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is mis-diagnosed. Kids should be able to get services if they need them without the diagnosis, but they don't. The diagnosis is very subjective.

Your child can always get a developmental delay label for an IEP when young. My DS who already had an Asperger's diagnosis got his IEP under "developmental delays" until he was in K.

Ok, but we don't have an IEP, so that doesn't work for us. We are doing all services privately.

But the point is that young children usually get an IEP under "developmental delay" not "autism" so a diagnosis of autism is not necessary to get free services.

But, you are missing the point. Not everyone gets "free" services or wants them through the school system. Our insurance will pay for a variety of diagnosis but we are stuck with a developmental ped who says it is autism (now autism by history as there are no signs). We cannot get rid of the label. Other regular docs have tried as they disagree with how he is using the diagnosis.

OP, did you ever think that your obsession with the label and the over/misdiagnosis of autism is a sign of perseveration? Maybe your kid isn't autistic, but you certainly show signs of it in your repeated postings. I think you need more help than your kid. Please get some.

So she and her child have been done a grave injustice, and is angry about it, and you try to claim it's a "sign of perseveration?"

Thank you. Its a very real issue when your child is underestimated and considered lesser in terms of getting an education when your child can handle strong academics and much more. Its not about being angry. I am far from angry but I want my child accurately diagnoses and treated. How would you feel if your child was inaccurately diagnosed, you spend months or years in unnecessary services taking away from their childhood, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is mis-diagnosed. Kids should be able to get services if they need them without the diagnosis, but they don't. The diagnosis is very subjective.

Your child can always get a developmental delay label for an IEP when young. My DS who already had an Asperger's diagnosis got his IEP under "developmental delays" until he was in K.

Ok, but we don't have an IEP, so that doesn't work for us. We are doing all services privately.

But the point is that young children usually get an IEP under "developmental delay" not "autism" so a diagnosis of autism is not necessary to get free services.

But, you are missing the point. Not everyone gets "free" services or wants them through the school system. Our insurance will pay for a variety of diagnosis but we are stuck with a developmental ped who says it is autism (now autism by history as there are no signs). We cannot get rid of the label. Other regular docs have tried as they disagree with how he is using the diagnosis.

OP, did you ever think that your obsession with the label and the over/misdiagnosis of autism is a sign of perseveration? Maybe your kid isn't autistic, but you certainly show signs of it in your repeated postings. I think you need more help than your kid. Please get some.

So she and her child have been done a grave injustice, and is angry about it, and you try to claim it's a "sign of perseveration?"

Thank you. Its a very real issue when your child is underestimated and considered lesser in terms of getting an education when your child can handle strong academics and much more. Its not about being angry. I am far from angry but I want my child accurately diagnoses and treated. How would you feel if your child was inaccurately diagnosed, you spend months or years in unnecessary services taking away from their childhood, etc.

It sounds more like a medical insurance issue than anything else.

Too bad you cannot change doctors or refuse services. This isn't the norm with most people.

And my child with ASD has never been underestimated or considered lesser because of his ASD/ADHD diagnosis. In fact, he is an excellent student and his teachers (and we) expect a lot from him.

Anyway, your case doesn't seem to have much to do with the results of the new survey mentioned since your child does not have ASD nor do you want the free services that comes with the label.

[Anonymous]

So the CDC is basing its numbers at least in part on educational diagnoses of autism by schools, despite the fact that those are not actually medical diagnoses? That explains a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is mis-diagnosed. Kids should be able to get services if they need them without the diagnosis, but they don't. The diagnosis is very subjective.

Your child can always get a developmental delay label for an IEP when young. My DS who already had an Asperger's diagnosis got his IEP under "developmental delays" until he was in K.

Ok, but we don't have an IEP, so that doesn't work for us. We are doing all services privately.

But the point is that young children usually get an IEP under "developmental delay" not "autism" so a diagnosis of autism is not necessary to get free services.

But, you are missing the point. Not everyone gets "free" services or wants them through the school system. Our insurance will pay for a variety of diagnosis but we are stuck with a developmental ped who says it is autism (now autism by history as there are no signs). We cannot get rid of the label. Other regular docs have tried as they disagree with how he is using the diagnosis.

OP, did you ever think that your obsession with the label and the over/misdiagnosis of autism is a sign of perseveration? Maybe your kid isn't autistic, but you certainly show signs of it in your repeated postings. I think you need more help than your kid. Please get some.

This person isn't the OP. I am. I'm not autistic, and it's preposterous to suggest so. But your lack of knowledge shows how much ASD is misdiagnosed and overdiagnosed, so THANK YOU for proving my point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is mis-diagnosed. Kids should be able to get services if they need them without the diagnosis, but they don't. The diagnosis is very subjective.

Your child can always get a developmental delay label for an IEP when young. My DS who already had an Asperger's diagnosis got his IEP under "developmental delays" until he was in K.

Ok, but we don't have an IEP, so that doesn't work for us. We are doing all services privately.

But the point is that young children usually get an IEP under "developmental delay" not "autism" so a diagnosis of autism is not necessary to get free services.

But, you are missing the point. Not everyone gets "free" services or wants them through the school system. Our insurance will pay for a variety of diagnosis but we are stuck with a developmental ped who says it is autism (now autism by history as there are no signs). We cannot get rid of the label. Other regular docs have tried as they disagree with how he is using the diagnosis.

OP, did you ever think that your obsession with the label and the over/misdiagnosis of autism is a sign of perseveration? Maybe your kid isn't autistic, but you certainly show signs of it in your repeated postings. I think you need more help than your kid. Please get some.

So she and her child have been done a grave injustice, and is angry about it, and you try to claim it's a "sign of perseveration?"

LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So the CDC is basing its numbers at least in part on educational diagnoses of autism by schools, despite the fact that those are not actually medical diagnoses? That explains a lot.

Yes, this is a main driver in the skyrocketing ASD rates in my experience, both personal and with many friends whose children have a range of developmental delays. They shove everyone into the ASD categories in schools now. The numbers bear this out: as ASD rates rise, other rates fall. And the percentage of children in special education remains about the same.

[Anonymous]

Why assume that the shift in labeling from other things to ASD is comprehensively incorrect, or bad? The history of this field is the slow realization that Kanner was wrong, and autism is not at all rare. Kids who in past generations would have been labeled as intellectually disabled, or with childhood schizophrenia, are now diagnosed as autistic. That's not a bad thing, inherently. Nor is it terrible that we now understand that some kids who would have been considered just really weird in my youth actually have mild autism. This is an advance in our understanding, not a collapse of previously coherent and correct categories.