Loaded question: MERLD and autism

[Anonymous]

We have a diagnosis of MERLD for our child from a dev pediatrician. I am wondering if any of you, whose child has the same diagnosis, have faced what we are facing. Some preschool teachers and a psychologist have suggested that our child may have autism even though they know our child has a MERLD diagnosis. Anyone faced this? I know this topic is a sensitive one on this forum.

[Anonymous]

My child had a MERLD diagnosis at 3. At five the diagnosis is dyspraxia. No one has suggested autism. Hang in there, OP. The key here is you have to tell yourself that rushing to conclusions is impossible and trying to would only make things harder/worse. Take it a day at a time. Thinking good thoughts for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a diagnosis of MERLD for our child from a dev pediatrician. I am wondering if any of you, whose child has the same diagnosis, have faced what we are facing. Some preschool teachers and a psychologist have suggested that our child may have autism even though they know our child has a MERLD diagnosis. Anyone faced this? I know this topic is a sensitive one on this forum.

Yes, I've faced this with our MERLD child. People don't understand language disorders, and since the symptoms can appear similar and EVERYBODY seems to know about autism, that's the leap they make. Is it the school psychologist suggesting autism? They are total hacks.

[Anonymous]

MERLD can be an early catch-all when the symptoms don't quite add up to an autism or ADHD diagnosis. What people need to understand is that you don't observe young children and older children with the same battery of tests, and that therefore MERLD diagnoses are more frequent in younger children, and ASD/ADHD/etc diagnoses are more frequent in older children. MERLD is a symptomatic observation. It does NOT mean a 100% risk of Autism diagnosis down the road, but it certainly increases the likehood.

My son was diagnosed with MERLD as a preschooler, then was given a full neuropsych in late elementary and diagnosed with severe ADHD, inattentive type. We refused the additional tests for Asperger's, but we know he has always had Aspie tendencies, and that Aspie tendencies run in my husband's family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a diagnosis of MERLD for our child from a dev pediatrician. I am wondering if any of you, whose child has the same diagnosis, have faced what we are facing. Some preschool teachers and a psychologist have suggested that our child may have autism even though they know our child has a MERLD diagnosis. Anyone faced this? I know this topic is a sensitive one on this forum.

Yes, I've faced this with our MERLD child. People don't understand language disorders, and since the symptoms can appear similar and EVERYBODY seems to know about autism, that's the leap they make. Is it the school psychologist suggesting autism? They are total hacks.

My oldest started out with a MERLD diagnosis and later got an ADHD/anxiety diagnosis (he's now in HS). My youngest started out with MERLD/coordination diagnoses and later got an Apraxia/ADHD/anxiety/language & communication disorder diagnoses. No one ever suggested my oldest had ASD. Many school staff pushed for my youngest to be categorized with an ASD. I have to agree with the above poster that it was usually the school psychologist. It didn't end until DS was in 5th grade and after we had multiple IEEs. FWIW - DS was evaluated for the first time for ASD at age 2 in an NIH research study. He'd had multiple private evaluations over the next 8 years and each time the private evaluators (including by neuropsychologists) found he did not meet the criteria for ASD.

I get why people who had little knowledge might think he has ASD. He presents with a number of the same symptom. The big difference is that his are a result of language difficulties and inattention. In the beginning, the interventions were the same, as he got older, his needs were different. That's when we encountered the most difficulties with the school. He needed more intensive language support than they expected a kid with ASD to need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
MERLD can be an early catch-all when the symptoms don't quite add up to an autism or ADHD diagnosis. What people need to understand is that you don't observe young children and older children with the same battery of tests, and that therefore MERLD diagnoses are more frequent in younger children, and ASD/ADHD/etc diagnoses are more frequent in older children. MERLD is a symptomatic observation. It does NOT mean a 100% risk of Autism diagnosis down the road, but it certainly increases the likehood.

My son was diagnosed with MERLD as a preschooler, then was given a full neuropsych in late elementary and diagnosed with severe ADHD, inattentive type. We refused the additional tests for Asperger's, but we know he has always had Aspie tendencies, and that Aspie tendencies run in my husband's family.

if you refused diagnostic tests how can you speak definitively about it?

[Anonymous]

Just tell them your child has been tested for ASD and it has been ruled out. (Which is true, I assume?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just tell them your child has been tested for ASD and it has been ruled out. (Which is true, I assume?)

Yes, based on the dev pediatrician evil, it has been ruled out. Our 3 year IEP revaluation is coming up and the team has to decide what testing our child needs so that she gets the supports that she needs to go to K. So I am wondering what tests they are going to suggest for our child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just tell them your child has been tested for ASD and it has been ruled out. (Which is true, I assume?)

Yes, based on the dev pediatrician evil, it has been ruled out. Our 3 year IEP revaluation is coming up and the team has to decide what testing our child needs so that she gets the supports that she needs to go to K. So I am wondering what tests they are going to suggest for our child.

Meant to say evaluations and not evil.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just tell them your child has been tested for ASD and it has been ruled out. (Which is true, I assume?)

Yes, based on the dev pediatrician evil, it has been ruled out. Our 3 year IEP revaluation is coming up and the team has to decide what testing our child needs so that she gets the supports that she needs to go to K. So I am wondering what tests they are going to suggest for our child.

Did you do the Ados or cars? I would.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just tell them your child has been tested for ASD and it has been ruled out. (Which is true, I assume?)

Yes, based on the dev pediatrician evil, it has been ruled out. Our 3 year IEP revaluation is coming up and the team has to decide what testing our child needs so that she gets the supports that she needs to go to K. So I am wondering what tests they are going to suggest for our child.

It really depends on the actual school and staff. Some people on here have had a horrible time getting an IEP and we had no issue as well as getting speech therapy in school. We went in with a private evaluation from our SLP and the school did some other tests to document the need. It was a smooth process except we would have liked things done a bit differently and staff was not really interested in what we had to say. It wasn't worth fighting for our situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just tell them your child has been tested for ASD and it has been ruled out. (Which is true, I assume?)

Yes, based on the dev pediatrician evil, it has been ruled out. Our 3 year IEP revaluation is coming up and the team has to decide what testing our child needs so that she gets the supports that she needs to go to K. So I am wondering what tests they are going to suggest for our child.

Did you do the Ados or cars? I would.

If child has been ruled out for autism, why continue to test for autism if the parents and Developmental Ped. have no concerns?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just tell them your child has been tested for ASD and it has been ruled out. (Which is true, I assume?)

Yes, based on the dev pediatrician evil, it has been ruled out. Our 3 year IEP revaluation is coming up and the team has to decide what testing our child needs so that she gets the supports that she needs to go to K. So I am wondering what tests they are going to suggest for our child.

I don't see the harm in testing for ASDs. It seems prudent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a diagnosis of MERLD for our child from a dev pediatrician. I am wondering if any of you, whose child has the same diagnosis, have faced what we are facing. Some preschool teachers and a psychologist have suggested that our child may have autism even though they know our child has a MERLD diagnosis. Anyone faced this? I know this topic is a sensitive one on this forum.

Yes, I've faced this with our MERLD child. People don't understand language disorders, and since the symptoms can appear similar and EVERYBODY seems to know about autism, that's the leap they make. Is it the school psychologist suggesting autism? They are total hacks.

My oldest started out with a MERLD diagnosis and later got an ADHD/anxiety diagnosis (he's now in HS). My youngest started out with MERLD/coordination diagnoses and later got an Apraxia/ADHD/anxiety/language & communication disorder diagnoses. No one ever suggested my oldest had ASD. Many school staff pushed for my youngest to be categorized with an ASD. I have to agree with the above poster that it was usually the school psychologist. It didn't end until DS was in 5th grade and after we had multiple IEEs. FWIW - DS was evaluated for the first time for ASD at age 2 in an NIH research study. He'd had multiple private evaluations over the next 8 years and each time the private evaluators (including by neuropsychologists) found he did not meet the criteria for ASD.

I get why people who had little knowledge might think he has ASD. He presents with a number of the same symptom. The big difference is that his are a result of language difficulties and inattention. In the beginning, the interventions were the same, as he got older, his needs were different. That's when we encountered the most difficulties with the school. He needed more intensive language support than they expected a kid with ASD to need.

The NIH studies are supposed to be very good. This poster has posted this before and I looked for some but I couldn't find any at the time for our child but we don't have dual diagnosis either. However, don't feel pressured to think your child has more than MERLD going on if the evaluators and you don't feel your child has more than language.

[Anonymous]

MERLD is only relevant for the preschool age at this point mainly b/c speech delays b/f school age often resolve: http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/Preschool-Language-Disorders/

Past preschool age, children will be given a differential diagnosis according to the latest DSM V in which MERLD does not exist. This could include a language disorder, communication disorder (autism is one, but there are others), and/or ADHD.