Why is everything now just ASD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those diagnoses were removed because they were not shown to be scientifically valid.

OP here. I sort of raised the question partly because I wonder what it's like for older teens or adults who have had the label Aspberger's for most of their life only to suddenly be told "yeah that's not a thing." Or if you're a parent of a child who received one of these labels, got your mind around it, steered your ship that direction, and suddenly it just doesn't exist! It just must be a bit unsettling, I would think. "I was this, now I'm not."

OP, diagnosis can be a moving target. Sometimes kids with speech delays, just have a developmental delay that resolves in time. Others have language based learning issues.

The key thing is what therapy does a kid need. Not every kid on the spectrum needs social skill support for example. Some kids with ADHD really need social skills support. It just depends on what are the areas that need strengthening. "Labels" don't mean much at the end of the day (except for those parents who are hung up on them).

Hmm that's a good way of looking at it. It does seem like some people on these boards are TERRIFIED of labels (at least certain ones) so perhaps I had the impression they were more important than they actually are. We are working on getting a full diagnosis of my daughter's SNs, right now it's developmental coordination disorder with perhaps some pragmatic language stuff as well, but it's a process getting it all to come together and we aren't sure what it will ultimately add up to so it's been on my mind lately.

We have these diagnoses too plus ADHD. Yes, technically not autism, however, my kid needs similar supports to kids who were clear cut autism diagnoses. Most people assume that he's autistic. I don't really care. I just get my kid the help he needs.

Op here. It's sort of opposite for us in that apparently ASD shows up completely differently in girls than boys. Only one specialist, the SLP, has ever mentioned it as a possibility, but suggested we do the full neuropsych panel since it could be (my DD is 7). I too would not mind the label if it unlocked the doors to insurance coverage but I also am not convinced it's ASD simply because those are the ONLY two areas in which she comes close to matching the description. I think previously she would have been PDD-NOS but as that doesn't exist anymore... You can see why I was a bit confused! She only just turned 7 a few days ago so a neuropsych will be in our future. It's just hard to see the ins and outs of how people get their labels especially when the DSM is ever evolving.

[Anonymous]

I know it's exhausting. Over the years, I didn't think it was autism, but I kept expecting that diagnosis. We knew about speech and motor issues early on. Did therapy (and continue). The ADHD was the next diagnosis and didn't come as a surprise. Have added in more social support and (now meds b/c school was becoming impossible).

I've met so many kids both girls and boys with autism and not on the spectrum the years at therapy, at school, at social skill groups. Truly the kids are individuals. I do see commonalities with my kid--like anxiety, sometimes quick to over-react, sometimes rigid, the difficulty with executive functions or in socializing.

I just wanted to mention that DCD can make a kid seem a little out of sync with peers b/c it affects processing and reaction speeds. If you do get a neuropsychological evaluation, make sure the person has experience with this b/c it can affect testing. GL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know it's exhausting. Over the years, I didn't think it was autism, but I kept expecting that diagnosis. We knew about speech and motor issues early on. Did therapy (and continue). The ADHD was the next diagnosis and didn't come as a surprise. Have added in more social support and (now meds b/c school was becoming impossible).

I've met so many kids both girls and boys with autism and not on the spectrum the years at therapy, at school, at social skill groups. Truly the kids are individuals. I do see commonalities with my kid--like anxiety, sometimes quick to over-react, sometimes rigid, the difficulty with executive functions or in socializing.

I just wanted to mention that DCD can make a kid seem a little out of sync with peers b/c it affects processing and reaction speeds. If you do get a neuropsychological evaluation, make sure the person has experience with this b/c it can affect testing. GL[/quote]

Yes, I'm really wondering if it's more of this going on than ASD. The SLP who suggested it could be ASD to us is the only one to do so, and only evaluated her in the context of her pragmatic language. In that isolated environment, I can see how maybe she would think that, but so much of how my DD functions day to day in her normal world and interacts with peers makes it hard for me to think it's ASD and not just "aftershocks" of the DCD. I think DCD is affecting her pragmatic language which is making things like reading sarcasm and noticing subtlety hard for her... not necessarily that she's ASD and not capable of registering those. The SLP who suggested the neuropsych specifically suggested I get it done at one place because they have expertise in girls with ASD and how it presents... which could be good, but I'm also sort of concerned if that's what they go in thinking, they may miss the DCD component and how it could be affecting things.

Then again, although I know my kid, I don't know brains and neuropyschology, so who am I to say

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it's exhausting. Over the years, I didn't think it was autism, but I kept expecting that diagnosis. We knew about speech and motor issues early on. Did therapy (and continue). The ADHD was the next diagnosis and didn't come as a surprise. Have added in more social support and (now meds b/c school was becoming impossible).

I've met so many kids both girls and boys with autism and not on the spectrum the years at therapy, at school, at social skill groups. Truly the kids are individuals. I do see commonalities with my kid--like anxiety, sometimes quick to over-react, sometimes rigid, the difficulty with executive functions or in socializing.

I just wanted to mention that DCD can make a kid seem a little out of sync with peers b/c it affects processing and reaction speeds. If you do get a neuropsychological evaluation, make sure the person has experience with this b/c it can affect testing. GL[/quote]

Yes, I'm really wondering if it's more of this going on than ASD. The SLP who suggested it could be ASD to us is the only one to do so, and only evaluated her in the context of her pragmatic language. In that isolated environment, I can see how maybe she would think that, but so much of how my DD functions day to day in her normal world and interacts with peers makes it hard for me to think it's ASD and not just "aftershocks" of the DCD. I think DCD is affecting her pragmatic language which is making things like reading sarcasm and noticing subtlety hard for her... not necessarily that she's ASD and not capable of registering those. The SLP who suggested the neuropsych specifically suggested I get it done at one place because they have expertise in girls with ASD and how it presents... which could be good, but I'm also sort of concerned if that's what they go in thinking, they may miss the DCD component and how it could be affecting things.

Then again, although I know my kid, I don't know brains and neuropyschology, so who am I to say

I of course have no idea what's going on with your particular kid, but just so you know, with proper intervention/teaching, kids with ASD are also capable of registering things like sarcasm and noticing subtlety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it's exhausting. Over the years, I didn't think it was autism, but I kept expecting that diagnosis. We knew about speech and motor issues early on. Did therapy (and continue). The ADHD was the next diagnosis and didn't come as a surprise. Have added in more social support and (now meds b/c school was becoming impossible).

I've met so many kids both girls and boys with autism and not on the spectrum the years at therapy, at school, at social skill groups. Truly the kids are individuals. I do see commonalities with my kid--like anxiety, sometimes quick to over-react, sometimes rigid, the difficulty with executive functions or in socializing.

I just wanted to mention that DCD can make a kid seem a little out of sync with peers b/c it affects processing and reaction speeds. If you do get a neuropsychological evaluation, make sure the person has experience with this b/c it can affect testing. GL[/quote]

Yes, I'm really wondering if it's more of this going on than ASD. The SLP who suggested it could be ASD to us is the only one to do so, and only evaluated her in the context of her pragmatic language. In that isolated environment, I can see how maybe she would think that, but so much of how my DD functions day to day in her normal world and interacts with peers makes it hard for me to think it's ASD and not just "aftershocks" of the DCD. I think DCD is affecting her pragmatic language which is making things like reading sarcasm and noticing subtlety hard for her... not necessarily that she's ASD and not capable of registering those. The SLP who suggested the neuropsych specifically suggested I get it done at one place because they have expertise in girls with ASD and how it presents... which could be good, but I'm also sort of concerned if that's what they go in thinking, they may miss the DCD component and how it could be affecting things.

Then again, although I know my kid, I don't know brains and neuropyschology, so who am I to say

I of course have no idea what's going on with your particular kid, but just so you know, with proper intervention/teaching, kids with ASD are also capable of registering things like sarcasm and noticing subtlety.

That's great! I'm not trying to be offensive in my ignorance, I promise. It's just that while we've known she has SNs for years, this is the first time ASD was ever mentioned as a possibility, so until now I haven't really looked much into it. Now that it's on my radar I will be paying better attention but I fully admit there's a lot I still don't know (hence me starting a thread wondering why various diagnoses were switched just to ASD- I simply didn't get the distinctions or the reasoning).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it's exhausting. Over the years, I didn't think it was autism, but I kept expecting that diagnosis. We knew about speech and motor issues early on. Did therapy (and continue). The ADHD was the next diagnosis and didn't come as a surprise. Have added in more social support and (now meds b/c school was becoming impossible).

I've met so many kids both girls and boys with autism and not on the spectrum the years at therapy, at school, at social skill groups. Truly the kids are individuals. I do see commonalities with my kid--like anxiety, sometimes quick to over-react, sometimes rigid, the difficulty with executive functions or in socializing.

I just wanted to mention that DCD can make a kid seem a little out of sync with peers b/c it affects processing and reaction speeds. If you do get a neuropsychological evaluation, make sure the person has experience with this b/c it can affect testing. GL[/quote]

Yes, I'm really wondering if it's more of this going on than ASD. The SLP who suggested it could be ASD to us is the only one to do so, and only evaluated her in the context of her pragmatic language. In that isolated environment, I can see how maybe she would think that, but so much of how my DD functions day to day in her normal world and interacts with peers makes it hard for me to think it's ASD and not just "aftershocks" of the DCD. I think DCD is affecting her pragmatic language which is making things like reading sarcasm and noticing subtlety hard for her... not necessarily that she's ASD and not capable of registering those. The SLP who suggested the neuropsych specifically suggested I get it done at one place because they have expertise in girls with ASD and how it presents... which could be good, but I'm also sort of concerned if that's what they go in thinking, they may miss the DCD component and how it could be affecting things.

Then again, although I know my kid, I don't know brains and neuropyschology, so who am I to say

I of course have no idea what's going on with your particular kid, but just so you know, with proper intervention/teaching, kids with ASD are also capable of registering things like sarcasm and noticing subtlety.

That's great! I'm not trying to be offensive in my ignorance, I promise. It's just that while we've known she has SNs for years, this is the first time ASD was ever mentioned as a possibility, so until now I haven't really looked much into it. Now that it's on my radar I will be paying better attention but I fully admit there's a lot I still don't know (hence me starting a thread wondering why various diagnoses were switched just to ASD- I simply didn't get the distinctions or the reasoning).

You might want to post a new thread about girls with ASD, so that it doesn't get derailed by discussions of MERLD.

[Anonymous]

Money is fueling the rise in diagnosis, plain and simple. If a doctor codes it as autism, insurance pays. In some states, it's like a golden ticket to services. If they don't, all those therapists out there don't make money. And parents curtail getting speech therapy, OT, and certainly ABA because the costs become overwhelming. So parents take a diagnosis they don't agree with because it gets their child some therapy.

But there's a very dark side to accepting an inaccurate diagnosis just to get services. Would you, for example, accept a cognitive impairment diagnosis for a child who is not cognitively impaired? Because hey, they'll pay for services then!


You want a differential diagnosis, OP. That puts EVERY diagnosis on the table, as opposed to using a checklist to just confirm their preconceived notions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it's exhausting. Over the years, I didn't think it was autism, but I kept expecting that diagnosis. We knew about speech and motor issues early on. Did therapy (and continue). The ADHD was the next diagnosis and didn't come as a surprise. Have added in more social support and (now meds b/c school was becoming impossible).

I've met so many kids both girls and boys with autism and not on the spectrum the years at therapy, at school, at social skill groups. Truly the kids are individuals. I do see commonalities with my kid--like anxiety, sometimes quick to over-react, sometimes rigid, the difficulty with executive functions or in socializing.

I just wanted to mention that DCD can make a kid seem a little out of sync with peers b/c it affects processing and reaction speeds. If you do get a neuropsychological evaluation, make sure the person has experience with this b/c it can affect testing. GL[/quote]

Yes, I'm really wondering if it's more of this going on than ASD. The SLP who suggested it could be ASD to us is the only one to do so, and only evaluated her in the context of her pragmatic language. In that isolated environment, I can see how maybe she would think that, but so much of how my DD functions day to day in her normal world and interacts with peers makes it hard for me to think it's ASD and not just "aftershocks" of the DCD. I think DCD is affecting her pragmatic language which is making things like reading sarcasm and noticing subtlety hard for her... not necessarily that she's ASD and not capable of registering those. The SLP who suggested the neuropsych specifically suggested I get it done at one place because they have expertise in girls with ASD and how it presents... which could be good, but I'm also sort of concerned if that's what they go in thinking, they may miss the DCD component and how it could be affecting things.

Then again, although I know my kid, I don't know brains and neuropyschology, so who am I to say

I of course have no idea what's going on with your particular kid, but just so you know, with proper intervention/teaching, kids with ASD are also capable of registering things like sarcasm and noticing subtlety.

That's great! I'm not trying to be offensive in my ignorance, I promise. It's just that while we've known she has SNs for years, this is the first time ASD was ever mentioned as a possibility, so until now I haven't really looked much into it. Now that it's on my radar I will be paying better attention but I fully admit there's a lot I still don't know (hence me starting a thread wondering why various diagnoses were switched just to ASD- I simply didn't get the distinctions or the reasoning).

You might want to post a new thread about girls with ASD, so that it doesn't get derailed by discussions of MERLD.

No, that's okay, I kind of think MERLD mom might show up over there too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Money is fueling the rise in diagnosis, plain and simple. If a doctor codes it as autism, insurance pays. In some states, it's like a golden ticket to services. If they don't, all those therapists out there don't make money. And parents curtail getting speech therapy, OT, and certainly ABA because the costs become overwhelming. So parents take a diagnosis they don't agree with because it gets their child some therapy.

But there's a very dark side to accepting an inaccurate diagnosis just to get services. Would you, for example, accept a cognitive impairment diagnosis for a child who is not cognitively impaired? Because hey, they'll pay for services then!


You want a differential diagnosis, OP. That puts EVERY diagnosis on the table, as opposed to using a checklist to just confirm their preconceived notions.

OP here. I do agree that I don't care what the label is AS LONG as it's accurate. Whatever it is will clearly be something she will have to deal with her whole life, so whether it's X, Y or Z doesn't particularly matter to me as long as we know what it is and how to help her with that. But how can you really know? I'm not a doctor, let alone a neuropsychologist who studies ASD. So if my gut tells me my child doesn't have ASD, but they say she does, how do I know if one of us is mistaken? Don't you kind of just have to take their diagnosis at face value and work with that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Money is fueling the rise in diagnosis, plain and simple. If a doctor codes it as autism, insurance pays. In some states, it's like a golden ticket to services. If they don't, all those therapists out there don't make money. And parents curtail getting speech therapy, OT, and certainly ABA because the costs become overwhelming. So parents take a diagnosis they don't agree with because it gets their child some therapy.

But there's a very dark side to accepting an inaccurate diagnosis just to get services. Would you, for example, accept a cognitive impairment diagnosis for a child who is not cognitively impaired? Because hey, they'll pay for services then!


You want a differential diagnosis, OP. That puts EVERY diagnosis on the table, as opposed to using a checklist to just confirm their preconceived notions.

OP here. I do agree that I don't care what the label is AS LONG as it's accurate. Whatever it is will clearly be something she will have to deal with her whole life, so whether it's X, Y or Z doesn't particularly matter to me as long as we know what it is and how to help her with that. But how can you really know? I'm not a doctor, let alone a neuropsychologist who studies ASD. So if my gut tells me my child doesn't have ASD, but they say she does, how do I know if one of us is mistaken? Don't you kind of just have to take their diagnosis at face value and work with that?

A diagnosis can definitely change through childhood as symptoms change and become more/less apparent.

So you focus on the problematic symptoms. Is social skills/pragmatic language her biggest area of challenge? Get her in a social thinking group. Flexibility? Work with a behaviorist who can teach you how to support growing her flexibility. If technique/intervention A doesn't work, try a different one.

That's all any of us can do. A diagnosis might inform which interventions you might try first, but really you won't know if it works for your particular child until you try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it's exhausting. Over the years, I didn't think it was autism, but I kept expecting that diagnosis. We knew about speech and motor issues early on. Did therapy (and continue). The ADHD was the next diagnosis and didn't come as a surprise. Have added in more social support and (now meds b/c school was becoming impossible).

I've met so many kids both girls and boys with autism and not on the spectrum the years at therapy, at school, at social skill groups. Truly the kids are individuals. I do see commonalities with my kid--like anxiety, sometimes quick to over-react, sometimes rigid, the difficulty with executive functions or in socializing.

I just wanted to mention that DCD can make a kid seem a little out of sync with peers b/c it affects processing and reaction speeds. If you do get a neuropsychological evaluation, make sure the person has experience with this b/c it can affect testing. GL[/quote]

Yes, I'm really wondering if it's more of this going on than ASD. The SLP who suggested it could be ASD to us is the only one to do so, and only evaluated her in the context of her pragmatic language. In that isolated environment, I can see how maybe she would think that, but so much of how my DD functions day to day in her normal world and interacts with peers makes it hard for me to think it's ASD and not just "aftershocks" of the DCD. I think DCD is affecting her pragmatic language which is making things like reading sarcasm and noticing subtlety hard for her... not necessarily that she's ASD and not capable of registering those. The SLP who suggested the neuropsych specifically suggested I get it done at one place because they have expertise in girls with ASD and how it presents... which could be good, but I'm also sort of concerned if that's what they go in thinking, they may miss the DCD component and how it could be affecting things.

Then again, although I know my kid, I don't know brains and neuropyschology, so who am I to say

I of course have no idea what's going on with your particular kid, but just so you know, with proper intervention/teaching, kids with ASD are also capable of registering things like sarcasm and noticing subtlety.

That's great! I'm not trying to be offensive in my ignorance, I promise. It's just that while we've known she has SNs for years, this is the first time ASD was ever mentioned as a possibility, so until now I haven't really looked much into it. Now that it's on my radar I will be paying better attention but I fully admit there's a lot I still don't know (hence me starting a thread wondering why various diagnoses were switched just to ASD- I simply didn't get the distinctions or the reasoning).

You might want to post a new thread about girls with ASD, so that it doesn't get derailed by discussions of MERLD.

The ASD parents will still find a way to derail it to slam MERLD parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Money is fueling the rise in diagnosis, plain and simple. If a doctor codes it as autism, insurance pays. In some states, it's like a golden ticket to services. If they don't, all those therapists out there don't make money. And parents curtail getting speech therapy, OT, and certainly ABA because the costs become overwhelming. So parents take a diagnosis they don't agree with because it gets their child some therapy.

But there's a very dark side to accepting an inaccurate diagnosis just to get services. Would you, for example, accept a cognitive impairment diagnosis for a child who is not cognitively impaired? Because hey, they'll pay for services then!


You want a differential diagnosis, OP. That puts EVERY diagnosis on the table, as opposed to using a checklist to just confirm their preconceived notions.

OP here. I do agree that I don't care what the label is AS LONG as it's accurate. Whatever it is will clearly be something she will have to deal with her whole life, so whether it's X, Y or Z doesn't particularly matter to me as long as we know what it is and how to help her with that. But how can you really know? I'm not a doctor, let alone a neuropsychologist who studies ASD. So if my gut tells me my child doesn't have ASD, but they say she does, how do I know if one of us is mistaken? Don't you kind of just have to take their diagnosis at face value and work with that?

My kid's diagnosis was clear as mud. At different times the label MERLD was applied and semantic-pragmatic language disorder and Autism Spectrum disorder.

We identified his deficits and treated the deficits. If one treatment didn't work, we moved on to the next thing. If a new problem area showed up, we addressed the problem. There really isn't a boiler plate treatment for any kid.

He's now 14 and doing well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it's exhausting. Over the years, I didn't think it was autism, but I kept expecting that diagnosis. We knew about speech and motor issues early on. Did therapy (and continue). The ADHD was the next diagnosis and didn't come as a surprise. Have added in more social support and (now meds b/c school was becoming impossible).

I've met so many kids both girls and boys with autism and not on the spectrum the years at therapy, at school, at social skill groups. Truly the kids are individuals. I do see commonalities with my kid--like anxiety, sometimes quick to over-react, sometimes rigid, the difficulty with executive functions or in socializing.

I just wanted to mention that DCD can make a kid seem a little out of sync with peers b/c it affects processing and reaction speeds. If you do get a neuropsychological evaluation, make sure the person has experience with this b/c it can affect testing. GL[/quote]

Yes, I'm really wondering if it's more of this going on than ASD. The SLP who suggested it could be ASD to us is the only one to do so, and only evaluated her in the context of her pragmatic language. In that isolated environment, I can see how maybe she would think that, but so much of how my DD functions day to day in her normal world and interacts with peers makes it hard for me to think it's ASD and not just "aftershocks" of the DCD. I think DCD is affecting her pragmatic language which is making things like reading sarcasm and noticing subtlety hard for her... not necessarily that she's ASD and not capable of registering those. The SLP who suggested the neuropsych specifically suggested I get it done at one place because they have expertise in girls with ASD and how it presents... which could be good, but I'm also sort of concerned if that's what they go in thinking, they may miss the DCD component and how it could be affecting things.

Then again, although I know my kid, I don't know brains and neuropyschology, so who am I to say

I of course have no idea what's going on with your particular kid, but just so you know, with proper intervention/teaching, kids with ASD are also capable of registering things like sarcasm and noticing subtlety.

That's great! I'm not trying to be offensive in my ignorance, I promise. It's just that while we've known she has SNs for years, this is the first time ASD was ever mentioned as a possibility, so until now I haven't really looked much into it. Now that it's on my radar I will be paying better attention but I fully admit there's a lot I still don't know (hence me starting a thread wondering why various diagnoses were switched just to ASD- I simply didn't get the distinctions or the reasoning).

You might want to post a new thread about girls with ASD, so that it doesn't get derailed by discussions of MERLD.

The ASD parents will still find a way to derail it to slam MERLD parents.

Sweetie, nobody was talking about MERLD on this thread until you started posting. ASD parents were talking about ASD. If you don't pick a fight, there won't be a fight. I know it's hard not to troll, but TRY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Money is fueling the rise in diagnosis, plain and simple. If a doctor codes it as autism, insurance pays. In some states, it's like a golden ticket to services. If they don't, all those therapists out there don't make money. And parents curtail getting speech therapy, OT, and certainly ABA because the costs become overwhelming. So parents take a diagnosis they don't agree with because it gets their child some therapy.

But there's a very dark side to accepting an inaccurate diagnosis just to get services. Would you, for example, accept a cognitive impairment diagnosis for a child who is not cognitively impaired? Because hey, they'll pay for services then!


You want a differential diagnosis, OP. That puts EVERY diagnosis on the table, as opposed to using a checklist to just confirm their preconceived notions.

OP here. I do agree that I don't care what the label is AS LONG as it's accurate. Whatever it is will clearly be something she will have to deal with her whole life, so whether it's X, Y or Z doesn't particularly matter to me as long as we know what it is and how to help her with that. But how can you really know? I'm not a doctor, let alone a neuropsychologist who studies ASD. So if my gut tells me my child doesn't have ASD, but they say she does, how do I know if one of us is mistaken? Don't you kind of just have to take their diagnosis at face value and work with that?

Diagnosis are subjective depending on who does the evaluation and how the interpret the diagnostic criteria. You can get 10 evaluation and get 10 different opinions and diagnosis. You are not going to know fully till later on and things tease out. If you do have an ASD diagnosis, depending on your insurance, you can get far more services, including ABA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Money is fueling the rise in diagnosis, plain and simple. If a doctor codes it as autism, insurance pays. In some states, it's like a golden ticket to services. If they don't, all those therapists out there don't make money. And parents curtail getting speech therapy, OT, and certainly ABA because the costs become overwhelming. So parents take a diagnosis they don't agree with because it gets their child some therapy.

But there's a very dark side to accepting an inaccurate diagnosis just to get services. Would you, for example, accept a cognitive impairment diagnosis for a child who is not cognitively impaired? Because hey, they'll pay for services then!


You want a differential diagnosis, OP. That puts EVERY diagnosis on the table, as opposed to using a checklist to just confirm their preconceived notions.

OP here. I do agree that I don't care what the label is AS LONG as it's accurate. Whatever it is will clearly be something she will have to deal with her whole life, so whether it's X, Y or Z doesn't particularly matter to me as long as we know what it is and how to help her with that. But how can you really know? I'm not a doctor, let alone a neuropsychologist who studies ASD. So if my gut tells me my child doesn't have ASD, but they say she does, how do I know if one of us is mistaken? Don't you kind of just have to take their diagnosis at face value and work with that?

You don'the have to accept the diagnosis if it doesn't make sense to you. I always ask doctors to explain why they gave the diagnosis, how certain they are, whether they saw anything that would be unusual or inconsistent with the diagnosis etc. Ask a lot of questions and let them educate you. If you don't like the answers you can have another professional review the report or give you a second opinion. For autism, the best test is supposed to be a structured observation like the ADOS. Not every neyropsychologist can give this test, so make sure theyes have a lot experience with it or another well-validated test.