Is ASD a useful label or is it we don’t know we will lump it under an umbrella term?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's entirely possible that your kid's case was so mild that the work around were successful enough to allow your kid to "pass" for normal. This doesn't mean a "cure," he's just learned the workarounds successfully. This does happen sometimes.

My kid is normal and not passing for anything (but I think all kids are normal). We very clearly had a misdiagnosis but I think it was more for the services/money than anything. ASD is way to broad, as are other disorders, including language. (there are also huge issues with language disorder diagnosis, especially at the school levels).

I find this argument of "he's just learned the workarounds successfully" really strange. If he can adapt and all kids adapt in different ways how does he have a condition? What defines the condition then? There's no blood test or obvious brain difference. It's a set of symptoms and if he has no symptoms how is her child any different from the NT classmate who has no symptoms?

The idea of learning the workarounds is not generally accepted, it's just one explanation for why kids lose their diagnosis and if true probably not the most common reason. One of the key problems in ASD is the inability to pick up social cues. NT's learn how spontaneously, autistics have to be explicitly taught. If they learn it, they are doing it through mental scripts or problem solving rather than social instincts. Such people will always seem a bit "off" and it is hard work for them, but if they are very good at it, they can function effectively in social situations.

David Byrne of the Talking Heads says he is autistic. I don't think he was diagnosed as a child. He is successful and apparently has a social life, but his personality is definitely offbeat.

[Anonymous]

In my experience, there are a lot of moving parts to this issue. The best thing you can do for your child is to treat whatever symptoms they have, and get a differential diagnosis. A differential diagnosis has every diagnosis on the table, instead of just running through the autism checklist.

Because the truth is, running through an autism checklist from the DSM 5 will get most children with special needs an ASD diagnosis. If they are high functioning, then their disability will cause social issues and their intelligence about their state will make them anxious, leaving them with repetitive behaviors. And if they are low functioning, then they won't be able to connect socially and will be anxious about their surroundings and as a way to cope with all repetitive behaviors. So the blind child now has ASD, the Down's child now has ASD, the CDLs child now has ASD. (There's a laziness about following the severity levels, too. Every person on the planet would be Level 1 according to how some doctors diagnose "repetitive behaviours." )

And with ASD comes insurance coverage, also contributing to the autism boom.

If your child is verbal, OP, the ADOS can help sort out issues. But if your child has a language disorder, the ADOS is not the best test.





In reality, a diagnosis should look at underlying causes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

In my experience, there are a lot of moving parts to this issue. The best thing you can do for your child is to treat whatever symptoms they have, and get a differential diagnosis. A differential diagnosis has every diagnosis on the table, instead of just running through the autism checklist.

Because the truth is, running through an autism checklist from the DSM 5 will get most children with special needs an ASD diagnosis. If they are high functioning, then their disability will cause social issues and their intelligence about their state will make them anxious, leaving them with repetitive behaviors. And if they are low functioning, then they won't be able to connect socially and will be anxious about their surroundings and as a way to cope with all repetitive behaviors. So the blind child now has ASD, the Down's child now has ASD, the CDLs child now has ASD. (There's a laziness about following the severity levels, too. Every person on the planet would be Level 1 according to how some doctors diagnose "repetitive behaviours." )

And with ASD comes insurance coverage, also contributing to the autism boom.

If your child is verbal, OP, the ADOS can help sort out issues. But if your child has a language disorder, the ADOS is not the best test.





In reality, a diagnosis should look at underlying causes.

This post is all over the place, mixing and matching unrelated issues, and full of exaggerations, half truths and meaningless statements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In my experience, there are a lot of moving parts to this issue. The best thing you can do for your child is to treat whatever symptoms they have, and get a differential diagnosis. A differential diagnosis has every diagnosis on the table, instead of just running through the autism checklist.

Because the truth is, running through an autism checklist from the DSM 5 will get most children with special needs an ASD diagnosis. If they are high functioning, then their disability will cause social issues and their intelligence about their state will make them anxious, leaving them with repetitive behaviors. And if they are low functioning, then they won't be able to connect socially and will be anxious about their surroundings and as a way to cope with all repetitive behaviors. So the blind child now has ASD, the Down's child now has ASD, the CDLs child now has ASD. (There's a laziness about following the severity levels, too. Every person on the planet would be Level 1 according to how some doctors diagnose "repetitive behaviours." )

And with ASD comes insurance coverage, also contributing to the autism boom.

If your child is verbal, OP, the ADOS can help sort out issues. But if your child has a language disorder, the ADOS is not the best test.

In reality, a diagnosis should look at underlying causes.

This post is all over the place, mixing and matching unrelated issues, and full of exaggerations, half truths and meaningless statements.

No, its not. Kids who were previously diagnosed with cognitive issues are now ASD as are many others. Its very true even if you don't want to believe it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's entirely possible that your kid's case was so mild that the work around were successful enough to allow your kid to "pass" for normal. This doesn't mean a "cure," he's just learned the workarounds successfully. This does happen sometimes.

My kid is normal and not passing for anything (but I think all kids are normal). We very clearly had a misdiagnosis but I think it was more for the services/money than anything. ASD is way to broad, as are other disorders, including language. (there are also huge issues with language disorder diagnosis, especially at the school levels).

I find this argument of "he's just learned the workarounds successfully" really strange. If he can adapt and all kids adapt in different ways how does he have a condition? What defines the condition then? There's no blood test or obvious brain difference. It's a set of symptoms and if he has no symptoms how is her child any different from the NT classmate who has no symptoms?

The idea of learning the workarounds is not generally accepted, it's just one explanation for why kids lose their diagnosis and if true probably not the most common reason. One of the key problems in ASD is the inability to pick up social cues. NT's learn how spontaneously, autistics have to be explicitly taught. If they learn it, they are doing it through mental scripts or problem solving rather than social instincts. Such people will always seem a bit "off" and it is hard work for them, but if they are very good at it, they can function effectively in social situations.

David Byrne of the Talking Heads says he is autistic. I don't think he was diagnosed as a child. He is successful and apparently has a social life, but his personality is definitely offbeat.

Some of our kids do naturally pick up things like social cues, especially if it was a language disorder where the receptive language was impacted. People underestimate how much receptive language impacts a child and when the receptive language finally comes in how different some of these kids are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's entirely possible that your kid's case was so mild that the work around were successful enough to allow your kid to "pass" for normal. This doesn't mean a "cure," he's just learned the workarounds successfully. This does happen sometimes.

My kid is normal and not passing for anything (but I think all kids are normal). We very clearly had a misdiagnosis but I think it was more for the services/money than anything. ASD is way to broad, as are other disorders, including language. (there are also huge issues with language disorder diagnosis, especially at the school levels).

I find this argument of "he's just learned the workarounds successfully" really strange. If he can adapt and all kids adapt in different ways how does he have a condition? What defines the condition then? There's no blood test or obvious brain difference. It's a set of symptoms and if he has no symptoms how is her child any different from the NT classmate who has no symptoms?

He does very well at school, in multiple activities, extremely flexible and easy going and most people have no clue as there is no longer an IEP in less we mention it. No sensory issues, no behavioral issues (beyond age appropriate), no rigid behavior, can comfortably go into new settings where he doesn't know anyone and be fine and jump right in. So, no, he is no different than many of his peers except the ones with SN.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In my experience, there are a lot of moving parts to this issue. The best thing you can do for your child is to treat whatever symptoms they have, and get a differential diagnosis. A differential diagnosis has every diagnosis on the table, instead of just running through the autism checklist.

Because the truth is, running through an autism checklist from the DSM 5 will get most children with special needs an ASD diagnosis. If they are high functioning, then their disability will cause social issues and their intelligence about their state will make them anxious, leaving them with repetitive behaviors. And if they are low functioning, then they won't be able to connect socially and will be anxious about their surroundings and as a way to cope with all repetitive behaviors. So the blind child now has ASD, the Down's child now has ASD, the CDLs child now has ASD. (There's a laziness about following the severity levels, too. Every person on the planet would be Level 1 according to how some doctors diagnose "repetitive behaviours." )

And with ASD comes insurance coverage, also contributing to the autism boom.

If your child is verbal, OP, the ADOS can help sort out issues. But if your child has a language disorder, the ADOS is not the best test.

In reality, a diagnosis should look at underlying causes.

This post is all over the place, mixing and matching unrelated issues, and full of exaggerations, half truths and meaningless statements.

No, its not. Kids who were previously diagnosed with cognitive issues are now ASD as are many others. Its very true even if you don't want to believe it.

Ok, but that's not what you said, you are just adding another issue to the mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's entirely possible that your kid's case was so mild that the work around were successful enough to allow your kid to "pass" for normal. This doesn't mean a "cure," he's just learned the workarounds successfully. This does happen sometimes.

My kid is normal and not passing for anything (but I think all kids are normal). We very clearly had a misdiagnosis but I think it was more for the services/money than anything. ASD is way to broad, as are other disorders, including language. (there are also huge issues with language disorder diagnosis, especially at the school levels).

I find this argument of "he's just learned the workarounds successfully" really strange. If he can adapt and all kids adapt in different ways how does he have a condition? What defines the condition then? There's no blood test or obvious brain difference. It's a set of symptoms and if he has no symptoms how is her child any different from the NT classmate who has no symptoms?

The idea of learning the workarounds is not generally accepted, it's just one explanation for why kids lose their diagnosis and if true probably not the most common reason. One of the key problems in ASD is the inability to pick up social cues. NT's learn how spontaneously, autistics have to be explicitly taught. If they learn it, they are doing it through mental scripts or problem solving rather than social instincts. Such people will always seem a bit "off" and it is hard work for them, but if they are very good at it, they can function effectively in social situations.

David Byrne of the Talking Heads says he is autistic. I don't think he was diagnosed as a child. He is successful and apparently has a social life, but his personality is definitely offbeat.

Some of our kids do naturally pick up things like social cues, especially if it was a language disorder where the receptive language was impacted. People underestimate how much receptive language impacts a child and when the receptive language finally comes in how different some of these kids are.

I was talking about ASD not a language disorder. They are not the same thing, and I am sure you know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's entirely possible that your kid's case was so mild that the work around were successful enough to allow your kid to "pass" for normal. This doesn't mean a "cure," he's just learned the workarounds successfully. This does happen sometimes.

My kid is normal and not passing for anything (but I think all kids are normal). We very clearly had a misdiagnosis but I think it was more for the services/money than anything. ASD is way to broad, as are other disorders, including language. (there are also huge issues with language disorder diagnosis, especially at the school levels).

I find this argument of "he's just learned the workarounds successfully" really strange. If he can adapt and all kids adapt in different ways how does he have a condition? What defines the condition then? There's no blood test or obvious brain difference. It's a set of symptoms and if he has no symptoms how is her child any different from the NT classmate who has no symptoms?

The idea of learning the workarounds is not generally accepted, it's just one explanation for why kids lose their diagnosis and if true probably not the most common reason. One of the key problems in ASD is the inability to pick up social cues. NT's learn how spontaneously, autistics have to be explicitly taught. If they learn it, they are doing it through mental scripts or problem solving rather than social instincts. Such people will always seem a bit "off" and it is hard work for them, but if they are very good at it, they can function effectively in social situations.

David Byrne of the Talking Heads says he is autistic. I don't think he was diagnosed as a child. He is successful and apparently has a social life, but his personality is definitely offbeat.

Some of our kids do naturally pick up things like social cues, especially if it was a language disorder where the receptive language was impacted. People underestimate how much receptive language impacts a child and when the receptive language finally comes in how different some of these kids are.

I was talking about ASD not a language disorder. They are not the same thing, and I am sure you know that.

Agree, except my child got an very early ASD diagnosis, so kids like mine are the ones where they get lumped under an umbrella term vs. kids who deserve the term and need all the supports and help that should (but doesn't always come with). That is the point of all this. When kids are little, receptive langue issues can look the same - lack of eye contact, not responding to questions/name, etc. They do look very similar which is why its very hard to distinguish at 1-2-3 between ASD and language disorders which is why some here were misdiagnosed language disorders (from previous posts) and some were misdiagnosed other things like ASD, ADHD, etc. Its very easy to make a mistake, especially when some of us get it in a 30 minute appointment (which clearly doesn't involve everything needed). Many kids do have ASD and are appropriately diagnosed and that is not the issue.. its all the other kids like PP have commented about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's entirely possible that your kid's case was so mild that the work around were successful enough to allow your kid to "pass" for normal. This doesn't mean a "cure," he's just learned the workarounds successfully. This does happen sometimes.

My kid is normal and not passing for anything (but I think all kids are normal). We very clearly had a misdiagnosis but I think it was more for the services/money than anything. ASD is way to broad, as are other disorders, including language. (there are also huge issues with language disorder diagnosis, especially at the school levels).

I find this argument of "he's just learned the workarounds successfully" really strange. If he can adapt and all kids adapt in different ways how does he have a condition? What defines the condition then? There's no blood test or obvious brain difference. It's a set of symptoms and if he has no symptoms how is her child any different from the NT classmate who has no symptoms?

The idea of learning the workarounds is not generally accepted, it's just one explanation for why kids lose their diagnosis and if true probably not the most common reason. One of the key problems in ASD is the inability to pick up social cues. NT's learn how spontaneously, autistics have to be explicitly taught. If they learn it, they are doing it through mental scripts or problem solving rather than social instincts. Such people will always seem a bit "off" and it is hard work for them, but if they are very good at it, they can function effectively in social situations.

David Byrne of the Talking Heads says he is autistic. I don't think he was diagnosed as a child. He is successful and apparently has a social life, but his personality is definitely offbeat.

Some of our kids do naturally pick up things like social cues, especially if it was a language disorder where the receptive language was impacted. People underestimate how much receptive language impacts a child and when the receptive language finally comes in how different some of these kids are.

I was talking about ASD not a language disorder. They are not the same thing, and I am sure you know that.

Agree, except my child got an very early ASD diagnosis, so kids like mine are the ones where they get lumped under an umbrella term vs. kids who deserve the term and need all the supports and help that should (but doesn't always come with). That is the point of all this. When kids are little, receptive langue issues can look the same - lack of eye contact, not responding to questions/name, etc. They do look very similar which is why its very hard to distinguish at 1-2-3 between ASD and language disorders which is why some here were misdiagnosed language disorders (from previous posts) and some were misdiagnosed other things like ASD, ADHD, etc. Its very easy to make a mistake, especially when some of us get it in a 30 minute appointment (which clearly doesn't involve everything needed). Many kids do have ASD and are appropriately diagnosed and that is not the issue.. its all the other kids like PP have commented about.

Well, people are actually saying all kinds of different things that basically come down to, "I don't understand it or I had a bad experience, so ASD must be BS except when it isn't." It IS the issue because the misinformation that you are spreading causes the misunderstanding you are complaining about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's entirely possible that your kid's case was so mild that the work around were successful enough to allow your kid to "pass" for normal. This doesn't mean a "cure," he's just learned the workarounds successfully. This does happen sometimes.

My kid is normal and not passing for anything (but I think all kids are normal). We very clearly had a misdiagnosis but I think it was more for the services/money than anything. ASD is way to broad, as are other disorders, including language. (there are also huge issues with language disorder diagnosis, especially at the school levels).

I find this argument of "he's just learned the workarounds successfully" really strange. If he can adapt and all kids adapt in different ways how does he have a condition? What defines the condition then? There's no blood test or obvious brain difference. It's a set of symptoms and if he has no symptoms how is her child any different from the NT classmate who has no symptoms?

The idea of learning the workarounds is not generally accepted, it's just one explanation for why kids lose their diagnosis and if true probably not the most common reason. One of the key problems in ASD is the inability to pick up social cues. NT's learn how spontaneously, autistics have to be explicitly taught. If they learn it, they are doing it through mental scripts or problem solving rather than social instincts. Such people will always seem a bit "off" and it is hard work for them, but if they are very good at it, they can function effectively in social situations.

David Byrne of the Talking Heads says he is autistic. I don't think he was diagnosed as a child. He is successful and apparently has a social life, but his personality is definitely offbeat.

Some of our kids do naturally pick up things like social cues, especially if it was a language disorder where the receptive language was impacted. People underestimate how much receptive language impacts a child and when the receptive language finally comes in how different some of these kids are.

I was talking about ASD not a language disorder. They are not the same thing, and I am sure you know that.

Agree, except my child got an very early ASD diagnosis, so kids like mine are the ones where they get lumped under an umbrella term vs. kids who deserve the term and need all the supports and help that should (but doesn't always come with). That is the point of all this. When kids are little, receptive langue issues can look the same - lack of eye contact, not responding to questions/name, etc. They do look very similar which is why its very hard to distinguish at 1-2-3 between ASD and language disorders which is why some here were misdiagnosed language disorders (from previous posts) and some were misdiagnosed other things like ASD, ADHD, etc. Its very easy to make a mistake, especially when some of us get it in a 30 minute appointment (which clearly doesn't involve everything needed). Many kids do have ASD and are appropriately diagnosed and that is not the issue.. its all the other kids like PP have commented about.

Well, people are actually saying all kinds of different things that basically come down to, "I don't understand it or I had a bad experience, so ASD must be BS except when it isn't." It IS the issue because the misinformation that you are spreading causes the misunderstanding you are complaining about.

DP here. You are the one who is wrong. ASD is over diagnosed. Every thing that used to be something else is now called ASD.

Every statistic points to this diagnostic substitution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In my experience, there are a lot of moving parts to this issue. The best thing you can do for your child is to treat whatever symptoms they have, and get a differential diagnosis. A differential diagnosis has every diagnosis on the table, instead of just running through the autism checklist.

Because the truth is, running through an autism checklist from the DSM 5 will get most children with special needs an ASD diagnosis. If they are high functioning, then their disability will cause social issues and their intelligence about their state will make them anxious, leaving them with repetitive behaviors. And if they are low functioning, then they won't be able to connect socially and will be anxious about their surroundings and as a way to cope with all repetitive behaviors. So the blind child now has ASD, the Down's child now has ASD, the CDLs child now has ASD. (There's a laziness about following the severity levels, too. Every person on the planet would be Level 1 according to how some doctors diagnose "repetitive behaviours." )

And with ASD comes insurance coverage, also contributing to the autism boom.

If your child is verbal, OP, the ADOS can help sort out issues. But if your child has a language disorder, the ADOS is not the best test.

In reality, a diagnosis should look at underlying causes.

This post is all over the place, mixing and matching unrelated issues, and full of exaggerations, half truths and meaningless statements.

No, its not. Kids who were previously diagnosed with cognitive issues are now ASD as are many others. Its very true even if you don't want to believe it.

Ok, but that's not what you said, you are just adding another issue to the mess.

I am the earlier poster and this is exactly what I said. The PP gets it.

I am 60. In my circle of friends 3 have children with ASD who are now in their late teens. When I was a kid, every one of those kids would have been labeled with the old term "mentally retarded."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In my experience, there are a lot of moving parts to this issue. The best thing you can do for your child is to treat whatever symptoms they have, and get a differential diagnosis. A differential diagnosis has every diagnosis on the table, instead of just running through the autism checklist.

Because the truth is, running through an autism checklist from the DSM 5 will get most children with special needs an ASD diagnosis. If they are high functioning, then their disability will cause social issues and their intelligence about their state will make them anxious, leaving them with repetitive behaviors. And if they are low functioning, then they won't be able to connect socially and will be anxious about their surroundings and as a way to cope with all repetitive behaviors. So the blind child now has ASD, the Down's child now has ASD, the CDLs child now has ASD. (There's a laziness about following the severity levels, too. Every person on the planet would be Level 1 according to how some doctors diagnose "repetitive behaviours." )

And with ASD comes insurance coverage, also contributing to the autism boom.

If your child is verbal, OP, the ADOS can help sort out issues. But if your child has a language disorder, the ADOS is not the best test.

In reality, a diagnosis should look at underlying causes.

This post is all over the place, mixing and matching unrelated issues, and full of exaggerations, half truths and meaningless statements.

No, its not. Kids who were previously diagnosed with cognitive issues are now ASD as are many others. Its very true even if you don't want to believe it.

Ok, but that's not what you said, you are just adding another issue to the mess.

I am the earlier poster and this is exactly what I said. The PP gets it.

I am 60. In my circle of friends 3 have children with ASD who are now in their late teens. When I was a kid, every one of those kids would have been labeled with the old term "mentally retarded."

That's because they were misdiagnosing kids with normal IQs and writing them off. Now we have better diagnosis and give them services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's entirely possible that your kid's case was so mild that the work around were successful enough to allow your kid to "pass" for normal. This doesn't mean a "cure," he's just learned the workarounds successfully. This does happen sometimes.

My kid is normal and not passing for anything (but I think all kids are normal). We very clearly had a misdiagnosis but I think it was more for the services/money than anything. ASD is way to broad, as are other disorders, including language. (there are also huge issues with language disorder diagnosis, especially at the school levels).

I find this argument of "he's just learned the workarounds successfully" really strange. If he can adapt and all kids adapt in different ways how does he have a condition? What defines the condition then? There's no blood test or obvious brain difference. It's a set of symptoms and if he has no symptoms how is her child any different from the NT classmate who has no symptoms?

The idea of learning the workarounds is not generally accepted, it's just one explanation for why kids lose their diagnosis and if true probably not the most common reason. One of the key problems in ASD is the inability to pick up social cues. NT's learn how spontaneously, autistics have to be explicitly taught. If they learn it, they are doing it through mental scripts or problem solving rather than social instincts. Such people will always seem a bit "off" and it is hard work for them, but if they are very good at it, they can function effectively in social situations.

David Byrne of the Talking Heads says he is autistic. I don't think he was diagnosed as a child. He is successful and apparently has a social life, but his personality is definitely offbeat.

Some of our kids do naturally pick up things like social cues, especially if it was a language disorder where the receptive language was impacted. People underestimate how much receptive language impacts a child and when the receptive language finally comes in how different some of these kids are.

I was talking about ASD not a language disorder. They are not the same thing, and I am sure you know that.

Agree, except my child got an very early ASD diagnosis, so kids like mine are the ones where they get lumped under an umbrella term vs. kids who deserve the term and need all the supports and help that should (but doesn't always come with). That is the point of all this. When kids are little, receptive langue issues can look the same - lack of eye contact, not responding to questions/name, etc. They do look very similar which is why its very hard to distinguish at 1-2-3 between ASD and language disorders which is why some here were misdiagnosed language disorders (from previous posts) and some were misdiagnosed other things like ASD, ADHD, etc. Its very easy to make a mistake, especially when some of us get it in a 30 minute appointment (which clearly doesn't involve everything needed). Many kids do have ASD and are appropriately diagnosed and that is not the issue.. its all the other kids like PP have commented about.

Well, people are actually saying all kinds of different things that basically come down to, "I don't understand it or I had a bad experience, so ASD must be BS except when it isn't." It IS the issue because the misinformation that you are spreading causes the misunderstanding you are complaining about.

DP here. You are the one who is wrong. ASD is over diagnosed. Every thing that used to be something else is now called ASD.

Every statistic points to this diagnostic substitution.

Diagnostic substitution is not the same as misdiagnosis or overdiagnosis. That's just more misinformation about a complex subject.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In my experience, there are a lot of moving parts to this issue. The best thing you can do for your child is to treat whatever symptoms they have, and get a differential diagnosis. A differential diagnosis has every diagnosis on the table, instead of just running through the autism checklist.

Because the truth is, running through an autism checklist from the DSM 5 will get most children with special needs an ASD diagnosis. If they are high functioning, then their disability will cause social issues and their intelligence about their state will make them anxious, leaving them with repetitive behaviors. And if they are low functioning, then they won't be able to connect socially and will be anxious about their surroundings and as a way to cope with all repetitive behaviors. So the blind child now has ASD, the Down's child now has ASD, the CDLs child now has ASD. (There's a laziness about following the severity levels, too. Every person on the planet would be Level 1 according to how some doctors diagnose "repetitive behaviours." )

And with ASD comes insurance coverage, also contributing to the autism boom.

If your child is verbal, OP, the ADOS can help sort out issues. But if your child has a language disorder, the ADOS is not the best test.

In reality, a diagnosis should look at underlying causes.

This post is all over the place, mixing and matching unrelated issues, and full of exaggerations, half truths and meaningless statements.

No, its not. Kids who were previously diagnosed with cognitive issues are now ASD as are many others. Its very true even if you don't want to believe it.

Ok, but that's not what you said, you are just adding another issue to the mess.

I am the earlier poster and this is exactly what I said. The PP gets it.

I am 60. In my circle of friends 3 have children with ASD who are now in their late teens. When I was a kid, every one of those kids would have been labeled with the old term "mentally retarded."

That's because they were misdiagnosing kids with normal IQs and writing them off. Now we have better diagnosis and give them services.

This-my elderly dad had a cousin (now deceased) who was nonverbal. In those days, the school just told his parents-he doesn't talk, he is retarded (their word) so he can't go to school anymore. He taught himself to read and was brilliant with math, but no one understood what was going on and he never did have a paid job or move out.