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

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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]Yes it makes sense.  It is a very broad spectrum.  [/b]There are two things to know:
1)  All ASD involves social communication deficits. Usually this involves limited or no ability to pick up social cues.  A lot of the variability in ASD is from this issue because it's like someone visiting a foreign country where they don't know the language.  The visitor will act strangely, but it will look different depending on the customs of their own country.
2) All ASD involves restricted, repetitive behaviors.  Narrow interests is classic, but this group includes sensory issues, as they try to confine themselves to seeking or avoiding certain sensations.  For example, my kid eats only about 10 things, often refusing foods based on texture alone.

We don't know why those two items go together so often, but we see them together so often, we created the ASD syndrome.  A syndrome is an set of symptoms that frequently occur together without an obvious connection.

The third thing to know is that ASD is often comorbid with other disorders.  We don't know why this is either.  But it accounts for a lot of the variability too.  Many have ADHD, itself something of a spectrum.  Many have communication disorders, adding a layer of complexity to understanding your AS kid..

I hope this helps. [/quote]

It actually doesn't make sense, because the DSM is very arbitrary. The standards for ASD (such as repetitive behavior) have changed.  You used to not be able to diagnose ASD with anything comorbid, and now you say "ASD is often comorbid."  It really is a moving target.  ASD is a collection of symptoms, and the DSM criteria are so broad, that there's not really any unifying principal.  [/quote]

The "moving target" has a lot to do with the history of what the DSM is and the personalities of early Autism researchers.  The ASD diagnostic criteria are pretty specific even if how individuals express those criteria seem broad.  We see similar variance in expression of symptoms across other diagnoses where we know more about the underlying neurology.

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