Reply to Child WAS diagnosed as having ASD by Dr. Greenspan?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm the PP who wrote that he didn't tell parents the diagnosis and that is absolutely the truth.  It wasn't because he didn't want to hurt their feelings, it was because he felt they would lower their expectations for their child's development.  Greenspan was an optimist and felt floortime could change the course of a child's development.  I think he was a visionary and floortime did an enormous amount to help my DC who has an ASD.

Greenspan did change his approach to diagnosing ASDs later in life -- though I think he still had a reluctance.  Perhaps because my DC is a teenager I remember the older days and there is no question that he had an aversion.  His influence over therapists in this region is great, and mostly positive.  A lot of speech therapists and OTs use floortime, and I think thats great.  But you will also often hear the line from therapists that "the diagnosis doesn't matter.  What matters is the therapy."  That is pure Greenspan and I strongly disagree.  I think this reenforces the reluctance to address ASDs like any other medical diagnosis and perpetuates the shame.

Greenspan did not lack for ego and I don't doubt that he questioned the diagnosis of other clinicians.  But it is also true that even later in life when he would use the "A" word with parents, that he misdiagnosed kids who absolutely did have ASDs.  As I said, the man was a visionary.  But his approach to diagnoses left much to be desired.[/quote]

PP you're only right about one thing here - that Greenspan hated that parents didn't do enough to help their children and parents of ASD children sometimes became more complacent. But regardless of whether a child was diagnosed with SPD or ASD, Greenspan had tall expectations for parents. My child was not diagnosed with ASD yet I was asked to do four to six sessions of floor time per day along with four sessions of OT per day. Greenspan was an optimist for MOST children, even those with autism, and he had reason to be. He said that if autism is caught very early and very intensive floor time is done with the parents mostly,  floor time could profoundly change the child's brain permanently and make it more typical. He was right. But most parents don't want to sit there for 6-7 hours a day and do floor time with their child. But he knew that if they did, their child's brain would significantly change.

But you're wrong to say that Greenspan believed the diagnosis didn't matter. Read his ICDL articles which are free and online and you'll see that he absolutely felt the diagnosis did matter..because if your child is diagnosed with ASD, the wrong therapy may be suggested for him. Greenspan was not averse to ABA but said it was for only some autistic children, not all ASD children. He said social skills groups were fine for children with ASD but that regular play dates  were better for non ASD children. To know whether ABA was better or floor time was better, and to know what kind of social therapy is better for your child also, the child had to receive an accurate diagnosis.

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