Reply to Autism and Overdiagnosis: Rampant, in psychologist's opinion

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]How in the world would high-functioning Aspies be mistaken for MERLD?  The kids I know with MERLD are virtually unable/completely unable to talk.

Most of the kids I know who people doubt are autistic, or the autistic kids I know who people go around saying "He just needs a good spanking" are highly verbal.  Some may also have an adjustment disorder.  Perhaps all do. Probably all their parents do to.[/quote]

Being highly verbal is a feature of Aspergers (which no longer exists as they have lumped all kids regardless of their functioning together in a "spectrum.")  A MERLD or language disorder child would be high functioning autism, not Aspergers. Many language kids are diagnosed autism, when it is not correct.  The problem with misdiagnosis is ABA does not work well on MERLD or language disorders and kids need intensive speech therapy.  Any behavior problems are generally associated with their frustration/lack of being able to understand or verbalize their needs and it generally gets better as the speech comes in.

Its very nice to see someone publish this and give it the attention it deserves.  Then, maybe people will focus more on language disorders and kids will get the help they need vs. being given a generic diagnosis that does not represent their concerns.  [/quote]

I completely agree with this. I have also seen a lot of debate on here about joint attention and how some "autistic" kids have it but because they have repetitive behavior and fixations they are diagnosed ASD, when really it seems like they have a language disorder. Developmental disabilities can also cause tics and many many behaviors that look like ASD. We have been struggling with this because my kid clearly has some big issues - delayed motor and speech and behavioral stuff - but has wonderful joint attention, empathy and pretend play and wants to play with his peers. The problem is not the labeling, I would be the first to say that there is a major issues and lets call it something so we can get help -- the problem is the wasted time spent trying to make it ASD and make it so all the therapies that work with ASD are not applied across the board. My son needs intensive speech and OT, and it is realllllly hard to get that covered.[/quote]

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