Reply to Loaded question: MERLD and autism

Forum Index » Kids With Special Needs and Disabilities

Reply to "Loaded question: MERLD and autism "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]My DS came close to being misdiagnosed as ASD based solely on language.  This was in the dark ages before ASD was as common a diagnosis as it is today.  He was verbal, but had a long standing MERLD diagnosis (then in the DSM) made in kindergarten. His receptive language scores were pretty much rock bottom; expressive were low normal.  He had auditory processing testing at GW and was diagnosed with a central auditory processing disorder.  He learned to read. perhaps against all odds and by the grace of a gifted teacher, in first grade.

In second grade he experienced a sudden explosion of tics and weird behaviors.  We ended up at Stixrud to do a complete neuropsych evaluation just shy of his 8th birthday and they gave him a PDD NOS diagnosis (again in DSM at the time) based on his language impairment and "stereotypical behaviors."  The psychologist seemed not to listen or care when I insisted all these behaviors had just recently suddenly come on, and he reprimanded me for calling them tics.  Nor did he seem to care about the auditory processing results.

Very little about an ASD diagnosis rang true to me about my DS, particularly the late onset of all this.  A friend referred us to CT Gordon, a psychiatrist who deals with a lot of ASD kids and has an ASD kid himself.  He quickly came to the conclusion DS did not have ASD, but tic related OCD.  As I learned about PANDAS, only very recently written about at that time, I found a doctor who helped tease this out, and we ended with a firm PANDAS diagnosis from NIH.

I have learned to question everything experts conclude.  Even though I am not an expert, I firmly believe what they say should pass a basic smell test.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics