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

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[quote=Anonymous][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.  [b]The problem with misdiagnosis is ABA does not work well on MERLD or language disorders and kids need intensive speech therapy.[/b]  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]

Behavior analysis can be used by parents to encourage speech behaviors.  We'd pretty much give my kid anything he wanted (within reason) if he asked for it. We did a lot of modeling of good speech behavior and asking him to imitate the model.

Example: "Do you want some juice?" (Nods) "OKay, you need to say 'May I have some juice, please?"  Kid says "Juice, please." Give him the juice. Getting what he wants is the positive reinforcer for using speech.   Rinse, lather, repeat 100 times a day.

Example 2:  Kid wants something, doesn't use words and tantrums when he doesn't get it. (I'm not a psychic.) We intervene to stop the tantrum. As soon as the tantrum is over, we say "Okay, you wanted to watch 'Phineas and Ferb.' The way to ask for TV time is to say "May I please watch 'Phineas and Ferb?" Kid says "May I please watch 'Phineas and Ferb?" I say "Absolutely," and put his show on. There are no negative consequences for tantrums other than being removed from the living room and placed in time out (negative reinforcement) and there is immediate redirection to appropriate speech and rewards for using appropriate speech (positive reinforcement).

That's a behavior program. It works on speech just as well as it works on any other behavior. Combing those techniques with speech therapy worked really well for my kid. [/quote]

This might be good for autism, but not MERLD. It's also not good for speech in general as it teaches scripted speech instead of naturalistic speech. ABA is all about compliance. [/quote]

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