Reply to Reminder about the purpose of the Kids with Special Needs Forum

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Jeff, a big part of the problem that you don’t and shouldn’t have to frankly understand in the underlying ongoing issues between the “MERLD” parents and their seeming foes, usually parents of children with autism, is that there are longstanding and popular Facebook groups dedicated to avoiding an autism diagnosis and that autism is overdoagnosed. Many of these parents have sought specific labels other than autism. They are very restrictive in the views that are allowed to be presented in the Facebook groups. No mention can be made of ABA or suggestions that something may in fact be autism. Those groups are dedicated to the idea that children grow out of these MERLD issues and that autism is far more serious and debilitating.

Perhaps that may give you some insight as to how this plays out here. The real problem many of the MERLD parents have is with the DSM. They wouldn’t even agree that many of the kids who have been diagnosed with autism by professionals have autism. They dispute the legitimacy of the diagnosis other than in rare cases. This is the crux of the real dispute playing out here but it only gets represented in agenda driven posts like, see an slp rather than get a full neuropsychology, etc. it’s subtle - not to us, but to an outside observer - but it’s the pushing of an agenda and it’s often hugely and horribly inappropriate and unhelpful for individual parents because it’s a red herring. I understand you can’t regulate this but I’m sick of every post being dominated hey these posters who are frankly on a crusade, so I’m not going to use this forum anymore. [/quote]

TBH I think this is just too much insider-baseball for Jeff to be able to handle & create a moderation standard around. He's a generalist. It does make me wonder, though, how a forum like this would have fared, say, when the whole anti-vax/vaccines cause autism fraud was being perpetrated. At the end of the day, all you and I and other evidence-minded parents can do is ensure that our comments are made in a way that doesn't derail the discussion. [/quote]

Or, you could just give the person the help that they ask for, rather than deciding what help they need?  [/quote]

As you well know, many people post here with open-ended questions prior to diagnosis. Given the prevalence of autism, many of those OPs will have autistic kids.[b] It's perfectly appropriate to note that the OP's description warrants and autism evaluation.[/b]  If someone posts in a way that makes clear that that's not relevant, then yes, nobody should be arguing with them. Likewise, it's on you not to respond to suggestions of ASD evaluations with eyeroll emojies, "not everything is autism", "autism is just a checklist diagnosis", etc.  [/quote]

Also, it would be helpful for the sake of this discussion if you clarify what you mean, because I don't think you have. [b]Is your view that nobody should ever suggest an autism evaluation?[/b] Or say that behaviors described by an OP may be autism red flags? Do you think an autism evaluation should only be raised when the OP says "should I get an autism evaluation"? Is your position the same for suggesting any kind of evaluation or diagnosis? Do you believe that no diagnosis should ever be mentioned unless expressly asked about by name, and that all responses should just be "ask your pediatrician"? [/quote]

DP, but you are deliberately misrepresenting and being argumentative. Everyone is tired of this. (Except you, I suppose.)[/quote]

+1 Nobody has said that, and certainly not Jeff. You are misrepresenting.[/quote]
+2. I think we've identified the source of the problem.[/quote]

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