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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So OP does not have a child diagnosed with autism but feels the need to tell the rest of us who do have a child diagnosed with autism that our kid is probably misdiagnosed and will suffer a lifetime of stigma from having ASD.

Gee, thanks.[/quote]

Actually, the OP has a child the schools tried their damnedest to label with "educational autism."  The six medical professionals who saw him all gave him a language disorder diagnosis and said it was not autism.

[/quote]

There are only 13 education categories under which someone can get an IEP so the school is not looking for an exact diagnosis but the category that best matches the types of services the child needs.  So the OP is getting the services needed under educational "autism" but still feels the need to complain to parents whose kids have an autism diagnosis about how autism is over diagnosed which makes absolutely no sense.  An educational autism diagnosis does not equal a medical diagnosis and if you have so much issue with how their kid does not have autism but got categorized in their IEP then adk for another education label:

http://www.understandingspecialeducation.com/13-categories-of-special-education.html

Although I don't know why you would waste your time about semantics when you are getting the services you need.  Sigh.[/quote]

I am the OP. I refused the educational autism label because it was inaccurate. The school threatened, they bribed, they harassed us to try and get us to take the autism label -- and ultimately gave DS all the services under the speech and language label, where a MERLD child belongs. [/quote]

Do you want a cookie?  Do you get to sit at a special lunch table to avoid being contaminated by the kids with ASDs?  Does it comfort you at night to think "At least my kid doesn't have autism....?"

Whatever gets you through the night, sugar.

[/quote]

Placing a MERLD kid with an ASD kid (without a mix of kids) would be a disaster as many MERLD kids need that peer role model.  [b]So, if an ASD kid was there, they would try to copy that child's patterns and its a problem.[/b]  It not about contaminating but about the child's needs and its important for MERLD kids to have specific type of peer interations.[/quote]

OP, I have a kid with MERLD in a small classroom with a hand-flapping Aspie for two years.  He never copied these behaviors ever.  So maybe it's not's just MERLD with your kid.

Your argument about somehow to not have ASD mixed in with your MERLD kid sounds like the kind of argument that people used against desegregation of schools and gays serving in the military.  You have a lot of prejudices towards people on the spectrum and parents of NT kids are probably judging your kid with the same skewed perspective.

So get a life and stop worrying about "rampant over diagnosis" of autism and be more concerned with the rampant prejudices in your heart and mind.[/quote]

NP here. [b]You need good peer models for MERLD though. If you put a child in a class with no typical peer models, that's a problem.[/b] MERLD children will copy the children around them.  And that's routinely done around the country.

They wanted to segregate my MERLD child in an autism class. Years later, the social worked admitted it would have been a huge mistake and I  my child would never be in regular school classes after that -- like he is now.

[/quote]

Every child needs good peer models-NT or SN. No child is served well in a class with no good peer models. That's not unique to MERLD. Its like you are afraid autism is contagious.[/quote]

Your not getting it.  My child was in a classroom full of kids with speech needs.  The ones who were verbal only talked to the adults and there was very little social interaction between the kids despite the adults trying.  My child was more verbal than many but many of the parents thought he was non-verbal as he would not talk as none of the other kids talked.  Switch to this year.  We put him in a typical school where there are a few mild special needs, nothing significant and the difference in him because of the typical peer interaction is night and day.  He made significant progress in his speech and social skills and having typical, not delayed children made the world of difference.  If your child is borderline but progressing, being in regular classroom is far more beneficial.  [/quote]

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