Reply to Wall Street Journal: The Autism Diagnosis That Isn’t Always Permanent

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Reply to "Wall Street Journal: The Autism Diagnosis That Isn’t Always Permanent"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Exactly-heard of many parents doctor-shopping FOR an ASD diagnosis, not the other way around.[/quote]

Can you point us to the data of children who were diagnosed as NOT having ASD but later turned out to have ASD and so missed years of therapy?[/quote]

If the diagnosis was so subtle that it went missed for years, what services would the child have been getting? The parents were still likely working to address any present deficits.

Let's not forget that an ASD diagnosis can be subjective, as not all providers are going through the proper steps for full evaluations.  My DS received an ASD diagnosis from a very well-regarded children's hospital (out of state) after a psychologist observed him for [i]fifteen minutes[/i].  He was three years old. I was naive and uninformed and had no idea this is what was considered a "drive-by diagnosis."

I initially took him to a psychologist because he had horrible separation anxiety and a language delay, and I was looking for pointers how to best deal with the anxiety (tips, exercises, books, etc.)  The psychologist and her young intern interviewed me for 15 minutes, played with him for 15 minutes, left the room to discuss their findings for 15 minutes, and spent the last 15 minutes reviewing their diagnosis with me.  We walked out with an ASD diagnosis.

We continued speech therapy.  He did not qualify for OT, ABA, or any services through our school district.  We worked to treat the anxiety with an MD, who would not give us a referral for an ADOS.  Once in school, the school district did not feel he needed to be tested for ASD.  Once the language came in (it was a slug) and the anxiety lessened, we had ourselves a quirky, creative, marches-to-his-own beat kid.  Is he technically on the spectrum?  I have no idea; it depends who you ask.  What other therapies could we possible have done in the meantime?

[/quote]

We had the same experience with a developmental ped.  It was a 40 minute appointment and walked out with an ASD diagnosis.  He barely engaged and just said ASD, here's all the services I can help you with and that was it.  Great for paying for services but not helpful with what was actually going on.[/quote]

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