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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Getting insurance coverage shouldn't be the reason you want an autism diagnosis for your child. I have autism and it's hell. It's no fun. It's forever. I wish I had an easier diagnosis, one that isn't as permanent. I agree that autism is highly over diagnosed these days. I agree many children diagnosed with autism these days don't actually have autism but autism like symptoms that could be addressed without the autism diagnosis. Properly diagnosing autism is NOT easy. Not every psychologist is an expert in autism. I'd always get experts opinion when it comes to diagnosing my child with autism.

And every parent with a child should be HAPPY to hear "No, it's not autism." Period.[/quote]

The problem is so many people claim they are the expert, when they aren't.  Many of us have gone through several evaluations and every one tells us something different (well, in our case, only one did).  No one is getting a diagnosis of autism for insurance purposes.  BUT, insurance will generally only cover therapies in less they are really good with an autism diagnosis.  I have tried to get ours removed knowing I will risk losing therapy and our developmental ped refuses saying it is based off of history (of course many diagnosis can look similar when kids are little so his 30 minute evaluation should not define a child for the rest of their life).

If my child had autism, he has autism and we'd deal with it the same way we are dealing with his developmental delays.  But, the main difference is the approach - ABA.  ABA for speech delayed kids does not work and can often do more harm than good, especially with kids who have receptive delays.

You are right, diagnosis is not easy and professionals need better training on all the issues, but most only get a brief few minute training and go by the DSM.[/quote]

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