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

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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The OP's statements were very offensive bc there are a lot of children who have been diagnosed properly. And no one wants to hear OP talk about the lifetime stigma and limitations our ASD children face. That was pretty shitty in my opinion. I don't think of my child as having limitations. I think I have to work hard to help him reach his potential.

Sure, talk all about other potential diagnoses... I'm sure there are children who have been improperly diagnosed. [/quote]

You are missing the point entirely.  This wasn't to minimize the fact many kids are autistic and are getting proper diagnosis.  Everyone is very supportive of kids getting proper diagnosis and the help they need.  The point is about those of our kids who have other developmental delays that initially can look like autism but are not.  Our kids are forced into therapies by doctors, schools, etc. that are not appropriate.  When as parents we decline (or try then decline) we get reprimanded that we are not making the best choices for our children, etc.  Our kids are forced into hours of ABA when it isn't that they aren't trying, but they can't understand what is being said, due to receptive and other issues.  No amount of ABA could help my child understand me asking him to go get his shoes till his receptive language came in.  ABA is fantastic for autistic kids. Given the cost of ABA, it should be given for kids who need it and not forced on kids who don't need it.  It isn't for speech delayed kids.  There is far more of a focus on autism now than speech delays and the different kind of delays.  We need more specialized diagnosis.

Bottomline is there is a stigma with the autism diagnosis.  No one wants it for their kids and it is painful to go through.  We were rejected (well, not rejected except one which worked out in our favor as we found a better one but the looks and staff being unfriendly was rejection enough)  from many preschools because of it (even though it wasn't autism nor did my child have any of the significant behaviors).   My child gets treated very different by most (not all) doctors.  Its hard when the first thing they said after looking at your child's medical records before seeing him is oh, he has autism and they treat him differently till they realize the diagnosis is off and then I get the endless questions and told something isn't right with the diagnosis.  The impact of a diagnosis that is not correct is huge.  It needs to be talked about and kids need to be treated in a way that people understand that they can grow and change and the labels given to them does not define them.

If you aren't happy about the topic - over diagnosis, you read the headline and skip the topic rather than dismiss what others are going through.  That's like us telling you your child isn't autistic.  There are lots of topics about this because there are many of us with wrong diagnosis trying to figure out what is the best approach for our kids to make them the most successful.  You can't make the best choices for your child if the professionals are not giving you the proper diagnosis and best practices.[/quote]

Your response is quite defensive and as someone who worked in the school system I can tell you there was more of a stigma with MERLD than autism because so many of the kids we saw with MERLD were struggling so much in every area including social. Occasionally we saw a child with MERLD with mild issues, but we were so used to seeing our most impaired kids get the MERLD dx that our first thought before meeting the child was whether the mainstream teacher could be effective even with pull out or pull in supports.[/quote]

How old were these kids? Because most of the kids I know have grown out of their MERLD largely by third grade. And I know dozens. [/quote]

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