Reply to Is ASD a useful label or is it we don’t know we will lump it under an umbrella term?

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Reply to "Is ASD a useful label or is it we don’t know we will lump it under an umbrella term?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I dunno, I have a child like OP's. It feels very subjective to me. DS8 has ADHD, sensory issues, and lots of delays due to prematurity and low birth weight. Or was it ASD all along? Ped, dev ped, neuropsych all say no; psych says maybe; school insists yes. I could make a case either way, but it doesn't feel clear cut and never has.

We will do another neuropsych in the next year, and I am struggling because I really want to find a place that will objectively evaluate, because at this point, I want a definitive answer. And everyone seems to think that's crazy too.

Yes, at the end of the day, your kid is your kid and you support whatever needs they have—but I don't blame anyone for questioning the process. I expect it will continue to evolve.[/quote]

Yes there can be borderline cases,  and we had some disagreements among professionals as to whether my kid has ASD or not. Even after a neuropsych said no, many others still said yes. Neuropsych did not do an ADOS, which is the best test we have for autism.  That was a mistake.

Best practice is to use a team approach of people experienced with ASD and including an ADOS. A lot of the confusion comes from people getting diagnoses without using best practices.  We ended up going to David Black who is very experienced and he gave us the ASD diagnosis. We showed his report to other professionals to see what they thought. My kid also has ADHD, which can overlap with ASD, and we had some detailed discussions with another professional as to how to tell the difference between an ADHD behavior vs. ASD.

We did found the ASD designation useful.  When talking to new therapists, it's a lot easier to say your kid has ASD than to give a laundry list of problems that end up sounding like ASD but supposedly aren't.  Also, it became easier to select professionals.  The ones experienced in ASD understand my child better than the ones who aren't. [/quote]

Has anyone had Dr. Black NOT give an ASD diagnosis?  [/quote]

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