Anonymous wrote:Social pragmatic communication disorder+Mixed Expressive Receptive Language Delay+Restrictive/Repetitive Actions = Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD)

My son doesn't have Restrictive/Repetitive Actions , but DP still gave ASD!!! Should I get a second opinion?

Children who have social communication problems without restricted or repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities may be diagnosed as having a Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder rather than an Autism Spectrum Disorder.

http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/Autism/#six

I am an SLP and there is no way that the SLP didn't know this existed. Perhaps she was just unfamiliar with the title. Pragmatics is one of the 5 domains of language. There is no way you'd leave graduate school without knowing that. Sounds like a miscommunication. That being said, the scope of practice for an SLP in the school system is very different. School SLPs in MCPS are limited to addressing a lack of skills directly related to pragmatic language. Social behavior is left to the school counselors. For this reason, it is difficult to get treatment in the school---they'll only address pragmatics: turn-taking, topic maintenance, initiating conversation, proxemics, etc. SLPs are experienced beyond this, but the county delineates what can be addressed by the SLP. If the SLP is the only qualified person to address the issue, then it is allowed. But there cannot be any overlap of service and if the need doesn't require the specialized skill of the SLP, but can be addressed by counselor or special ed teacher, it's a no go.

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Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, but thanks for all the insight. What schools (ESP. middle school) worked well for your child with SCD. The speech language therapist at my DD's school didn't even know this existed.

A disorder by that name didn't exist before 2013 when the DSM V was published. If the SLP isn't in private practice dealing with billing and diagnosis codes, she probably wasn't aware.

They should at least be familiar with the issues - they are not new as of the new DSM. Manny of the people who are now diagnosed with it were diagnosed with Pragmatic Semantic disorder, then PDD-NOS. The people are the same and have the same problems it is the DSM that keep recategorizing them.

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Anonymous wrote:Social pragmatic communication disorder+Mixed Expressive Receptive Language Delay+Restrictive/Repetitive Actions = Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD)

My son doesn't have Restrictive/Repetitive Actions , but DP still gave ASD!!! Should I get a second opinion?

Did you ask the DP what he was thinking about for restrictive/repetitive actions? I had that conversation with the psychologist who diagnosed my child, and it was really illuminating.

DPs can pick up signs more readily than parents. They also use more than one screener to diagnose.

Treat the symptoms for now. Go for a second opinion in a year. Things often become more clear. Having social pragmatics communication disorder is no walk in the park either. You'll be glad for the insurance coverage if in a year it's "just" this. (It probably won't be though--your kid's more at risk for ADHD and language based learning disabilities. Save the money for the future.)

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Anonymous wrote:Does it matter? Is the diagnosis helpful in getting services or insurance coverage that your child needs?

It matters , because It creates anxiety , fear in parents minds! Coming to services kids don't need ABA for S(P)CD,Language Disorder.

Parents then need to get a grip on their anxieties. ABA is used with all kinds of kids, not just kids with autism. Some kids on the spectrum don't need it either.

Talk about repetitive behaviors--you posted about this before on this same thread.

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, but thanks for all the insight. What schools (ESP. middle school) worked well for your child with SCD. The speech language therapist at my DD's school didn't even know this existed.

A disorder by that name didn't exist before 2013 when the DSM V was published. If the SLP isn't in private practice dealing with billing and diagnosis codes, she probably wasn't aware.

Not the OP, but thanks for all the insight. What schools (ESP. middle school) worked well for your child with SCD. The speech language therapist at my DD's school didn't even know this existed.

Anonymous wrote:Does it matter? Is the diagnosis helpful in getting services or insurance coverage that your child needs?

It matters , because It creates anxiety , fear in parents minds! Coming to services kids don't need ABA for S(P)CD,Language Disorder.

Anonymous wrote:

Did you ask the DP what he was thinking about for restrictive/repetitive actions? I had that conversation with the psychologist who diagnosed my child, and it was really illuminating.

I didn't have enough awareness about this when we went for evaluation.

Does it matter? Is the diagnosis helpful in getting services or insurance coverage that your child needs?

Anonymous wrote:Social pragmatic communication disorder+Mixed Expressive Receptive Language Delay+Restrictive/Repetitive Actions = Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD)

My son doesn't have Restrictive/Repetitive Actions , but DP still gave ASD!!! Should I get a second opinion?

Did you ask the DP what he was thinking about for restrictive/repetitive actions? I had that conversation with the psychologist who diagnosed my child, and it was really illuminating.

Social pragmatic communication disorder+Mixed Expressive Receptive Language Delay+Restrictive/Repetitive Actions = Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD)

My son doesn't have Restrictive/Repetitive Actions , but DP still gave ASD!!! Should I get a second opinion?

Anonymous wrote:Any inputs on

http://www.hanen.org/Programs/For-Parents/More-Than-Words.aspx

Hanen programs are great for all kinds of kids.

Any inputs on

http://www.hanen.org/Programs/For-Parents/More-Than-Words.aspx

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Anonymous wrote:Anecdotally I have a child with social pragmatic disorder (can't get the name straight) and a close family member on the spectrum. Here are some differences that I notice (sample size obviously quite small, so it's personal experience):

1. ASD seems to have significantly more and severe sensory integration issues
2. Anxiety and rigid thinking is higher with ASD
3. This is a big one - social communication (DC) seems to be able to reflect on social situations in hindsight. He can see what went wrong, even if he needs a lot of practice changing behavior. ASD, not as able to be reflective because of metacognitive issues.

I can see that this might upset folks- it's not intended to generalize- it's just the unusual experience of one person being able to observe these two conditions side by side.

I have a DS, 9, with ASD/ Asperger's and ADHD and I don't find your points 1, 2 and 3 to be true at all. People who meet DS in real life don't think he has any diagnosis even when they have known him for several yrs unless I tell them and when I tell people they are always surprised (most people have a stereotypical view of ASD like you.)

DS does not have severe sensory issues and never has. No clinical level of anxiety according to his neuropsych eval. His rigid thinking is not particularly noticible and he has no problems reflecting on his actions at all.

Never heard another autism parent say this. Autism is severe by definition.

No, it's not. Just look at a kid who is in a MAP vs. a kid who is non-verbal. There is a big range of severity.

It's all still severe. There are three levels of severity. Not one says they go for years without anyone suspecting they are autistic.

Oh, please, there are plenty of NT people of whom spouses, family, co-workers, or acquaintances suspect that they are on the spectrum.

Yes. Lots of armchair quarterbacking in the autism diagnosis game. But the earlier PP said no one even suspected her child was autistic, even after years of knowing him. This doesn't fit with autism.

Yeah, according to her. Who cares what delusion she's operating under.

That's not fair. I don't think there's a consensus among specialists about what type of child fits under the autism diagnosis. Have you read that article in a scientific publication a few years ago about how autism presents differently in girls than boys and sometimes no one suspects the girls have autism? I don't necessarily agree with the article's viewpoint because by the DSM definition it's supposed to impact every day life and if it doesn't how could they be on the spectrum but it gives you a sense of the disagreement about what the condition really means.

There is a whole book category about people who were not diagnosed with autism, Asperger's, until they were adults. Do a search on Amazon. Being diagnosed with Asperger's until adulthood isn't that uncommon and fortunately, there is more awareness now so that kids without speech delays but who are autistic get identified in childhood and get the help and therapies that they need.