Autism

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Chrisull May 2013 3:13pm, 8 May 2013 5,462 posts	0 Chrisull I've been holding my counsel here (being married to a special needs teacher), but it's interesting given that everyone is talking about higher functioning children, whereas my wife works with children who will never be able to leave home, get a job, and in plenty of cases never even speak or use language in any meaningful sense. Here you see where autism "breaks down" as a diagnosis, and becomes muddled with children with chromosone deletions or even some who have suffered trauma pre/during birth. They can manifest autistic behaviours, but are not autistic. I did respite care for a child who never had an official diagnosis, he had a lot of very autistic behaviours and quite a few that definitely weren't. He went without a label, because it was possible to argue it both ways. It seems that many schools once they get hold of a label, they refuse to let it go, treating it like some security blanket. They form views of children often wildy at variance of the child's actual behaviour, I find a lot of primary schooling now emphasises the "social" and "communicative" aspects over and above you know, like actually learning stuff. I've seen my primary school struggle with my twins, for a lot of the time basically being twins, for example relying on each other in social situations and closing others out. It's also interesting that autistic diagnoses are rocketing, and this tells you one of two things, either cases of autism are rocketing, or professionals are seeing autism everywhere. I tend towards the latter. Autism is a seen too primarily as a male "condition" (1.8% of population with ASD in men to 0.2% in women), in fact I've heard it oft mentioned that autism is down to the "extreme male brain", and just exaggerations of "normal male traits". It seems autism is wide encompassing term which can be used to cover repetitious behaviour, echolalia, complete misunderstanding or disregard of social mores, cues, and etiquette, restricted diet, dislike of change/insistence on routine, obsessive tics and interests, lack of creativity and imagination, dislike of loud noises/colours, lack of communication, inability to make friends, irrational or inappropriate frustrations or bursts of anger. (i've not included savants, or great talents such as maths/art, these aren't common) I don't know how many of these would have to count for a diagnosis, but a lot of these are highly subjective. Often my wife suggests too that meeting parents of autistic children, they can often manifest plenty of autistic tendencies too, but they are plainly not autistic (or sometimes are but undiagnosed - would you suggest that to someone? Have you any right to??) None of this probably helps you much DD, but for what it's worth I'd come in armed with a load of knowledge about the condition, be prepared to argue, reason and debate with the teachers, because I will bet that they know less than you about it.
Jambomo May 2013 3:30pm, 8 May 2013 3,751 posts	0 Jambomo It is a shame that such a situation sounds like a war!
Pestomum May 2013 3:32pm, 8 May 2013 2,933 posts	0 Pestomum Agreed. It's not. You don't "win" by not having a diagnosis or having one, you "win" by focussing on the child and their needs.
Discovery Dave May 2013 3:41pm, 8 May 2013 12,191 posts	0 Discovery Dave You "win" by getting the RIGHT or BEST diagnosis (or lack thereof) for the child and their needs.
JenL May 2013 3:44pm, 8 May 2013 24,696 posts	0 JenL But isn't it likely that you can only just with hindsight whether what you chose was right or best for your child?
WildeRover May 2013 4:21pm, 8 May 2013 3,600 posts	0 WildeRover One of the problems with Autistic Spectrum Disorders is the very nature of the term 'spectrum'. Consider people's 'autisticness' as a graded shading from white to black. With many disorders you are white or black - but with autism nobody would be all white or all black, everyone would be a shade of grey - a mostly white, light grey, very grey etc. Consider those to the black end are definitely autistic, those to the other aren't........most people are some of the way along, some a little further along, some even further along...........at some point it becomes a problem. Hard to say exactly where that is. On this example, there is definitely a lot of 'grey area'. ....and now consider that you are not just moving from white to grey, but a whole spectrum of different colours bursting out in all directions. Part of the way along you will have lots of different types of different pastels of people. Then further along someone might be a brilliant blue, someone else a red, as different from one another as you can get and both very different from the white light. Somewhere in this spectrum a diagnosis of ASD can become useful. It can help people to understand the type of things they might encounter, it might prompt people of the kind of support that might be appropriate, it can open doors (and budgets) that not having a diagnosis might not help. However in other cases the diagnosis may not be useful or even counter productive. People start seeing the diagnosis and not the individual, they start making assumptions and pigeon holing. Sometimes it is better for someone to just be seen as who they are and that is the best support they can have. The line between the two can be very difficult and whether it is trying to apply simple guidelines or based on years of experience, not one that is always going to be got right. However two things to remember 1. The diagnosis does not change the problems. The person doesn't suddenly change because someone comes up with a diagnosis, everything isn't going to be alright just because they don't. Any problems that a child may have were there and needed addressing before the diagnosis was or wasn't given, any problems that a child may have will still be there and need addressing after the diagnosis is or isn't given. 2. A diagnosis is only the start of knowing someone with Autism, not the end......and if anything the journey to understanding them could be even longer, because knowing them could take you in directions you never knew existed.
Discovery Dave May 2013 4:23pm, 8 May 2013 12,192 posts	0 Discovery Dave Yes. And that's the maddening thing.
Pestomum May 2013 4:29pm, 8 May 2013 2,936 posts	0 Pestomum - teachers have the child's best interest in mind, it's not a cop out exercise for them, any more than saying a G&T child needs to have more educational support. I find now that I can't say what I want to without relating this specifically to DD's son, and that's not fair. So I shan't.
Chrisull May 2013 4:43pm, 8 May 2013 5,464 posts	0 Chrisull Teachers don't always - they should - but they don't always. I could tell plenty of stories to illustrate this but really they are about other people's children and a public forum isn't really a suitable place.
Velociraptor May 2013 4:50pm, 8 May 2013 25,243 posts	0 Velociraptor I could also relate an instance where a teacher's attempt to have one of my children (wrongly) labelled as being autistic had nothing to do with it being in that child's best interest (some of you will have read and commented on the relevant blogs a few years ago - she is doing very nicely after a fresh start away from that school). And my son, who IS blatantly autistic (without any other physical or intellectual disabilities) has had the label used against him as well as to help him over the years.