4 ms·

Autism is a serious condition and should be treated as such. But now as it is defined spectrum doctors muddle minor deviations and real serious issues together

Autism is a serious condition and should be treated as such. But now as it is defined spectrum doctors muddle minor deviations and real serious issues together. In my view this does not help either as treatments are very different depending upon where exactly on the spectrum issue is. This gives rise to lazy labeling. I am all for early intervention. Its rather that because now Autism is classified on a spectrum. Most doctors have got a lazy attitude of classifying any deviation from the normal as Autism. Instead of trying to go deeper they just start with default assumption of putting the patient on ASD spectrum. - First born with minimum eye contact is Autism. Why it cannot be shyness? - Doesn't pay attention unless Adult makes it interesting for the Child. Why it cannot be you are boring and I don't like you? - Speech difficulty because of child is multilingual and mixes them two languages together. Please look at family background of the child first without declaring the judgement. Doctors also have this issue of not crossing each other. Once one of them does a wrong diagnostic, others tends to agree with it rather than taking a contrarian view.

mercer 9y ago
So, I can agree that broadening the concept of 'autism' can be detrimental, but mostly because it's seen as such a 'big' thing. I personally think it was maybe better to separate 'classical autism' from things like 'asperger's' as a label. But don't forget that these distinctions do exist in the actual field. But everything else you're saying just isn't true in both my personal experience, that of couples I know with high-functioning children, and what I've found in my research of the matter. I asked you for evidence (and personal experience does count, to me), but instead you're just listing/reiterating all the same things that I also keep hearing over and over from people who generally don't know what they're talking about. Again, I do see some of your points, but for me these have become basically a 'meme' that is spread by people who are stuck with pop-psychology knowledge from sometimes decades ago. Stuff like 'ADD isn't a thing, it's just that boys need to be free' etc. Not all untrue, but way too one-sided to be helpful or informative. It does make one feel like a clever contrarian though... EDIT: To be clear, I'm not saying you're uninformed, but rather that I hear these things a lot from people who base their opinion on the pop-contrarian articles du jour.
- drieddust 9y ago
  See what I have listed is coming from my personal experience. I am not reiterating anything seen or heard anywhere just to be contrarian. I have struggled for more than a year with various doctors across two countries. My thinking not against diagnostic but clumping a broad range of symptoms which affects life very differently is just lazy.

mercer 9y ago

So, I can agree that broadening the concept of 'autism' can be detrimental, but mostly because it's seen as such a 'big' thing. I personally think it was maybe better to separate 'classical autism' from things like 'asperger's' as a label. But don't forget that these distinctions do exist in the actual field. But everything else you're saying just isn't true in both my personal experience, that of couples I know with high-functioning children, and what I've found in my research of the matter. I asked you for evidence (and personal experience does count, to me), but instead you're just listing/reiterating all the same things that I also keep hearing over and over from people who generally don't know what they're talking about. Again, I do see some of your points, but for me these have become basically a 'meme' that is spread by people who are stuck with pop-psychology knowledge from sometimes decades ago. Stuff like 'ADD isn't a thing, it's just that boys need to be free' etc. Not all untrue, but way too one-sided to be helpful or informative. It does make one feel like a clever contrarian though... EDIT: To be clear, I'm not saying you're uninformed, but rather that I hear these things a lot from people who base their opinion on the pop-contrarian articles du jour.

drieddust 9y ago
See what I have listed is coming from my personal experience. I am not reiterating anything seen or heard anywhere just to be contrarian. I have struggled for more than a year with various doctors across two countries. My thinking not against diagnostic but clumping a broad range of symptoms which affects life very differently is just lazy.